Without any sense of vitriol towards Bethesda Game Studios, it can be reasonably predicted that TES VI, which will follow the nearly 15 year old game that came before it, Skyrim, shall be one of the most disappointing games ever released.
On one side of the coin, Skyrim’s legacy has ultimately been one of legendary status. Even with the eventual retrospectives that would bring its lesser aspects into the limelight, TES V is, and will probably always be, known as one of the best games ever made by the vast majority of gaming audiences around the world.
Living up to such a monumental status is going to be nigh impossible. There are only a handful of games one could name only that have managed to outdo their god-tier predecessors at such a level. Modern Warfare 2, the shooter community might remember, being one of them.
On the other side of the coin, Bethesda Game Studios, again, with no vitriol included in the analysis, have not made a high-quality game since the release of Skyrim, with some of you readers, I presume, arguing a step further that Fallout 3 might have been their last good title.
Both of these halves of the coin are connected, and when we see the release of TES VI, we’re going to feel the full shakeup of both halves landing at the same time: an inability to deliver on quality combined with high expectations. Most freelancers in the writing game will tell you all the time: “under-promise, over-deliver”. Bethesda is gearing up to do just the opposite and the problem is that they just can’t bring that promise down quick enough no matter how many Starfields they make.
If you’re human, you’ll buy and play through TES VI out of pure, unavoidable hype. And if you’re human you will be sorely disappointed at what is probably going to be Bethesda’s title that marks their grave as a development studio.
