Yes, Daggerfall Unity's creator is planning his own classic TES-style game, but don't expect to play it soon
“I'm still working stuff out.”
After kicking off 2024 by releasing the long-anticipated fan-made remaster of the second mainline entry in the Elder Scrolls series, Daggerfall Unity’s creator is now planning to make his own game in the style of the classic RPG, but don’t expect it to arrive any time soon, if it all.
If you missed it, developer Gavin Clayton and co were finally able to put out the colossal mod, which had been in development for nine years and gives Daggerfall a much more modern and accessible makeover, during the festive period. Now, the modder has plans to try and develop an original game inspired by the 1996 jaunt through High Rock and about seven thousand other places.
After telling Dualshockers that he’d already started working on his own “Daggerfall-style” game that’ll ideally feature “[a] big world, complex systems, [and] mod support” that’re similar to those found in Daggerfall Unity, Clayton has provided some extra insight into where he’s currently at with these plans.
“I should say that I'm not ready to announce anything firm yet and I'm still really early in [the] tech stage,” the developer explained in a tweet, “I'm also planning to start at a smaller scale and build up as I find my feet.” He went on to answer some fan questions about where his plans for the project currently stand, though it’s important to note that he emphasised he’s “still working stuff out”, so a lot could change from here on out.
“I have an optional main story in mind,” Clayton revealed in response to one commenter, “though I prefer systems where [the] player can find their own stories. The world is based on a campaign setting I created and ran for friends in the late 90s. I'm working to adapt this into a CRPG with my older sensibilities.”
One of the aspects of the developer’s plans that sounds like it could take a lot of work to pull together is the fact he wants to build his own engine for the game, rather than sticking with Unity. “A big part of the [reasoning behind using a] custom engine is [that] I want to incorporate a mod pipeline that's hard to pull off otherwise, Clayton explained.
“I'm not starting from scratch either, I've picked up an old engine of mine from several years back and [I’m] reworking it,” he continued, linking to an interesting thread from November last year about his engine building efforts over the years.
So, it sounds like you’ve still got plenty of time to enjoy Daggerfall Unity or listen to the voice of reason and play the classic game it’s based on before this new project from Clayton takes on a properly solid shape.
If you’re interested in reading more about interesting modding projects for Bethesda games that’re just as ambitious and interesting as Daggerfall Unity, make sure to check out all of our coverage of the recent C3 modding showcase, which included the likes of Fallout: London and Skyblivion.