Daggerfall successor The Wayward Realms dev feels that Starfield’s “empty” worlds might have stained procedural generation for gamers

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The Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Game Studios returned to procedural generation with Starfield, using the technology to create its large planets to mixed effect. While ProcGen technology has its ups and downs, The Wayward Realms developer OnceLost is hoping to use it to great effect in its upcoming Daggerfall successor.

In a Reddit thread responding to an article about gamers’ move to more complex RPGs, The Wayward Realms creative producer Victor Villarreal explained that Bethesda’s Starfield may have harmed the image of modern procedural generation.

Did Starfield hurt ProcGen’s image?

Speaking to fans on the Elder Scrolls subreddit, Villarreal explained that procedural generation has evolved massively since the days of Daggerfall. While games suffered back in the late 90s, the team behind The Wayward Realms believes that the technology has evolved to to tell properly crafted stories in a procedural environment.

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However, the game’s creative producer believes that their game shouldn’t be lumped in with modern examples like Starfield. While Starfield does have a lot of good points, it’s a game that didn’t use procedural generation to its benefit whereas The Wayward Realms and even Daggerfall do.

“Daggerfall is one of my favorite games, definitely my favorite TES title, but Starfield really has nothing in common with it,” Villarreal explained. “It is true that both have open worlds that feel “empty” but in Daggerfall’s case that was due to the limitation of the technology as opposed to actual design direction as Bethesda stated many times that these planets, or at least the majority, were meant to feel empty.”


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Alongside a procedural open world, The Wayward Realms will also include produral dungeons to keep playthroughs fresh. While some fans have taken issue at this, Villarreal explains that generated dungeons have come a long way. (Most roguelikes, such as Dead Cells or The Binding of Isaac use ProcGen dungeons to great effect.)

“Procedural dungeons would also have gone a long way in adding variety and replayability and certainly would have made the game more interesting,” they explained. “That being said, people will and do definitely criticize our use of procedural generation as they believe we can ONLY do the same level of procedural generation as Starfield, mostly because most games don’t utilize it and the few that do, don’t take advantage of any benefits it offers. Hopefully we can change some minds but it is definitely an uphill battle.”

The Wayward Realms is expected to launch in early access later this year. For more information on the upcoming game, check out our recent interview with Elder Scrolls co-creator and The Wayward Realms director Ted Peterson on the VideoGamer Podcast.

About the Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with a decade of experience writing news, reviews, features and investigative pieces about game development with a focus on Halo and Xbox.

Starfield

  • Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
  • Genre(s): Adventure, RPG, Science Fiction, Space