The Wayward Realms is a highly ambitious new open-world fantasy RPG from a pair of veteran Elder Scrolls developers.
Back in 2019, The Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall leads Julian LeFay and Ted Peterson announced their new studio OnceLost Games and said they were working on a big new RPG. Now we have the first teaser trailer for the game, as well as a few screenshots and a beefy description via its new Steam page.
Reading again how OnceLost Games describes The Wayward Realms, "highly ambitious" might actually be an understatement; the developers call it "a new open-world fantasy RPG where choice and consequence are experienced on a scale never attempted before." They even have a fancy new term for the type of game they're making: The Grand RPG, which just sounds incredibly Elder Scrollsy.
The official description also says The Wayward Realms' map is "way bigger than most other games you can think of" and houses hundreds, if not thousands of NPCs, as well as "deep, dark, dangerous forests, gigantic mountain ranges, sprawling swamps and marshlands, vast oceans, and more."
The map in The Wayward Realms consists of over a hundred islands known collectively as the Archipelago, which is home not just to humans, but also elves, orks, dwarves, and "a few other unusual races." Players will fight to climb the ranks and achieve power, fame, and fortune among clashing factions. Naturally, you'll need to fight your way past rivals, mercenaries, monsters, spirits, and demons if you mean to ever make a difference in the world (and it sounds like that's the goal).
OnceLost Games says The Wayward Realms probably won't be out for "several more years," but you can add it to your Steam Wishlist right now if you like what you see. Right now it's being developed on Unreal Engine 5 for PC, but the developers are hoping to bring it to consoles as well.
While we wait for The Wayward Realms - not to mention The Elder Scrolls 6 - make sure you aren't missing out on the best games of 2021 (so far).
