Although cooking has been a feature of Elder Scrolls titles in the past, such as Skyrim, it typically doesn't serve as a major skill tree within the franchise the way similar features like Alchemy and Enchanting do. The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) took the cooking mechanic to a new level, however, allowing players to collect recipes in order to make a wide berth of meals with different in-game benefits. The Elder Scrolls 6 has the opportunity to follow suit and build upon cooking as a feature.
According to Todd Howard, TES 6 is still in its design phase, meaning that it's unclear what its gameplay or even its story could look like at the moment, but that hasn't stopped speculation around which mechanics from Skyrim could be making a return in the upcoming title. This has also lead some to consider which features could be expanded upon and improved. For example, player housing and companion NPCs are two elements that many Elder Scrolls fans feel could benefit from being more fleshed out in The Elder Scrolls 6.
Cooking is one such feature that tends to get criticized, at least in Skyrim, due to feeling lackluster in terms of benefits and other gameplay impacts. There are quite a few major Skyrim mods that aim to help improve the mechanic, though, which could help give some insight into what players are looking for in the next Elder Scrolls title. Additionally, The Elder Scrolls Online laid the groundwork for how cooking could be implemented into TES 6 as well.
How The Elder Scrolls 6 Could Learn Cooking From ESO
Many other recent games place heavier focus on cooking in order to offer players different combat or other gameplay benefits. Valheim is a good example of a Skyrim-esque title that more thoroughly explores cooking. Stardew Valley and even the upcoming Sims 4 expansion pack, Cottage Living, involve farming crops to use in cooking recipes. Even Nintendo has started to include the feature more, as seen in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Although Skyrim does arguably have a cooking element - players can barter for ingredients, gather vegetables from farms around the map, and hunt animals for meat to use in cooking - it's far from being a main part of the game. Cooking has no skill tree as opposed to other crafting skills like Alchemy, and the benefits of food tend toward the minor.
The Elder Scrolls Online, on the other hand, includes cooking as a full-fledged option by way of the Provisioning profession, allowing players to create food and drinks that provide buffs in combat. These buffs have multiple effects and can even last for varying length of time. Ingredients for ESO's many recipes are primarily found in containers scattered throughout the world, similarly to what is seen within Skyrim, while the recipes themselves are more often looted from furniture such as desks and dressers. This helps to create two layers to ESO's provisioning skill tree: players not only have to know their recipes, but they also have to have the correct amount of ingredients on hand, and both elements are found in different primary locations. Players will then need to locate a cooking station to craft recipes, similar to ESO's other professions. By building upon all of these features, The Elder Scrolls 6 could pave the way for many more unique gameplay opportunities.