Like several other games in Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim offers players various houses to live in, providing a convenient place to store items and rest in-between the Dragonborn's adventures, but The Elder Scrolls 6 could do a lot to improve how player housing works. Unfortunately, in the eyes of many players, Skyrim's housing has never been quite satisfactory, especially in the way of customization (both inside and out). Fortunately, the next game in the series - the title The Elder Scrolls 6 - has the opportunity to build upon and resolve some of the more glaring issues surrounding Skyrim's player houses.
In the base game, there are five different purchasable houses in locations across Skyrim. The Dragonborn DLC adds one more, and the Hearthfire DLC provides players with three plots of land upon which they can build their own manors. Each house is located in a different hold or city, spanning from Breezehome in Whiterun to Severin Manor in Raven Rock. Although each home has a unique layout and outside appearance, many Skyrim players still turn to mods for more diverse and customizable alternatives.
The Elder Scrolls 6 was first teased during 2018's E3, and little news has come out regarding the state of the game since, though Bethesda director Todd Howard confirmed this year that the game is still in its early design phase. A release date isn't likely to be announced until after the November 2022 release of Starfield, the ongoing development of which is presumably Bethesda's current focus. That means there's still plenty of time for designers to shape the future of the Elder Scrolls series and room to speculate what exactly could be improved from Skyrim. Player housing is almost certainly up near the top of the list for many Elder Scrolls fans.
Elder Scrolls 6 Could Have Unique House Exteriors
One area that Skyrim touches upon, but arguably doesn't go far enough with, is the outward appearance of each different house. Player housing tends to fit in with the architecture of each unique town. For example, Riften's Honeyside includes a fishing dock, fitting in with the city's waterside theming. Likewise, Vlindrel Hall in Markarth has a dwemer-inspired exterior, consisting mainly of stone foundations with a solid metal door. It makes the housing options feel genuinely unique and helps tie together the individuality of Skyrim's many interesting cities.
That said, there are plenty of other appearances to be explored when it comes to housing. Tel Mithryn in Solstheim is grown from the giant mushrooms of Morrowind, and a similar idea could have been used to provide players with a brand-new form of architecture to explore in their own house. The Elder Scrolls Online introduces players to multi-leveled homes on stilts, treehouses, and different sizes ranging from apartments to manors. Although Skyrim doesn't offer much variety, The Elder Scrolls 6 could find a nice balance between the two, providing players with plenty of sizes and themes to explore when picking out a house. That way, there's something for players of all kinds.
Elder Scrolls 6 Could Allow Crafting Custom Furniture Like ESO
Another feature of Elder Scrolls Online that could reappear in Elder Scrolls 6 is the ability to craft custom furniture inside a house. There are multiple different kinds of construction techniques to be learned in Elder Scrolls Online, each one of which draws inspiration from the other races of Tamriel. Including a similar feature in The Elder Scrolls 6 could mean that a house's interior doesn't necessarily match up with its exterior theming, allowing for extensive customization and providing each player with a home that's truly unique to their playthrough.
Skyrim provides no such option. Although players can construct furniture pieces to fill the house in the Hearthfire DLC, these are predetermined and can't be built in different styles, customized, or moved around once they've been created. The Elder Scrolls 6 could borrow from more design and customization games such as Animal Crossing or The Sims by giving players more freedom to move things around and determine what goes into their home.
Elder Scrolls 6 Could Improve Skyrim's Manual Object Placement Physics
One of the most satisfying things about collecting rare items in Skyrim is getting to display them somewhere safe, allowing the Dragonborn to ire their hard work, all while adding a bit of life to an otherwise standard building. Placing weapons in display cases and stacking books and other items onto shelves is a good idea in theory, but unfortunately, there's very little wiggle room when it comes to manually placing objects otherwise. It can be challenging to maneuver certain items, and Skyrim's notoriously buggy engine means that sometimes things get lost or go flying when they're set somewhere. There are also very few mannequins to work with despite the large number of matching Skyrim armor sets.
Although there are plenty of Skyrim mods out there that help resolve this, from adding in specific placement options for notable items or increasing the number of fillable bookshelves and mannequins, The Elder Scrolls 6 can do so in a way that's natural and easy for all types of players to access. Even the most minor parts of a house can be important for making a space feel special, and players should be allowed to more easily display their collections and accomplishments without worrying about fighting with the game's controls just to get things into place.
Elder Scrolls 6 Houses Could Add More Unique Rooms Like Hearthfire
When the Hearthfire DLC added in the option of adopting children, it made for some interesting construction opportunities in the base game houses of Skyrim. Players could choose between building an alchemy room or a children's room, and the custom-built housing seen in Hearthfire helped take this a step further by letting them decide between building libraries or wizard towers, alchemy gardens or storage rooms, and even what types of animal to buy for the exterior of each house. These choices made each home feel more custom-made and helped provide players with functions they would actually use in their daily adventures across Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls 6 could take this idea and push it further, adding in even more rooms to explore and perhaps even allowing for more children to be adopted by letting players build more than one children's room. A manor as large as those in the Hearthfire DLC should theoretically have room for a much larger family than the maximum of two children that can be looked after in Skyrim, after all. There are plenty of areas that haven't yet been included in The Elder Scrolls player housing despite their potential, as well. Closets could be added to store more clothing, armories and smithing areas could be introduced, and there could even be a dedicated space for animal companions and pets to stay. There are many options that haven't been explored fully, and The Elder Scrolls 6 has a lot of room to grow when it comes to expanding Skyrim's many housing features.
