This Skyrim mod turns it into a "multiverse" of Dragonborns, and now I'm praying for something similar in Elder Scrolls 6

While you can of course be accompanied on your adventures by NPC companions, Skyrim remains a firmly single-player affair. Just you, a solitary Dragonborn with the fate of a region on your shoulders. There’s a lot of merit to that – it puts pressure upon you to do the right thing, as you’re seemingly this world’s only hope. But what if there were others like you out there, all working towards the same goal? And what if you could see the traces of their journeys? Lumis, a Skyrim mod that aims to bring some “passive multiplayer” magic to the game, could show you what that reality looks like. Having seen what it’s trying to achieve, I’m now convinced it’s a feature The Elder Scrolls 6 should have.

By its creator’s own description, Lumis aims to create a “Skyrim multiverse.” While you can live out your individual journey in the RPG as you like, you can also see the essence of other players using the mod as they traverse through the world. Similar to a lot of FromSoftware’s soulslikes, this is about feeling the presence of other players, rather than being some kind of direct PvP or co-op multiplayer experience. Every player that runs this mod will connect to a shared server, with those closest to you being displayed as spectral white orbs.

“The mod renders up to eight other players near your location within 4,500 units as ‘Magelight’ ghosts. Watch them move, jump, and explore alongside you,” Lumis’ NexusMods description reads.

“If there are more than eight players in your area, such as at Bannered Mare, then the server will randomly select eight of those players to appear,” mod creator ‘Ztratosphere’ adds. “Leaving and re-entering an area allows you to refresh the random eight players you’ll come across.”

While a more human-like ghost form, or even a translucent recreation of a player’s actual in-game appearance, would be far more impressive than some glowing orbs, I still really like the bones of this mod. To be able to share what is meant to be a solitary adventure with the souls of others, all while avoiding direct confrontation or effects on your world and story, is a great concept. It’s also got my cogs whirring when it comes to Skyrim’s long-awaited sequel.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 may be anywhere between a year and a decade away at this stage, given how silent Bethesda has been about it, that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it (and its potential impact) regularly. While it should of course, first and foremost, be a single-player game with an immersive world and tons of replayability like Skyrim, what if there was an official, baked-in system like this? Maybe not in real time, like Lumis, but something resembling the asynchronous multiplayer of many FromSoftware games. Notes and messages left by those that trod your path before you. Ghosts of previously vanquished players that can show you what not to do.

This being Bethesda, there’d likely need to be some narrative reasoning as to how this is possible. But in lieu of actual co-op (which I don’t foresee being in TES 6, but you never know) something like Lumis would be an intriguing addition.