Former Bethesda Design Director, Bruce Nesmith, believes that the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6 will continue using the leveling up and progression system found in Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Nesmith, who was instrumental in designing Skyrim and had a senior role in Starfield, disclosed this in a conversation with MinnMax, asserting "absolutely" the progression system would remain.

Notable in Skyrim and similar to other RPGs like Final Fantasy 2, their progression system allows players to advance specific skills through related actions -- for example, using a bow and arrow improves the Archery skill, while sneaky behavior levels up the Sneak ability. Players' overall experience level increases alongside these individual skill advancements.

nBruce Nesmith's input on the game's progression mechanicsn

Nesmith played a significant role in the design of these mechanics such as leveling. He revealed, "The whole magic system for Skyrim, I persuaded [Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard] to let me throw out the baby and the bathwater and let me restart from scratch, and he trusted me enough to do that." Even though Nesmith no longer works for Bethesda, he anticipates that his work will be influential in Elders Scrolls 6.

However, it'll be years before fans can validate these speculations. Bethesda is currently focusing on Starfield, so Elders Scrolls 6 might not release until 2028, nearly 17 years after Skyrim. The game went into early development in 2018 but fans are still keenly involved modding Skyrim and creating new content.