The Elder Scrolls franchise has been instrumental in my gaming experience and quite possibly, yours as well. Ever since I first played Morrowind, I was hooked on the open-world RPG and always pined for more. If any game is announced as being open-world, I immediately take interest and researched the hell out of it to see if it was a game for me. Now, it seems The Wayward Realms might just be a whole new class of game that is right up RPG-lovers allies. Especially mine.
TWR seems to be a world unlike any other in size, scope, and possibility while maintaining similar fantasy elements we have grown to know and love dearly. However, using procedurally generated dynamics, the game promises to be fresh and full of the unexpected while teeming with life.
Big cities with hundreds or thousands of NPCs, deep, dark, dangerous forests, gigantic mountain ranges, sprawling swamps and marshlands, vast oceans, and more, brought to life through dynamic, procedural generation.
Diehard RPG and or Elders Scrolls fans may recognize the names Julian LeFay and Ted Peterson but if not, allow me to enlighten you so as to better understand why these two guys leading The Wayward Realms is such a critically important factor in why this game has us foaming at the mouth.
Julian LeFay has been coined “The Father of the Elder Scrolls” series and was the Chief Engineer for Bethesda for quite a time during his tenure there. He oversaw and was an invaluable addition to both Arena, Daggerfall, and was involved in Morrowind‘s development to boot.
Fun Fact: The Elder Scrolls deity Julianos is named after Julian LeFay.
You smell fresh turned earth. You see an Ork. pic.twitter.com/BwPjO1ZFUN
— OnceLost Games (@OnceLostGames) August 3, 2021
Ted Peterson was one of the original brains behind the Elder Scrolls series and pretty much started it all (along with LeFay). Just like LeFay, Peterson was critically involved in both Arena and Daggerfall as the lead designer. In fact, he was so instrumental in the lore and world-building that he himself has said that he had easily written over 150,000 words for the books within the games at least prior to his work on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Fun Fact: Sheogorath is named after Theodore “Ted” Peterson.
Okay, so now you know why we are losing our shit over here knowing that these two fantasy RPG power-houses are working together at Once Lost Games to put together a whole new class of RPG that the two are calling “The Grand RPG”. And while I could go into the many features of what will make this game so “grand”, perhaps you should take it first hand from the Steam page, which we have obviously all added to our Steam Wishlist.
Under the direction of Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay — lead developers of the team behind the Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall—Once Lost Games is creating a new open-world fantasy RPG where choice, consequence, scope, and role-playing will be experienced like never before in a realistically-scaled open world in a new class of game: The Grand RPG.
The Wayward Realms is set on a group of over one hundred, realistically scaled, islands, known collectively as the Archipelago, where scores of factions vie for influence and power. Kingdoms strive to maintain their dominance, upstarts seek to earn a place at the top, and dynasties set generational plots into motion. Should the player earn a position of prominence, they may change the course of history. However, they must first prove their worth battling rivals, mercenaries, monsters, spirits, and demons. On their quest for fame and fortune, players will venture through strange lands, delve into foreboding dungeons, and traverse kingdoms full of humans, elves, orks, dwarves, and a few other unusual races.
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- A Massive World. No, really! Way bigger than most other games you can think of. Big cities with hundreds or thousands of NPCs, deep, dark, dangerous forests, gigantic mountain ranges, sprawling swamps and marshlands, vast oceans, and more, brought to life through dynamic, procedural generation.
- Constantly Evolving Experience and Story. A virtual Game Master keeps things interesting for you, making other characters and their factions react and plot their next move based on your actions, resulting in no two players having the exact same game experience. World events have very different effects in the life of a socializing aristocrat, a thief entrenched in underworld conspiracies, a scholar collecting ancient artifacts, or whatever role you craft for yourself.
- Real Role-Playing. You’re not playing some prebaked warrior or mage, but a character class of your design, with customized skills and abilities to craft your own spells, potions, and enchantments. Want to try playing a character who is really, really outside the box? We got you.
- A World Full of Lore. We call it Wayward Realms for a reason. On the surface, things may have that familiar, medieval fantasy look, but dig a bit deeper and there’s a lot to learn. From the multiple moons in the sky to the libraries worth of books, to the multiple cultures of each race, there is always something new to discover.
The features listed above are leaving us speechless. It might as well be a checklist with every box marked off for literally everything we want in a game and then some. As of this writing, the game is still in very early development so we don’t want to put any pressure on or create unrealistic expectations for Once Lost but damn, give us more to chew on already!
With no release date provided, it is safe to say we probably won’t see this game any time soon (but possibly before Elder Scrolls VI but possibly after) so if you want to stay connected, check out their social media for updates, news, and interesting development info. This is one game we want to see live up to the hype we have made for ourselves. The only drawback is, if it does, we probably won’t ever leave our homes ever again.
