Bethesda Finally Names 'The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel' After Years of Silence With a New Teaser

Few video game announcements have been as long in the making as the next mainline entry in Bethesda’s fantasy RPG series. Fans have spent years debating setting, platforms and release timing, usually with almost nothing to go on. Now the waiting game has produced a concrete answer, at least when it comes to the name.

Bethesda Game Studios has officially revealed that the game is called ‘The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel’, with the news landing on November 3. The announcement came through a new video and an Xbox Wire post that also unveiled the game’s logo. It is the first major piece of official information since the game was first teased at E3 2018.

The reveal came at the end of a video celebrating 40 years of Bethesda Game Studios, filmed outside Bethesda, Maryland, where the company began. After looking back at the studio’s history, Todd Howard acknowledged that fans constantly ask about the next ‘Elder Scrolls’ game and said the anniversary felt like the right moment to share its name. The title and logo then appeared on screen.

Today we’re sharing with you all the name of the next Elder Scrolls title (did you guess correctly?). https://t.co/zjhpJXQNtF
— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) November 3, 2026

For now, this is a name reveal and not a full showcase. Bethesda has not announced a release date, platforms, gameplay systems or story details. The studio says the game remains in development at Bethesda Game Studios.

The name itself will not surprise longtime followers. Sentinel is a major city in Hammerfell, the Redguard homeland in western Tamriel, and it sits on the Iliac Bay coast. That fits the coastline seen in the original E3 2018 teaser, which showed mountains, water and a title card.

It also follows the series’ naming habits. Daggerfall took its name from a city, while Morrowind and Skyrim were named after provinces. Using a place name for the subtitle keeps with that tradition.

The reveal was largely predicted. The Verge’s Tom Warren reported in late October that Bethesda planned to announce the game as ‘The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel’, and that the reveal could come as soon as November. He expected a name announcement and nothing more.

His report also claimed the game is set in Hammerfell and that its story will dig into the history of the Elder Scrolls themselves and mysterious ancient artifacts. Bethesda has not confirmed the setting or the story in its announcement, so those details should still be treated as unconfirmed. The setting remains a strong rumor for now.

Fans had been circling the answer for months. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described watching a live playthrough of the game in August, but hid the subtitle behind eight asterisks. Eagle-eyed players noticed that Sentinel has exactly eight letters, and a former Bethesda writer responded to the theory with an affirmative.

The history behind this moment is a big part of why it matters. Bethesda announced the game at E3 2018 with a short teaser alongside Starfield, and then went quiet for more than 8 years. In that time, Starfield arrived, and the studio repeatedly said the new game was a long way off.

More recently, the tone has shifted. Howard told GQ in November 2025 that the game had become the studio’s primary development priority. In February, he described it in an interview with Kinda Funny Games as a classic Bethesda role-playing game in the vein of ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’ and ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’.

The timing also lines up neatly with the calendar. November 11 marks the 15th anniversary of ‘Skyrim’, which makes this a perfect moment to remind fans that a new chapter is coming. The anniversary video also gave Bethesda a ready-made stage for the announcement.

The biggest open questions are the same ones that have lingered for years. Platforms are still unannounced, and Howard said in July that it was too early to comment on whether the game would be exclusive to Xbox. There is also no timeline, and some reports have suggested the game could still be two or more years away.

Even so, a name changes the conversation. It gives fans something to rally around, and it confirms that the project is real and moving forward. Many will now start speculating about Hammerfell’s deserts, its cities and the way the story might tie into the series’ lore.

Bethesda has not said when the next update will arrive. A larger reveal may be saved for a future showcase, but there is no confirmed date. For now, the logo is the clearest proof that the next journey to Tamriel is underway.