The Elder Scrolls 6 is the next title in a long-running franchise of video games. Because of this, players shouldn’t be surprised if unused ideas from previous games in The Elder Scrolls series end up being used in The Elder Scrolls 6. Some of the cut content from these past games was cut from very early development, meaning very few players were aware of its existence. Going further back to games like The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind makes it even more unlikely that players would recognize cut content from previous games.
Cutting content during the development of a video game is nothing new, and it’s done for a lot of different reasons. Whether it’s because the content was too ambitious for the resources or the engine, would take too long to implement, became impractical, or didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the game, cutting content out is a natural part of the video game development process. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the end of the road for these concepts, and ideas that don’t make it into one game may find their place in a sequel.
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Morrowind’s Cut Evil Ending
Such could be the case for a content idea that was cut from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. One of the earliest ideas that ended up being cut from Morrowind was the option to join Dagoth Ur, Morrowind‘s main villain, in an evil ending. Siding with Dagoth Ur in Morrowind would have turned the narrative on its head and resulted in a completely different outcome for the game, especially as he’d been speaking to the Nerevarine in dreams during the main storyline. While this would have been an interesting path for the Nerevarine, it would have ultimately clashed with many of Morrowind‘s themes and called into question Morrowind‘s post-story world state. Implementing it would have resulted in an out-of-character moment that wouldn’t make sense with the rest of Morrowind‘s story.
Giving Players More Options
Evil playthroughs are nothing new to RPGs, and have been offered as an alternate path for many of them in some of the most popular ones. Recently, Larian updated Baldur’s Gate 3 to include several new endings for evil playthroughs. While stats from these games show that the vast majority of players still choose the “good” path, there are still enough players who choose the evil one to justify adding it.
Bethesda could implement this into The Elder Scrolls 6 by including an optional evil storyline that culminates in siding with the main antagonist of the game. Or, instead of an alternate storyline, The Elder Scrolls 6 could include themes and reasoning throughout the game that could make siding with the antagonist feel more natural, rather than just a forced evil ending for shock value.
This could also help The Elder Scrolls 6 improve its story by making it more nuanced and interesting, something that the series has not excelled at in the past. Different endings could also encourage replays of The Elder Scrolls 6. A surprise twist ending foreshadowed in the main storyline could be a memorable way to finish The Elder Scrolls 6, and it would be possible to implement if it’s accounted for from the start of development.
- Released
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May 1, 2002
- ESRB
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T For Teen due to Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Bethesda Softworks