The Pros and Cons of a Starfield-Sized Open World

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 28, 2024 2 Views 6 Min Read
The Pros and Cons of a Starfield-Sized Open World

Key Takeaways

  • The Elder Scrolls 6 may benefit from a larger, Starfield-sized open world to improve exploration.
  • A larger open world in The Elder Scrolls 6 could risk feeling empty and barren if not executed properly.
  • Crafting a successful open world as vast as Starfield’s is challenging but not impossible for The Elder Scrolls 6.



Exploration has almost always been a cornerstone of Bethesda games, especially when it comes to its flagship series like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. For the most part, the games in these franchises thrive on open-world design, where finding hidden locations, valuable collectibles, unexpected encounters, and in-depth lore makes exploring the furthest reaches of their maps worthwhile. After The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Starfield, however, The Elder Scrolls 6 has a lot to live up to regarding its size, and Starfield might be the benchmark it needs to move forward.

If The Elder Scrolls 6 were to use the scale of Starfield‘s open world as a standard, doing so would inevitably come with pros and cons. Starfield‘s open world does some things right (and even more so now after some considerable updates were made to the game), but it also does plenty of things wrong. In light of that, if The Elder Scrolls 6 chose to go in the direction of Starfield with its scale, it would come with equal benefits and downsides, making a case both for and against the open world of the next Elder Scrolls matching Starfield‘s size.


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Related
The Elder Scrolls 6’s Long Development Hopefully Means it Differs from Starfield in One Way

The Elder Scrolls 6 may unexpectedly benefit from Starfield’s mistakes with a more solid foundation and longer development cycle from Bethesda.

Pro: A Larger Map Would Potentially Allow for an Even Richer Open World

Obviously, The Elder Scrolls 6‘s open world wouldn’t be able to match the size of Starfield‘s entirely, as Starfield consists of nearly 1,700 planets spread across 120 different solar systems. However, the size of The Elder Scrolls 6‘s open world could match Starfield‘s proportionally by increasing the density of its open world to match Starfield‘s. The content of Starfield‘s open world is spread very thin due to its size, so The Elder Scrolls 6 increasing the density of its open world to match its larger scale could eventually reach a point where it is proportionally the size of Starfield‘s.


With a larger, Starfield-sized open world, exploration in The Elder Scrolls 6 could be a vast improvement over Skyrim‘s, which has been deemed one of the greatest achievements in open-world design and continues to act as a standard in the genre. Ultimately, Skyrim is the bar The Elder Scrolls 6 needs to clear, and offering a more expansive open world would be a great place to start. Within that larger open world, perhaps players could not only find a more diverse array of secrets to discover, but also even more factions, enhanced verticality, and side quests that are far more engaging than Skyrim‘s turned out to be.

Con: A Larger Open World Could Feel Barren if Not Executed Properly

The biggest challenge with an open world the size of Starfield‘s is ensuring it is executed properly to avoid feeling barren. The more space there is on a map, the greater the opportunity for that map to feel empty. For the most part, this is a roadblock Starfield hit with its open world, despite the vast number of planets and solar systems it features. At some point while exploring in Starfield, the planets all begin to feel like the same road players have traveled dozens of times already, featuring very little of interest and making venturing even deeper into the universe less exciting.


With a larger,
Starfield
-sized open world, exploration in
The Elder Scrolls 6
could be a vast improvement over
Skyrim
‘s, which has been deemed one of the greatest achievements in open-world design and continues to act as a standard in the genre.

Unfortunately, that stumbling block is almost always an inevitable one, as crafting an open world of that magnitude while ensuring that it will continue to surprise players after hundreds of hours spent in the game has largely proven to be impossible. In light of that, if The Elder Scrolls 6 attempted to feature an open world that was proportionally the size of Starfield‘s, it would likely run into the same issue, thereby garnering the same criticism all over again. And since Bethesda arguably needs The Elder Scrolls 6 to hit differently than its past couple of titles have, going that route is probably not the best idea.

All of that said, it isn’t impossible to craft an open world the size of Starfield‘s and execute it well; it’s just very challenging. However, perhaps The Elder Scrolls 6 is up to that challenge, and it will surprise its fans with something they didn’t expect.


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