I hope you like the tamer fantasy of Oblivion and Skyrim: lore master of 29 years says Todd Howard "gravitates not towards the weird stuff" and doesn't expect Morrowind-grade weirdness from The Elder Scrolls 6

A black and white picture of the Dragonborn during Skyrim. — (Image credit: Skyrim)

It's no secret that Oblivion wasn't nearly as surreal as Elder Scrolls predecessor, Morrowind – but Bethesda Game Studios veteran Kurt Kuhlmann wagers there's a good reason why.

Speaking in a recent interview with Reece "Kiwi Talkz" Reilly on YouTube, Kuhlmann, the lovingly dubbed "lore master" who started work at Bethesda in 1996 and went on to design gems like Skyrim, explains that he only returned to the company after Morrowind "during the end of pre-production on Oblivion." In other words, "the world-building for Oblivion was pretty much done when I started on it."

Whereas on Morrowind, Kuhlmann and Kirkbride were able to implement "Dune vibes and the Dark Crystal vibes" – aspects the former dev "would definitely put more" of in the game "if I could have" – the team behind Oblivion adopted a safer approach.

"If you're in charge of spending all this money and you want your studio to continue to exist and pay salaries for people," Kuhlmann says, "you have to make a successful commercial product."

Kuhlmann isn't sure his arguably more "weird" take on Cyrodiil would've performed as well, but that's not the sole reason Bethesda's Oblivion turned out as mild, so to speak, in comparison to Morrowind. Lord of the Rings, as the ex-designer puts it, was also "wildly popular" at the time thanks to the Peter Jackson films.

While he admits Skyrim also wasn't "all that weird," it definitely had "more dark corners than Oblivion."

Sizing up The Elder Scrolls 6 as a project under Microsoft's eye, Kuhlmann says "I would be skeptical that they could do a game in Elsweyr or Black Marsh," predicting a tamer setting and tone.

As a longtime Elder Scrolls fan myself, Kuhlmann's words have left me curious – just how weird will The Elder Scrolls 6 be when it finally releases? Only time will tell.

After nearly 30 years buried in Bethesda lore, ex-dev isn't sure what to make of The Elder Scrolls 6: "They're making something different than what I would have done, and so I don't know how I'm going to feel"

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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