Nesmith hopes Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel will add climbable ladders
The former Skyrim lead designer says ladders in Skyrim teleported players instead of being climbed, limiting multi-layer level design.
Bruce Nesmith, a former lead designer on Skyrim and a Bethesda veteran, said he hopes The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel will let players actually climb ladders, according to comments reported by GamesRadar+ from an interview with The Examined Game.
Nesmith said that in Skyrim every ladder teleports the character from one end to the other instead of being climbed. He said that approach limited the art team's ability to design multi-layer levels.
He also described the programming challenges that climbable ladders would bring, such as an NPC trying to descend a ladder while the player is climbing it.
According to Nesmith, Bethesda chose to spend its effort on other features rather than implement climbable ladders in Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel was revealed by Bethesda in October 2025.
Quick answers
What did Bruce Nesmith say about ladders in The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel?
He said he hopes the game will let players actually climb ladders, rather than teleporting them as Skyrim did.
Why did Skyrim use teleporting ladders?
Nesmith said Bethesda chose to spend effort on other features instead of implementing climbable ladders, which brought programming challenges.