Over the past few years, I’ve been following a project that should pique the interest of any Elder Scrolls fan. Independent studio OnceLost Games was founded by a few of the developers of the oldest Elder Scrolls games – Arena and Daggerfall – and their first game, The Wayward Realms, will try to recapture the magic of those epic fantasy RPGs.
If you have not played Daggerfall, it’s hard to describe just how much larger it is than Morrowind, Skyrim, or any of Bethesda’s latest games. The game world of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is approximately the size of Great Britain–over 200,000 square kilometers.
OnceLost wants the scope of their new game to be similarly massive. The Wayward Realms takes place on a group of over 100 realistically-scaled islands “where scores of factions vie for influence and power.” If you want to make your mark on this world, you’ll have to start from the beginning and work your way up by building your reputation among the many factions, battling dangerous foes, diving into dungeons, and collecting valuable loot.
The game is said to feature cities with thousands of NPCs, forests, mountain ranges, swamps, oceans, reactive characters and world events, customizable skills and abilities, and libraries full of books to satisfy anyone curious about the game’s lore.
On Tuesday, OnceLost announced that The Wayward Realms is coming to Kickstarter in May, giving fans a chance to contribute to the development. The studio will release the game in early access at some point after the Kickstarter campaign ends but also plans to approach publishers with the early access release to help fund and market the game.
As thrilled as I might be about the prospect of a modern-day successor to Daggerfall, there’s no guarantee that this project will ever come to fruition. That said, the team at OnceLost Games has an impressive pedigree, and there is plenty of evidence of the work they’ve already put into this project on social media and on YouTube.
At the very least, this game is something to keep an eye on while we wait for more news about The Elder Scrolls 6, which could still be years away at this point.