All About the Wayward Realms in 2024

Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls has been one of the market's most critically acclaimed open-world fantasy games for the past few decades. However, many older fans believe the series has lost what made it so good in the first place. Fortunately, several alumni began work on a spiritual successor, The Wayward Realms.

This upcoming game boasts an ambitious scale matching its forebears and an equally devoted fanbase working to help it take off. Here is a breakdown of The Wayward Realms, its basis, and its complicated development.

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The Wayward Realms' Concept

The Wayward Realms is an upcoming, open-world RPG from the independent developer OnceLost Games and the Bethesda alumni Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay. The game is set on a vast chain of islands known as the "Archipelago," where factions such as the mysterious Loremasters and tyrannical Inquisition vie for control.

Given that the game was created by former staff members for The Elder Scrolls, it was created as a spiritual successor. Much like the early games, players will be free to explore a world using a finely tuned character of their creation. Promotional materials discuss the game's non-linearity and complex faction system, mirroring entries like Morrowind.

Funding

One of the game's biggest draws is its map's sheer scale. The game's Kickstarter boasted that it would be around half a million square kilometers in size with realistically scaled cities. While much of this will be procedurally generated, the magnitude of this endeavor from such a small team deserves attention.

It's Conception

As stated above, the game was created by Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay, who worked on the early Elder Scrolls games Arena and Daggerfall. What set those games apart from the later entries in the series was their stronger ties to their tabletop roots. This included more stat-based gameplay and a stronger emphasis on player's choices having consequences for them and the world around them.

Nowadays, fans associate The Elder Scrolls with its massive open worlds. However, the game took several steps beyond its original roots in classic Dungeons and Dragons to more action-oriented games that streamlined central aspects. With The Wayward Realms, the series' foundation could be brought into the modern age.

The "spiritual successor" has always been a staple of new ideas in gaming, especially from creators seeking to work beyond their main publishers. One recent example is Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi's original game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, made after he departed from Konami.

It's Lengthy Production

Despite the game's talented leads and strong concept, it would face an uphill battle to take off. According to PC Gamer, The Wayward Realm's history goes back to 2019, when Peterson and Lefay announced their alliance to bring the game to life based on their disappointment with later Elder Scrolls games. However, it wasn't until five years later that fans got a gameplay trailer. Currently, the game doesn't have a release date.

This lengthy production of The Wayward Realms can also mirror how long it's taken for The Elder Scrolls 6 to get off the ground. Despite being announced in 2018, barely more than the announcement arrived. However, given that OnceLost is an independent studio, this time is understandable.

Updates

Despite this, frequent updates made OnceLost more transparent regarding their game's progress. The game boasts a strong fanbase, as the Kickstarter campaign reached its half-million dollar goal in twelve days. With even more support, the higher tiers of the project (with new areas and factions) could easily come to fruition.

A New Quest

To summarize this project, The Wayward Realms has the potential to be a solid spiritual successor when it is released. The proposed final product would exist on a scale similar to Daggerfall with the graphics and technical capabilities of modern gaming. Furthermore, the game is being led by the original minds who gave us the Elder Scrolls series.

While this will naturally be a massive task, the enormous outpouring of fans' support has shown that it can be done. When the game does arrive, it could be the start of a new franchise.

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This article was written by Edward Fargis.