Alex Levine October 19th, 2023 - 11:05 PM
It looks like Pete Hines wasn’t the only big player to leave Bethesda this week. The Lead Quest Designer for Starfield, Will Shen, announced on his LinkedIn page that he has decided to leave the company and will now join Something Wicked Games as their new Lead Content Designer for their upcoming horror RPG title. In his post, Shen expresses excitement with working for the developer, but also thanked Bethesda for his time there and that he was “lucky to have been a part of titles like Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Starfield.”
Hey Folks! Something Wicked Games Hires Ex-Bethesda Design Director Will Shen as Lead Content Designer on Upcoming Preternatural Open World RPG, Wyrdsong. WELCOME WILL!
— Something Wicked Games (@SomeWickedGame) October 16, 2023
Shen has built himself a very impressive resume during his time at Bethesda. As he stated in his post, Shen was part of many different IP launches, all of which have been smash hits on varying degrees. Prior to working on Starfield, Shen worked as a quest designer and writer for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Fallout: 76. In addition, Shen was also the lead designer for the Far Harbor expansion on Fallout 4, which was critically acclaimed for it’s storytelling and new weapons.
Shen’s new duties at Something Wicked Games will mostly pertain to their upcoming IP, Wyrdsong. According to the studio, the title is set in the middle ages and is “doused in occult imagery, a quest awaits players that will have them questioning their sense of reality and the choices they make.” Shen’s appointment isn’t all that surprising as the studio has brought in other former Elder Scrolls developers as well as other developers associated with Obsidian and BioWare. It’ll be interesting to see how Wyrdsong’s development proceeds from here, and how Bethesda will fill in the void of a very integral developer.
