The Elder Scrolls 6 should innovate on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in multiple areas, but one of the ones Bethesda should pay particular attention to is the inventory system. Skyrim itself has long been praised for its in-depth RPG mechanics, and the game itself is one of the most beloved open world titles ever released. It has stood the test of time, with hordes of players continuing to play and replay the game 10 years after its original release.
Although Skyrim was and still is a truly great game, that does not mean that there are no improvements to be made. Bethesda is going to have to add plenty to Skyrim's sequel to make the wait worth it, introducing new features as well as innovating on old ones. Skyrim, and there are plenty of gameplay changes that players are expecting. One of these places would be in the inventory system, where there are a few clear spots that could be patched up for the new game.
It can't be said that Skyrim's inventory was devoid of good points, because it had a solid foundation. The player's inventory was separated into categories that sorted all of their items according to type. There would be a section for weapons, one for armor, one for jewelry, and so forth. That would make it easier for the player to get to a specific item that they were looking for, to keep players from wrestling with unwieldy inventory management, like in Elder Scrolls Online. This is undoubtedly a good idea, but it could definitely be improved.
Elder Scrolls 6's Inventory Should Be More Useful To Players
The item sorting in Skyrim could be expanded upon and improved in order to make it more convenient to navigate in The Elder Scrolls 6. One thing that could help is more options for navigating within the sections. For example, the developers could add an option in Elder Scrolls 6 for the weapon or armor section to be sorted by strength, putting the most powerful items at the top so that the player won't have to spend much time looking for them, and can easily outfit themselves in their best gear. Likewise, enchanted items and Skyrim's other trinkets could be sorted by effect in order to help players more easily find what enchantment they need.
In addition to the above, Elder Scrolls 6 would easily benefit from is some more specialized options for placing items in various pockets. For example, a lot of character builds focus on either light or heavy armor, so the option for players to quickly find one or the other would be very useful. One potential way to do this would be the ability for players to set weapons or armor that would be useless for their chosen character to instead be sorted into the miscellaneous items pocket. That way, archers wouldn't have to sift through battleaxes to find their bows, and stealthy thieves would be able to keep their heavy suits of armor out of the way until they could sell them. Every character build in Skyrim or other Elder Scrolls games serves its own unique function, so players should be allowed to focus on only their needed items.
A few tweaks to Skyrim's inventory system would make it a perfect fit for the next installment. With some quality of life enhancements for the player to change things to their liking, it could take something that was already fine in the last game and make it much more useful for future players. Every game in a series should strive to improve on the last, and Elder Scrolls 6 should seek to do the same with its inventory system.
