United Kingdom, Jan. 16 -- A former Bethesda Game Studios designer has claimed The Elder Scrolls VI was once envisioned as a darker, cliffhanger-heavy chapter inspired by Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

Kurt Kuhlmann - who spent more than two decades at Bethesda Game Studios and was widely regarded as the Elder Scrolls series' "loremaster" - said his original pitch for the next mainline entry would have subverted the RPG franchise's familiar power fantasy.

Rather than ending with the player decisively saving the world, Kuhlmann imagined a story in which the Thalmor - the elven supremacist antagonists - would effectively win.

He explained to PC Gamer: "I had in my mind that TES6 was going to be like The Empire Strikes Ba...