A lot of people have been wondering whether Bethesda would switch to Unreal Engine 5 for the next TES game, especially after Oblivion Remastered. However, Todd Howard has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 will not make the jump to UE5. Instead, TES 6 will use Creation Engine 3.
When asked about it in an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Todd Howard said the game will be using a new version of the Creation Engine. To the surprise of no one, this is called Creation Engine 3.
For those who did not know, Starfield was using Creation Engine 2. So, Creation Engine 3 should have better features than it. It will also offer a true open world, like all the previous TES games. At the same time, it will be as friendly to mods as all of Bethesda’s previous titles were. And that’s a big thing for all The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.
Todd Howard said that the team has spent several years bringing Creation Engine 2, which was used in Starfield, up to Creation Engine 3, that’s gonna power TES 6. Howard also said that all future Bethesda games will use Creation Engine 3 (or an enhanced version of it).
This will be good and bad news for some people. The good news is that Creation Engine 3 will allow TES 6 to be moddable from day-1. The bad news is the game may not look as good as its rivals when it comes out. I’m saying this because each and every Creation Engine game looked dated the moment it got out.
The most impressive game made with the Gamebryo/Creation Engine was Oblivion. At least in my opinion. However, it also had some major visual issues. Bethesda managed to hide the distant objects and surfaces, which looked as blurry as a Nintendo 64 game, in the game’s promotional screenshots. But once you understand how the Gamebryo/Creation Engine works, you can easily spot those blurry LOD cells. They’re definitely there.
So, no matter how much Bethesda tries to hype The Elder Scrolls 6, I’m certain it won’t be a graphical jourgenaut. Unless, of course, it uses Path Tracing on PC. Now that would be a pleasant welcome. But let’s be real here; that won’t happen.
It’s been seven years since the announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6. Todd Howard admitted that they announced the game too soon. He also said that it will be a while until we get our hands on it. So, don’t expect to be playing in the next couple of years.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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