The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review
Game Emblems
The Good
It sure guaranties you countless hours of fun and gaming through large variety for quests. Its worth giving a try.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the big, bold, and beautiful sequel you hoped for and is sure to bewitch you for countless hours.
The Good
- Immense world stuffed with varied tasks to perform
- Dragon battles are a blast
- Lovely art design capped by some beautiful, atmospheric touches
- Enjoyable battles that you can approach in a variety of ways
- Lots of compelling, self-contained stories to experience in addition to the main one.
The Bad
- Glitches and bugs frequently disrupt the immersion
- Friendly AI is often more of a hindrance than a help.
The province of Skyrim might be frigid, but the role-playing game that takes place within it burns with a fire few games possess. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you take up arms against dragons, and your encounters with them are invariably exciting--yet depending on where your adventure takes you, such battles may not even represent the pinnacle of your experience. A side quest that starts as a momentary distraction may turn into a full-fledged tale that could form the entirety of a less ambitious game. Yes, Skyrim is another enormous fantasy RPG from a developer that specializes in them, and it could suck up hundreds of hours of your time as you inspect each nook and crevasse for the secrets to be found within. If you know Bethesda Softworks' previous games, you might be unsurprised that Skyrim is not a land without blemish, but rather harbors any number of technical glitches and frustrating idiosyncrasies that tear open the icy veil that blankets the land. Many of them are ones Elder Scrolls fans will probably see coming, but they're ultimately a low price to pay for the wonders of a game this sprawling and enthralling. Prepare for many sleepless nights to come.
Those nights traversing these lands are ones well spent. The game returns you to the continent of Tamriel, where you explore the northern realm called Skyrim, home to the Nord race. In these northern regions, snow flurries cloud your view, and platforms of ice float on the chilled waters. Nighttime often brings Tamriel's version of the aurora borealis, with its gorgeous blue and green ribbons stretching across the heavens. Skyrim's predecessor, Oblivion, featured prototypical fantasy environments--pretty but not quite evocative of the lore's darker undercurrents. Skyrim embraces its darker elements. You might feel an eerie chill as you glimpse a half-sunken ship through the mist, or watch as a dragon comes to life before your very eyes under the swirling firmament. Skyrim's atmospheric tone harks back to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, only the hazy dust storms of the earlier game have been replaced by glimmering snowfall and opaque fog.
These lovely vistas are best seen from a distance. Closer inspection reveals plenty of hard edges, ugly painted-on textures, and other visual flaws that are awfully conspicuous should you seek them out. But like many enormous games, Skyrim makes a fantastic impression not because its individual elements are sharply honed, but because they contribute to a grander whole. There's so much to do that your quest log becomes an embarrassment of pleasures, offering dozens of choices at any given time, each one as enticing as the next. You could follow the story, of course, which weaves a compelling tale that casts you as a dragonborn; that is, the soul of a dragon emanates from within you. As such, you are the key to discovering why dragons have returned to the land, terrorizing cities and potentially ending the known world. The tale has you facing dragons, of course, but also crashing fancy dress parties and scouring sewers in search of a key figure long assumed dead. It's a well-crafted tale that makes good use of those fearsome flying creatures that horrify the masses with roaring gusts of fire and ice.
Even when you aren't pursuing story quests, though, the core narrative dogs you as you trot across the land on foot or on horseback. You might travel to a quaint hamlet only to discover that it's under siege by a hovering beast. The townspeople join you, aiming their arrows and fireballs upward, and not all of them may survive the encounter. These battles impress upon you the terror in which the populace lives, and thus give you a reason to be a hero to them. But plenty of narrative delights have nothing to do with dragons, and some of them could have formed the main story of a lesser RPG. Following an early lead takes you to a lonely house occupied by a single child with a disturbing request. The story that unravels has you acting as a predator and eavesdropping from an unimaginably sinister hiding place. Other story threads embrace the element of choice. You can take sides in the ongoing conflict between Imperial forces and the rebellious Stormcloaks, and then assault enemy camps and rescue prisoners jailed by the enemy. And in one memorable if minor quest line, you can kill a creepy cannibal--or join her and her cohorts at the table.
It's impressive enough that there's so much to do; it's even more impressive that most of it is wonderful. Not every dungeon is a joy to explore. Stone-turning puzzles occasionally bring the fun to a halt, and a few repeated cave designs could dampen your spirits. But overall, every task has an excellent sense of context, and surprises lurk around many a turn. Searching for a lost dog turns into a grander quest than you could have guessed--and witty writing and voice acting shine some light into this somber world. Even a simple "go there, kill that" bounty can be a thrill. After all, how often do you face a towering giant and a couple of woolly mammoths? It's too bad that as you approach the giant's camp, one of those mammoths might spawn 100 feet in the air and fall to its death, or land on another mammoth and ride on its back for a few seconds before sliding off.
