The Elder Scrolls VI Is Officially Called Sentinel

Eight years after a brief teaser at E3 2018 that showed little more than a mountainous landscape and a logo, The Elder Scrolls VI finally has a full name: The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel. The title appeared at the very end of a video Bethesda posted to YouTube today called Celebrating 40 Years of Bethesda Game Studios, with Todd Howard narrating a look back at the studio’s history before getting to the reveal. Howard said everybody is always asking about The Elder Scrolls VI, and that the 40th anniversary seemed like the right moment to share what the game is called. That’s all Bethesda shared, though, as the reveal is just the logo sitting on a bed of sand, with no gameplay, platforms, or release window.

Bethesda didn’t confirm where the game takes place, but the name itself points to Hammerfell. Sentinel is the capital of the Alik’r Desert region of Hammerfell, the Redguard homeland, and the text accompanying the reveal is attributed to Yazar, a Moth Priest serving High Queen Iradne of Hammerfell, dated 4E 206. That’s five years after the events of Skyrim, which takes place in 4E 201, though it doesn’t necessarily mean Sentinel is set during that time. Hammerfell has been the leading guess among fans since the 2018 teaser, which showed a coastline and mountains rather than desert, though the Alik’r does border the Dragontail Mountains.

Bethesda has said very little about The Elder Scrolls VI since that E3 2018 teaser, and most of what we know has come from development updates rather than actual reveals. During the FTC trial in 2023, XBOX’s Phil Spencer said the game was five-plus years away, which at the time I took to mean 2028 at the earliest. This past July, Bethesda said in a note to fans that The Elder Scrolls VI is now the studio’s primary focus, with most of the team building it on Creation Engine 3 and ZeniMax Online Studios partnering on the franchise. The anniversary video repeats that Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are where the studio is headed next, and Howard noted that Skyrim remains Bethesda’s most-played game nearly 15 years after its release.

The Elder Scrolls VI: Official Name Reveal