The Elder Scrolls VI: Argonia

The Elder Srolls VI: Argonia is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the sixth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Argonia'' will be released on November 6, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Argonia's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to defeat Fenrisulfr, a Lilmothiit who has been working with Dwemer before their demise to eradicate all life on Tamriel. Set three hundred years after Skyrim, the game takes place in the fictional province of Black Marsh (also known as Argonia). The game continues the open world tradition of it's predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere within the game world at anytime and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. A perpetual objective for players is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of certain abilities.

Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls VI: Argonia is an action role-playing game, playable from either a first or third-person perspective. The game is presented as an open world, allowing the player free roam over Argonia, a large open environment. The player may navigate the game world faster by riding horses, or by utilizing a fast-travel system that allows the player to warp to previously-discovered cities, towns and dungeons. A main quest is assigned to the player at the beginning of the game, but it can be completed at the player's leisure, or ignored given the prerequisite that the first stage of the quest is completed. Non-player characters (NPCs) allocate the player additional side-quests, and the parameters to some of these side-quests may be adjusted, for example by sending the player to a dungeon that has not been previously explored. The player can interact with NPCs in other ways as well, for example by having conversations with them, which may probe the opportunity to be assigned a quest by the NPC. Some NPCs that are befriended or hired by the player may act as companions who will accompany the player and provide aid in combat. The player may choose to join factions, which are organized groups of NPCs such as the Shadowscales, a band of assassins. Each of the factions has a headquarters, and they have their own quest paths which the player can progress through. Each of the cities and towns in the game world has an economy, which the player can stimulate by completing jobs such as farming.

A perpetual objective for the player is to develop their character. At the beginning of the game, the player creates their character by selecting one of several human, elven, or anthropomorphic races, and then customizes their character's appearance. Over the course of the game, the player improves their character's skills, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. There are twenty-one skills divided evenly between the three schools of body, combat and magic, with the stealth school from Skyrim being split between body and combat. When the player has trained skills enough to meet the required experience, their character levels up. Each time their character levels, the player may choose to select a skill-specific ability called a perk, or store perks for later use. Unlike earlier entries in The Elder Scrolls series which used a character class system to determine which skills would contribute to the character's leveling, Argonia allows the player to discover preferred skills as they play the game and rewards the player with more experience when a frequently-used skill is leveled. The head-up display (HUD) appears when any of the player's three main attributes are being depleted. Health is depleted primarily by damage through combat and although it is regenerated naturally over time, it can also be restored by spells, potions, or resting; the loss of all health results in death. Magicka is depleted by the use of spells and by being struck by lightning-based attacks. Stamina determines the player's effectiveness in combat and is depleted by sprinting, power attacking, and being struck by frost-based attacks; both magicka and stamina can be regenerated in similar ways to health. The player's inventory can be accessed from the menu and items can be viewed in 3D, which can be essential in solving puzzles found in dungeons.

The player's effectiveness in combat relies on the use of weapons and armor, which may be bought or created at forges, and magic, which may also be bought or unlocked. Weapons and magic are assigned to each hand, allowing for dual-wielding, and can be swapped out through a quick-access menu of favorite items. Shields can be used either to fend off enemy attacks and reduce the damage intake, or offensively through bashing attacks. Blunt, bladed and hacking weapons can be used in close combat and each have specific advantages and roles; as an example, the player can perform power attacks with each weapon. Magic can be used in the form of spells; each of the eighty-five spells has a different function, such as the regeneration of health or the depletion of enemy health. The bow and arrow may be utilized in long-range combat, but the bow can be used as a defensive melee weapon in close combat. The player can enter sneak mode and pickpocket, or deliver sneak attacks to unsuspecting enemies.

Plot
Argonia is not a direct sequel to Skyrim, but a new chapter in The Elder Scrolls series, set 300 years after the events of Skyrim. Different to previous The Elder Scrolls games, Argonia begins with the player as a respected guard of Stormhold. After being transferred to a smaller town nearby, the player and other guards get attacked by a group of Lilmothiit. The player character will eventually lose the fight, and will wake up off the shore of Thorn, where they are rescued by an Argonian, who takes off the player's guard helmet, which leads to the creation/modification to the player character.

The player is then directed to Helstrom, where the only other survivor of the Lilmothiit attack was. Do Marth was a Khajit guard that survived the Lilmothiit attack. He tells the player character it has been a month since the attack, and during the time Do Marth has been looking into rumors of werewolves. There have been sightings all over Elseweyr but nothing out of the ordinary, just regular werewolf attacks. The player is then instructed to search Argonia for more information. After investigating several sites, the player is framed for murdering the Soulrest Commander, and is locked underground in a Dwemer ruin, beneath Soulrest. After surveying the area and finding pieces of lost history, the player stumbles across the entrance to a Dwemer City, which has claw marks and wolf footprints all over the city. After inspecting the city, the player learns that the attack was not a werewolf attack, but an attack by the mysterious Lilmothiit, who where thought to be extinct. When the player tries to escape the ruins, He realises that Soulrest was attacked, and it was completely destroyed. However, a dwemer dynamo core was left behind by the attackers. The player and Do Marth slowly piece everything together, but they were short of time before the Black Marsh was successfully invaded by the Lilmothiit, with the help of Dwemer technology. Most citizens are killed, and a resistance forms, and it includes the player and Do Marth.

A massive golem starts to destroy Argonia, named the third Numidium. The only way to beat the Numidium was locked deep beneath the ground. After adventuring through Dwemer ruins, caves and other underground sites, the player comes across the weapon to defeat Numidium, Wraithguard. The final battle ensues, as the resistance battles the Lilmothiit, while the player battles Numidium. Numidium bests the player, except Lord Kagrenac appears, weilding Keening, Wraithguard and Sunder. The player gets escorted to safety by Do Marth, while Kagrenac attacks Numidium, and there is a large explosion, the death of the Lilmothiit, Numidium and Kagrenac.

Development
Argonia was conceptualized shortly after the release of Skyrim in 2011. Work on Argonia did not begin until The Elder Scrolls: Online's release in 2014. Developers considered the game to be a spiritual successor to previous The Elder Scrolls games.

Argonia is powered by the Unigine Engine developed by Unigene Corp. Argonia also uses Bethesda's own Creation Engine.