So maybe not every surprise is a welcome one. But most are, and the element of the unexpected is what lures you to explore as much as you can. The reward could be a great weapon hidden in a locked chest, a gorgeous vista to ogle, or a book of lore that enhances one of your attributes. Or perhaps you'll discover words written in the dragons' tongue--an important discovery indeed. Finding those words is key to using Skyrim's most powerful spells, known as shouts. Well, they are half the key anyway: you also must defeat dragons and absorb their souls to activate those shouts. Shouts have their own cooldown timer and aren't tied to the magicka bar that governs standard spellcasting. With one shout, you can breathe fire on your attackers. With another, you can slow down time. Shouts hardly guarantee success in a difficult battle, but they can tip the scales in your favor. Besides, the dramatic visual and sound effects of both the discovery of words and the absorption of a dragon soul are a lovely bonus.
As for standard spells, they come in the usual schools of magicka: destruction (zap skeletons with sparks!), conjuration (summon a giant frost atronach!), alteration (light the way ahead!), and so on. You can even dual-wield spells, going full-on mage, with a glowing ball of fire in one hand and a summon at the ready in the other. For that matter, you can dual-wield one-handed weapons, giving you more flexibility in how you form your character. When you create your character, you choose a race from the usual Elder Scrolls standbys (Dark Elf, Breton, Argonian, and so forth), but you don't choose a class. Rather, your skill level with certain types of weapons, magicka schools, speech, and so on is governed primarily by how you play. Wear heavy armor, and taking blows gradually increases your heavy armor proficiency. Swing two-handed weapons, and you get better at using them.
By
Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
140 comments
2 Like Over ambitious and as a result, super buggy. It is becoming increasingly evident that Bethesda is attempting to create next generation games on current gen consoles. The sad thing is they are only going to try and add even more and continue to release bugged games when the next gen finally does come around.
And the public were the official beta testers for Skyrim.
The game is huge and rich with lore and content but 9 or so patches later and it still suffers terribly from bugs. Especially the infamous ash piles that have been 'fixed' 3 times yet still never disappear even on a new game.
It gains points for being First Person though. I HATE Third Person games with a passion, they always feel so impersonal. Third person and immersion? Impossible.
Ultimately Skyrim is like the girl you desperately love but she keeps f#cking other guys behind your back and ends up giving you the clap
1 Like Skyrim in a nutshell, Huge open landscape, limited interaction, play-rewind mechanics, meaning you go to a dungeon,cave,temple,fortress, kill the monsters,bad guys, loot, rinse and repeat, as for story, sucks. too generic, never wanted to finish it, and didn't feel like I made a difference when I did. DLC, dumb, why give me the power to build a house, then only have a few plots of land to put it on, I wanted mine on top of a F*****G mountain! Never ran into any glitches... Honestly I could care less for Skyrim, Elder Scrolls Oblivion was better in my book. Nothing is structured, its like go anywhere and do whatever you want. but do what exactly, I have a huge world and all i can do is swing my sword and pick S**T up? Kill-Loot-Repeat. The world is good looking don't get me wrong, its just I couldn't get into this at all compared to Oblivion - Morrowind. And I'm a big Elder Scrolls fan, Day one purchase! But oh well maybe next one will be good. or possibly Fallout 4, structured like the story in New Vegas, because obsidian is way better at story telling than Betheseda. For now ill stick with my Dark Souls... Now that's a great game (LOST3500) If anyone wants to duel in the Souls that's my gamertag! Peace!
@coolmath4life I disagree about Skyrim probably because I love it.But I agree with everything else.Especially Dark Souls.I'm still trying to beat it for the first time.Just taking me along time but I'll keep trying.
I came here after several attempts at starting this game only to get bored and stop playing. I listen to the review and agree with most of it. Great scenery, choice, open world, plenty to explore. But I keep thinking that is all good but I still don't want to play this game. There is something seriously missing, and I am a massive RPG fan. It is the only type of game I can truly lose myself in. I don't find it hard to turn Skyrim off though, in fact most of the time I find it hard not to turn it off. I just feel this is more the idea of them saying, "Here is a massive world for you to explore." and that is that. They tack some story onto the game but overall it is just you wandering through caves and for what? So you can go search more caves? There has to be something holding you in the world you are exploring and I haven't found what it is yet. If I don't find it soon I doubt I will be bothered to find out what it is.
@Dannystaples14 the lack of a strong central plot possibly...it has everything else except that
hey guys,which is better in the RPG world? dragon age series? dark souls series? or the witcher series? not to mention skyrim because im biased to skyrim! SKYRIM is the BEST!!
1 Like @goriv I'd Recommend Dark souls, not much story telling, but better than skyrim's lol. You are the story in Dark Souls. Great game, Great Difficulty, Give you that Sense of accomplishment when you beat a boss. Or get a better weapon ext... I world highly recommend you try it. LOST3500 is my gamertag if you do. add me and we can co op some bosses. Peace!
dragon age is a modern old school rpg with more emphasis on tactics,while witcher has more fluid combat....dark souls is in same combat style as witcher except 10x harder and a darker world....if you like amazing epic story go for DA,if you like epic story with stylish combat and graphics go for Witcher,if you like to experience a very dark and cruel world go for DS
@goriv skyrim have the biggest world . But if you want a very good story play dragon age . If you want a very challenging old school game play dark soul . For me dragon age 1 and oblivion are the best of the best .
