Last year’s release of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has resulted in some fans of the series wanting Bethesda to go even further back and bring Morrowind to modern platforms. However, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim‘s former lead designer Bruce Nesmith doesn’t think modern audiences would appreciate Morrowind as much as they did Oblivion. In an interview with Press Box PR, he also noted that Bethesda might simply not have the original source code for the 2002 classic anymore.
“The problem with doing Morrowind is that I bet they don’t have the original code,” he said. “The game is so old. I don’t know if the original source code exists anymore. If it does, can you even compile it? When you’re looking at Oblivion, they still had the code. They could still compile it. Putting the code into the new version of the engine was a possibility.“
He also challenged The Elder Scrolls fans to “go back and play Morrowind and tell me that’s the game you want to play again. We all have these fond memories of things that were pivotal moments in our gaming fantasy histories that we absolutely move but you go back and play a 20 year old game and you will cringe.”
While he doesn’t bring up any specific moment that he considers notably “cringe”-worthy, Nesmith noted that Oblivion Remastered also has similar vibes that players are forgiving thanks to the nostalgia they feel for it.
“People even had cringe moments with the Oblivion remake but they forgave it because they’re reliving something, they’re enjoying the nostalgia,” he said. “I worked on Oblivion. I’m even responsible for some of those cringe moments! The further back you go, the more that’s going to be an issue. The reality of playing Morrowind would not stand the test of time, in my opinion.”
As for a potential ground-up remake of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind with a modern engine, Nesmith believes that the time could be better spent on making something brand new instead. One suggestion he had was to focus on the same setting, but telling an entirely new story.
“Now if you were to completely remake Morrowind with the Skyrim engine, to try and rebuild it from the ground up, that’s a whole other story, but that’s an entire project,” he noted. “That’s a whole four-year development cycle. Why not go and make something new?”
“Let’s revisit the lands of Morrowind and do a new story. You can include the giant crab palace and all of that stuff but make it new and avoid all the things that would not have survived the test of time.”
For what it is worth, a remaster of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind might not be as “cringe” as Nesmith believes, but it would likely have difficulty attracting a new audience. While most elements of its story and worldbuilding still hold up today, gameplay aspects like its dice-roll-focused combat and more complex leveling system than modern The Elder Scrolls game might end up being too much for many. In the meantime, PC players can still easily pick up Morrowind and see for themselves if they would want a remaster, remake, or even a follow-up.
