There are many things that we have gotten before Grand Theft Auto VI, but The Elder Scrolls VI does not number amongst them. And while it’s clear at this point that Rockstar is going to beat Bethesda to the punch in the battle of two of gaming’s biggest and tardiest franchises, we do at least have one piece of news to report on the upcoming sixth episode in the Elder Scrolls series: its name.
That name was announced in a video released by Bethesda to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary. The video is narrated, of course, by the one and only Todd Howard, who stands next to a life-sized Mr Handy robot as he catalogues various highlights from Bethesda’s history—a history that is, in fairness, impressively successful. Who’s laughing now?
Anyway, the news for which everyone is waiting comes at the end of the video. “We’re looking back,” smiles El Toddo, “but we’re also looking forward… Everyone’s always asking about The Elder Scrolls, and we thought, ‘Hey, what a perfect moment to tell you what The Elder Scrolls VI is actually called.”
Well, yes, it’s over a decade since the game’s development was announced, so it probably is time to release the bloody thing give it a proper name. Drum roll, please! Step forward… The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel.
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And, um, that’s it. There’s no news about the game’s release date, no gameplay footage, no nothing… just an animated wherein the sands of time are slowly blown away from a fancy title card emblazoned with the game’s name. And an epigraph, attributed to one Yazar, who is the “Moth Priest of High Queen Iradne of Hammerfell”—the latter being the region of the game world in which this installment will apparently be set—and who is apparently fond of egregious split infinitives: “The scroll offered only a shimmer, a veil thinly lifted to my eyes. A future lost. A victory undone. Sands of time scattered by fate.”
A future lost? A victory undone? Come on, Yazar, we don’t know that Bethesda is going to wheel out the Creation Engine yet again for this game. Maybe they’ll surprise us all.