Summary
- The Elder Scrolls co-creator Ted Peterson says that he prefers RPGs that let you tackle the story in a range of different ways.
- He feels that RPGs have become too linear, but fans will want games that give them more freedom.
- His new game, The Wayward Realms, is a call back to these older, more open RPGs.
It’s no great secret that RPGs are a little less complicated than they were back in the 1990s. Over the years, many mechanics and features were watered down, made more accessible to a wider audience, but frustrating some fans of the classics.
This is something that The Elder Scrolls co-creator Ted Peterson has picked up on too, but he doesn’t feel that it has to be this way. In fact, he says that RPG players seem to want games that allow them to make different decisions and explore multiple paths, which we saw with the success of Baldur’s Gate 3.
After Baldur’s Gate 3’s success, it looks like players want that too
This comes from an interview with Video Gamer. Here, Peterson commented on the trend he’s noticed in the genre, and how he’s challenging it in his upcoming game, The Wayward Realms.
“I don’t like how linear and small, small certainly for the game world and the sandbox I’m playing in, [RPGs can feel], how linear the storyline is, how forced you are into it,” he says. “I was hoping that we were gonna change that and make the game more fun for someone like me who wants to play the game in different ways.
“I’m glad that people are wanting to break away from that,” he continues. “I’ve seen games that have attempted it and were trying to break down the fence completely. For me, I’ll always go on the side of freedom.”
The Wayward Realms will likely be a callback to this kind of RPG too, as it’s described as a spiritual successor to the first two Elder Scrolls games, Arena and Daggerfall.
The Wayward Realms has no release date just yet, and the only confirmed platform is PC. It remains to be seen when this classic-inspired RPG is ready for players.
