The Elder Scrolls is one of Bethesda’s most beloved franchises, but as any fan of the publisher’s titles knows, new games are a long time coming. Players have been waiting for The Elder Scrolls VI for over a decade, as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released all the way back in 2011. To be fair, there have been new non-mainline titles, most of which are add-ons for The Elder Scrolls: Online.
Still, a whole new generation of gamers has matured in the time it’s taken for the next installment to release. Even now, The Elder Scrolls VI has no release date, but it is in development. While not in the same franchise, these five games are in the same vein as Elder Scrolls titles, and they’ll keep you busy while you wait. They’re presented in no particular order.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released in 2015 and remains highly replayable to this day. Like previous Witcher titles, it centers around Geralt of Rivia, the player character based on the fantasy book series by Andrzej Sapkowski. While in a completely different fantasy world, there are many similarities between The Witcher 3 and Skyrim or The Elder Scrolls Online. Players battle magical beasts, deadly enemies, and more as they make their way through an engrossing campaign.
Of course, what would a game like this be without a plethora of sidequests to keep you distracted? It’s loaded with them, and while the campaign takes a good 55 hours to complete, completionists can log over 300 hours covering everything. The Witcher 3 received an update after ten years, so it remains as fresh today as it was when it was released.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released in 2024 as the fourth mainline title in the Dragon Age franchise. Its predecessor, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is another fantastic game you can play while waiting on the next Elder Scrolls chapter, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice by passing on this latest title. It features similar gameplay and themes to Elder Scrolls, though its combat mechanics are quite different. Regardless, it’s an excellent way to spend the next 60-100+ hours of your life, as it’s highly addictive and a fantastic action role-playing game.
Starfield is about as different in theme as you can get from The Elder Scrolls, so you might wonder why it’s here. After all, it’s primarily a space-based game that allows players to travel to various planets, establish bases, and unravel the galaxy’s mysteries. Well, there’s a reason the game is called “Skyrim in space,” as Bethesda developed it, and Starfield features many of the same mechanics as Elder Scrolls games.
If you like the fantasy RPG world of Elder Scrolls but are keen on trying a similar game set in an entirely different environment, Starfield is worth your time. Not all players are as enamored with Starfield as others, so give it a whirl on a friend’s Xbox or PC before you commit to buying a copy for yourself. Hopefully, Bethesda will skip incorporating some of Starfield’s mistakes in The Elder Scrolls VI. Still, they’re easy to overlook, as the game is truly a fun and entertaining experience, even if it lacks replay value.
Unsurprisingly, a game based on Dungeons & Dragons’ Fifth Edition is one that fans of The Elder Scrolls are sure to enjoy. Baldur’s Gate III is a bit different from the style fans enjoy in Bethesda’s franchise, as it employs a free-floating camera with an adjustable perspective, ranging from a top-down isometric view to a third-person view. It uses D&D 5e’s rules, so there are die rolls to succeed at essential tasks, and combat is handled in a turn-based mode, pushing it further from The Elder Scrolls franchise in that respect.
Despite these differences, there’s little doubt fans of The Elder Scrolls will love Baldur’s Gate III. It has a highly engrossing three-act story, is incredibly customizable, and can be played alone or online in a party. In all, the game features 288 quests, and players can go about accomplishing some or all of them as they make their way through it. There are companion quests, main quests, and some that span several acts, which can take between 75 and 150+ hours to complete.
Avowed is the most recent game recommended for Elder Scrolls fans, as it was released in early 2025. The game is set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity, which was also developed by Obsidian Entertainment and released a decade earlier. Players can choose either a first or third-person view as they utilize magic, pure strength, and firearms to destroy the game’s many enemies.
One of the best features in Avowed, which players feel should be the new standard in RPGs, is its way of highlighting dialogue that players may not realize carries any importance. You can then read through to learn what it means without blindly choosing a dialogue option that inadvertently offends some evil queen or something, launching the game into unexpected turns. Avowed employs this well, and it’s one of the reasons the game is an excellent option while waiting on the next Elder Scrolls title to arrive.
Which of these five will keep you busy while waiting for The Elder Scrolls VI? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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