Fans anticipating the release of The Elder Scrolls 6 may have just seen their dreams of a new trailer crushed, but they’re taking the news surprisingly well. The next entry in Bethesda’s beloved fantasy RPG series was announced seven years ago, in 2018.
Bethesda has since released several massive, major games — Fallout 76, Starfield, and two new editions of Skyrim — but we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of TES 6 since its initial announcement teaser. Recently, some speculated an update could be imminent, a rumor that’s since been debunked, but fans of The Elder Scrolls are taking it on the chin.
Fans Are Convinced It’s For Divinity
Last week, TES fans got a rare glimmer of hope when a mysterious, demonic statue appeared in the Mojave Desert. Announced by Geoff Keighley, founder and host of The Game Awards, the statue was immediately associated with any number of new releases soon to be revealed: a God of War sequel, a Diablo 4 DLC, even Bloodborne 2.
Based on its resemblance to an Oblivion Gate, some fans suggested that the mysterious statue could be a tease for The Elder Scrolls 6.
However, more recently, some observers (including on the Reddit post above) have theorized that the statue could be teasing a new game in the Divinity series. An original setting created by Larian Studios, Divinity has featured in a loosely connected string of action and turn-based RPGs, eventually becoming the predecessor to Larian’s Game of the Year-winning Baldur’s Gate 3.
Newly trademarked logos for the franchise match up near-perfectly with the design of the mysterious sculpture – look at the eye-shaped icon in the middle of both images, and it’s hard to deny a connection. Now, for what it’s worth, Larian’s publishing director Michael Douse confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that “there aren’t currently any plans for a new Divinity Original Sin 3 game,” but that doesn’t totally debunk the Divinity connection.Douse is speaking of the Original Sin subseries specifically here, a pair of turn-based games that feature the Divinity setting; he’s not totally ruling out the possibility of a new Divinity game that’s not a direct sequel to Original Sin 2. It could be something more in the vein of the original, Diablo-inspired Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, or Divinity 2, or even a soft reboot for the series.
It Might Not Be The Reveal Fans Wanted, But They’re Still Hyped
“I’m Happy With This”
A fantasy landscape with a crumbling castle seen in the teaser trailer for The Elder Scrolls 6.
The jury’s still out on what the statue truly means, but it’s almost certainly nothing to do with The Elder Scrolls 6. Still, TES fans seem to be taking the crushing of their TGA dreams well. One commenter, sandohhh, puts it, “I’m happy with this… there are many worse options this could’ve been.”
Others hoped that, if they couldn’t have TES 6, a new Divinity game could prove a worthy substitute. DoNotLookUp3 replies, “Something even remotely similar to TES from Larian would be peak. We need more of these RPGs that incorporate immersive sim elements like Bethesda and Warhorse [developer of Kingdom Come Deliverance] do.”
And still others admitted that their Elder Scrolls hype might have been a little misplaced. User Ulysses345 said they’d be “more hyped for this” than a TES trailer. “At least it’s pretty much a sure thing that DOS 3 will be a masterpiece if BG3 is anything to go by. We all know deep down that TES 6 will be mid.”It’s hardly surprising: fans of TES have already had their spirits broken, having been disappointed time and time again over this seven-year period of silence. Many of them have doubtless turned to other RPGs by now; it’s undeniably more fun, and better for one’s mental state, to get excited about an upcoming game in a different series than to wait endlessly for one we haven’t heard from for the better part of a decade.Still, that doesn’t mean they can’t still get their hopes up from time to time, even if they know they’ll always be dashed. As The Elder Scrolls 6 fan blessthecam commented, “It was a pleasure coping with you all. Till next year!”
Systems
Released
2026
ESRB
m
Developer(s)
Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)
Bethesda Softworks
