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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."
Upon his return, Kuhlmann was surprised to learn that Oblivion didn't feature the Cyrodiil he and fellow designer Michael Kirkbride had envisioned in their "Pocket Guide to the Empire." Their take on Cyrodiil "was a much weirder place than what you see in Oblivion."
But Bethesda didn't shy away from the strangeness without reason. Todd Howard himself, as Kuhlmann recalls, apparently "gravitates not towards the weird stuff."
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.
