After Seeing How Starfield: Shattered Space Turned Out, Is There Any Hope Left Amongst Bethesda Fans For The Elder Scrolls 6?

Way before Shattered Space dropped, when Fallout 4 came out back in 2015, Bethesda fans had a lot of thoughts. The game was criticized for looking outdated and playing rather roughly, which was even more disappointing since that same year had some heavy hitters like Witcher 3, Bloodborne, and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. 

What was once thought to be a one-time anomaly has now turned into the usual pattern with the studio, brushing aside any criticism and not willing to drastically improve or change their game design and writing philosophies.

Bethesda’s Rough Patch Has Lasted Way Too Long

The game that started the downward spiral for the studio, with no signs of recovery.

What made Fallout 4’s dated look and feel even more surprising was the fact that games like Witcher 3 and Bloodborne were made by smaller studios at that time. Both of these studios didn’t have the resources, budget, or talent the size of Bethesda, yet managed to make games that looked and played far better.

Witcher 3 wasn’t just a visual and atmospheric treat but also set a new standard for open-world games. And it wasn’t like CD Projekt Red had a massive library of games, history, or experience; it had only made two Witcher games before this. 

The same goes for FromSoftware. Bloodborne was a massive leap forward from Dark Souls 2, which came out just a year before it, and also marked a big shift in their art direction, animations, and combat, quickly adapting to the graphical fidelity of the newer console generation.

Just three years later, the studio released Fallout 76, learning almost nothing from its predecessor’s criticisms. Meanwhile, 2018 also had games that are now considered amongst the best of all time – Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War. 

Rockstar, for instance, could have easily slacked off after GTA V, but it didn’t. Red Dead Redemption 2 was a game that improved on almost every aspect of their past work. On the other hand, Bethesda seemed to be stuck in the past, chasing trends.

After years of putting out great hits in a row, it felt like the studio dropped the ball. Their games no longer stood out in terms of visual quality, storytelling, or innovation. 

The Letdown of Starfield and Its Shattered Space DLC

Fast forward to Starfield, the studio’s big new original IP. This was supposed to be their redemption story, the game that would bring them back to the top. It was marketed as a game that would bring back the best of what the studio does, like the open-world exploration and questing that made their previous games so iconic.

Plus, fans were hoping that the studio had learned from the criticism it got for their last two games. The expectations were high, but once again, it missed the mark. While ambitious, the game didn’t live up to the excitement it built over the years. It can arguably be considered worse than Fallout 4. 

And the Shattered Space DLC, which had some fans hoping it would fix things, ended up being another disappointment. For $30, players got a six-to-seven-hour main questline and a few hours of side content that felt more like the same old base game experience. 

There were no improvements in writing, characters, or story, all of which were problems in the main game. Compare this to Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC, also priced at $30. Its developers gave all players a free Update 2.0 alongside the expansion, which added a ton of new features and fixes, many of which fans had been asking for since the game’s rough launch in 2020. 

Meanwhile, Bethesda’s latest expansion did nothing to address the game’s core issues. Fans were hoping for something that would turn the game around, but instead, they got what felt like a cash grab. The studio didn’t take any of the criticism seriously, and it shows. 

Todd Howard and other lead designers and writers at the studio have a track record of defending its decisions and sometimes blaming fans for not understanding their grand vision, rather than listening to constructive fan feedback. It’s almost like the senior developers living in a bubble, ignoring the fact that other developers have surpassed them in so many areas.

Looking at how the studio’s latest game and its first DLC turned out, it’s hard to stay hopeful for The Elder Scrolls 6. The studio’s glory days seem to be behind them. Unless there’s a massive change in leadership or development direction, it’s unlikely that it will return to making the kind of genre-defining games it was known for.