Former Skyrim lead designer Bruce Nesmith shared a specific design wishlist for the next major fantasy game from Bethesda, calling for reworked horse traversal and functional ladders. Speaking during an interview on YouTube channel The Examined Game, Nesmith shared what he wants to see as an ordinary player rather than a developer on Elder Scrolls Sentinel. He left the studio to write fantasy novels after decades of shaping Bethesda worlds [2].
A Fan Perspective on Elder Scrolls Sentinel
Nesmith worked on five major Bethesda releases during his long career at the studio [3]. His design credits include Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. By the time those projects launched, he was often worn out from testing them through early broken builds and long bug fixes. He put 300 to 400 hours into each game before public release. “By the time they came out, I was already sick to death of them,” Nesmith said [1].
Now that he spends his days writing novels, he looks forward to playing an Elder Scrolls adventure without knowing every quest branch in advance. He said that working on just one game at the company might have made him bitter about stepping away, but completing multiple projects left him happy to watch someone else take over. “I think the day that Elder Scrolls 6 comes out, I will be right at the front of the queue downloading a copy and wanting to play it because I haven’t gotten to play an Elder Scrolls game that I didn’t work on,” Nesmith said. He wants to see fresh choices. He feels fulfilled by his past contributions and eager to explore a world built by fresh creative hands [1].
Creative distance lets him appreciate how new developers tackle classic Bethesda systems. Nesmith said that human beings have natural creative limits, making it hard for any single director to reinvent the same world repeatedly without falling into familiar habits. Stepping aside gives new leadership a chance to show him a better way [1].
Mount Mechanics and Mounted Combat
About forty minutes into the podcast chat, Nesmith laid out two specific requests for the next game [2]. His first ask focused on horses, which he feels have stayed far too basic in Bethesda fantasy titles [3]. “You can ride a horse, but that’s all you can do in Skyrim,” Nesmith said, adding that players could not fight with their steed or use it for anything beyond simple travel. He argued that horses should fight with players or support them during battles [2].
Mounts involve tough design choices that test development teams across the games industry. Bethesda added basic mounted attacks to Skyrim in a post-release patch, but the system felt stiff. Riding remained clumsy during combat encounters [3].
Writing for IGN, Jacqueline Thomas pointed to other action RPGs that give riding companions real utility during dangerous encounters. In Monster Hunter Wilds, for instance, the Seikret mount lets players dodge boss strikes while managing inventory pouches on the run [2]. Horses in Skyrim also suffered from strange physics bugs during production. Nesmith recalled testing builds where his horse flipped completely upside down into the ground outside Whiterun [1]. Better mount systems would solve old complaints. Nesmith said that wanting better mounts is a common complaint among fans, making it clear that he does not stand alone in hoping for deeper riding mechanics [3].
The Problem with Skyrim Ladders
Nesmith’s second big request centered on vertical ladders, an issue that sounds simple but created major design headaches inside Bethesda. In Skyrim, players do not physically climb up or down rungs. Instead, interacting with a ladder instantly teleports the character to the destination [2].
“You don’t climb up and down ladders,” Nesmith said on The Examined Game, calling the limitation silly on the surface but troublesome for level geometry. The missing climbing system forced artists to rethink dungeon layouts when building Skyrim back in 2011. Because characters could not scale rungs, world builders had to connect upper floors using stone staircases or winding wooden ramps. Stairs took up huge amounts of floor space inside towers and underground ruins. Nesmith said that not having working ladders limited the art team whenever they wanted to craft multi-layer environments, forcing them to rely on stairs or instant loading transitions [2]. Level geometry suffered as a result.
Bethesda engineers tried to tackle ladder movement during development before abandoning the effort [2]. When designers pushed for climbing mechanics, programmers pushed back with a long list of tough coding questions [3]. “You give me answers to these, I’ll tell you how much programming time it’s going to take to make them,” Nesmith recalled programmers telling design leads. Facing tight deadlines on a massive game, the team chose to invest its engineering hours into other systems and kept ladders as simple teleport markers [2].
Technical Hurdles Facing Elder Scrolls Sentinel
Building interactive ladders for Elder Scrolls Sentinel means solving edge cases that test game physics and animation logic. Joshua Wolens of PC Gamer pointed out that implementing climbing mechanics brings up dozens of difficult design dilemmas that players rarely consider. If two characters attempt to use the same ladder from opposite ends, what happens? Combat creates further complexity, as animators must script unique behaviors for characters taking damage or dying while hanging from wooden rungs high above the floor [3].
Pathfinding for enemy artificial intelligence presents another major hurdle when vertical ladders enter the game world. Nesmith said that programming enemies to make smart decisions around ladders proved especially difficult for Bethesda’s engine [2]. AI pathfinding broke down easily.
When an enemy pursues a player through a multi-story tower, the game needs to calculate whether the foe should climb down the ladder or wait at the top with a readied bow. If non-player characters can’t navigate ladders realistically, enemies end up getting stuck on walls or breaking combat encounters. While other action games have solved vertical traversal over the past decade, Bethesda titles have historically sidestepped the problem [2]. Solving ladder movement would give dungeon architects far more freedom to design compact watchtowers, ship masts, and deep underground shafts without cluttering rooms with giant ramps [3]. Better ladders open new spaces.
Production Timeline and Current Status
Bethesda’s announcement of the official title followed months of public speculation surrounding The Elder Scrolls 6 Sentinel reveal. Even though the game is still a couple of years away from store shelves, Bethesda has already begun selling official merchandise for The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel [2]. Studio head Todd Howard and his development team have shared very few concrete details about how Sentinel will evolve over its predecessors [3].
Nesmith holds no official role on the project, giving him the freedom to comment openly as an interested observer [2]. “I’m just happy,” Nesmith said when talking about passing the torch to a new generation of developers who can build games using newer tools. He added that seeing someone else take the reins offers an exciting change of pace after spending so many years building the series from the inside [1]. He expects fresh results.
Whether Bethesda ultimately reworks horse mechanics and solves ladder traversal will depend on how current directors weigh those features against other world-building priorities [3]. Until gameplay footage emerges, Nesmith’s candid reflections show the practical trade-offs that developers faced when crafting fantasy games like Skyrim [2]. Fans hoping for Elder Scrolls Sentinel can now see which subtle details might define the next fantasy world.
- ONLINE NEWS Koselke, A. (2026, November 6). Skyrim lead can’t wait to play The Elder Scrolls 6 Sentinel because he didn’t work on it: “It’s a good time for someone else to take those reins.” GamesRadar+. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Thomas, J. (2026, November 6). Skyrim’s Game Director Wants The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel To Have Better Horses and Non-Teleporting Ladders. IGN. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Wolens, J. (2026, November 6). Skyrim’s lead designer has 2 big asks of The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel. PC Gamer. [Article Link]
