The Elder Scrolls 6's Open-World Should Take a Page From Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Book

The Elder Scrolls 6’s Open-World Should Take a Page From Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Book

• The Elder Scrolls 6 should take inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s innovative feature called The Depths, which provides players with extensive additional content and rewarding exploration.
• The Depths in Tears of the Kingdom is a unique and intriguing realm filled with mysteries, secrets, unique items, crafting materials, and challenging enemies. It acts as almost an entirely different world to discover.
• The Elder Scrolls 6 should replace the series’ caves and mini-dungeons with an experience more similar to The Depths, revitalizing the open-world formula and avoiding the bloated feeling of many modern open-worlds.

The Elder Scrolls series is no stranger to praise when it comes to open-world design, especially after the release of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Now, The Elder Scrolls 6 will surely carry that mantle forward with another beautifully crafted, well-designed open-world that rivals those of its predecessors. However, in an effort to keep The Elder Scrolls’ open-world formula fresh, The Elder Scrolls 6 could take a cue from one of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s best features.

Tears of the Kingdom’s underground world, The Depths, is one of the most innovative features of any game in the last decade. Its sprawling expanse of dark, interconnected caves provides players with an extensive amount of additional content — primarily in terms of the rewarding exploration the Breath of the Wild series is known for — and The Elder Scrolls 6 could greatly benefit from using The Depths as a blueprint for its expanded open world.

Related

Every Feature The Elder Scrolls 6 Should ‘Steal’ and Drop from Starfield

Starfield didn’t get everything right, but it has several noteworthy features Bethesda should consider carrying over to The Elder Scrolls 6.

TotK’s Depths Should Serve as a Blueprint for The Elder Scrolls 6’s Expanded Open World

Close

What Makes Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths So Special

The expansive open world of Hyrule that was introduced in Breath of the Wild made a comeback in Tears of the Kingdom, along with the addition of the wondrous Sky Islands and the sprawling underground Depths. Each level of Hyrule benefits exploration in a unique way, but The Depths is perhaps the most intriguing realm in Tears of the Kingdom, due to the vast number of mysteries and secrets it holds. As what is likely the biggest addition from Breath of the Wild, The Depths acts as almost an entirely different world for players to discover. In this way, it feels less like a part of Tears of the Kingdom and more like a different game altogether.

As what is likely the biggest addition from Breath of the Wild, The Depths acts as almost an entirely different world for players to discover.

Despite the praise it has received, The Depths has proven to be a rather divisive feature in Tears of the Kingdom. However, this is primarily due to its enormous size and learning curve, as these negative opinions are arguably shared too soon — before players discover just how satisfying exploring The Depths can be. As players progress through The Depths, they discover it is home to a host of unique items, an abundance of important crafting and upgrade materials, and some of the most challenging enemies and bosses in the game. Yet, these challenges often prove to be among the game’s most rewarding encounters if players can overcome them.

The Elder Scrolls 6 Should Replace the Series’ Caves With a Depths-Like Experience

Past Elder Scrolls titles, like Oblivion and Skyrim, have included plenty of off-the-beaten-path exploration opportunities for players in their numerous caves and mini-dungeons. These caves have been known to house special items, side quests, and additional lore for players to discover, but an overhaul may now be in order. Despite all that these optional areas have offered in the past, they have generally lacked the atmospheric appeal that Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths possess, along with the drive to explore beyond what is necessary. Just as The Depths offer almost an entirely separate gaming experience, The Elder Scrolls 6 could do the same, effectively revitalizing the now-familiar open-world formula it has been known for.

If The Elder Scrolls 6 were to replace the series’ caves and mini-dungeons with an experience more akin to Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths, it could serve as a way to further expand The Elder Scrolls 6’s open world while simultaneously avoiding the bloated feeling players get from so many other modern open worlds. In a way, Bethesda is now behooved to shake up the familiar open-world formula of The Elder Scrolls to evade criticism, and the series’ next mainline installment is arguably the best time to do it. Regardless, fans are expecting The Elder Scrolls 6 to be another satisfying entry to the series, just as its predecessors have been before.

The Elder Scrolls 6

FranchisePlatform(s)Developer(s)Publisher(s)Genre(s)