I have a problem with this game. I find it really boring a lot of the time, and I try not to; mostly when there are conversations between the characters and I. The biggest problem I have with the game isn't necessarily the bugs in the game, it's the character animations that take me out of the immersion; in general, whether that be facial or body. The greatest thing the game can do is put you in the wilderness; it's somewhat calming.
I have yet to beat it of course, as well as hours and hours of side missions. That's just my personal take on it from all that I have done in the game, which is merely a few hours in, without much of the story. I can't really put too much criticism towards it since I haven't experienced all that can be experienced, but from the few hours I've played of it, I know what I can say about the things I have played, and I feel I know what to expect.
There is quite a lot of positive stuff to say, but my problems outweigh the positives, though not through quantity, but through quality. I wish when it comes to next-gen, when they make an Elder Scrolls game, they keep the world as large as Skyrim, at most, but work on the animations; character interactions (not necessarily from a dialogue or voice acting perspective), and just an overall graphics update; I think that'll help me become a lot more immersed in the world, which is one of the large attractions of Elder Scrolls games I believe.
I know many people can look past these things, but it's not something that I can be okay with. If I'm not immersed one way or another, I'm bored. I don't own this game, I am now, and again, borrowing it from my brother. I just turned it off, and I have to say that it was a bit more bearable. As long as I have no agenda with other games, and I can sit down and enjoy this, I think it'll help; unfortunately, now that won't be possible. I just got Crysis 3.
I had a blast playing through Skyrim. The complaints I have are the amount of bugs plaguing the game and the really low difficulty. Skyrim was just was too easy. Tho all and all I really the enjoyed the game
I think skyrim is an overall great game. I could play it for hours. I like the overall controls and the easy navigation from spell to item. this game isnt perfect though. I do not like the long loading time, it is excessive and takes away from the game. The loading time is so ridiculusly long that after a while I dont really want to play anymore.. And I also do not like the frequent glitches. You get stuck in rivers and rocks and buildings, it gets to the point where you have go to the last checkpoint after all the progress you have made throughout the game. Other than those things I think it is a great game. It is the first elder scrolls game I have played, i like the series and am looking forward to an other.
2 Like I don't see why people are praising this game, I thought there was nothing fun about it. To me, oblivion was the best game I have ever played (along with Fallout 3) so I was very excited for this game, so it was a HUGE disappointment for me. But everyone has their own opinion, it just makes me wonder because I have never met anyone who dislikes this.
@JackHarker I love all the games you mentioned.I usually spend all my time just walking around exploring the worlds and doing my own thing.I don't even pay attention to the story.Oblivion is the game I've spent the least amount of time with out of F3,Skyrim and Oblivion but I will eventually spend hundreds of hours there too like the others.I have hundreds of hours in Skyrim and still haven't been to that underground city with the crystals.I always get side tracked.F3 is still my favorite if I had to pick.
1 Like @JackHarker I liked them both, but saw this one as a vast improvement in its simplification of the menus and lack of annoying fish eye lense. That always bugged me about oblivion, everyone looked like that had fat wide faces because of the camera. I couldnt stick it out with oblivion although it was a stunning game. Skyrim however i find myself continuing to pick it up again and again!
I look at the review and user scores and can't believe there are this many gamers who are willing to overlook so many bugs, and I'm not talking about graphical glitches, I mean spending hours on a quest only to not be able to finish it because of some programmer error. Having to kill an important player because of a character programming glitch. It goes on and on and on. Don't get me wrong, this would definitely deserve this much praise if it wasn't so frustratingly flawed. I played to level 48 and completed the Dragonslayer quest along with most of the major quests and 65% of the side quests. I stayed neutral as long as I could but eventually had to choose a side, so I joined the Stormcloaks, however I'd had it with the bugs and quit before taking part in the civil war. I played a great deal of the game. It's one thing to get frustrated with a game because it's difficult, if fairly so. That's just gaming 101. I think people are stuck in some sort of denial induced by the hype of the game. When everything is going AS IT SHOULD this game is f'ing great, way to easy, but great. Not worth $60. Wait till it comes down to half that, and you won't feel cheated.
@slimskelter I agree the bugs are a big problem. I think bethesda should release an update to fix them.
2 Like Dawnguard is a great addition to skyrim. I did the vampire story line and had lots of fun playing as the lord vampire. If you don't mind having to feed once a day I strongly recommend that story line. If you are a werewolf you can always go back to being the werewolf after you are done feeding on the humans. :P
1 Like Skyrim is a game of skill you will know if you have played oblivion, you start of as a convict ready to get exicuted wich i didnt really get, you will really enjoy this game if you liked the fallout games, if you never played any of the elderscrolls or fallout i really recomend it and the add on dawngaurd is really good just make sure you ether have a good level or good armour or wepons thanks.
this is a good game , but from a guy who played fallout. its just...
the thing that was so great in fallout is that you can create your own story, skyrim gives you that feeling but in skyrim you dont really have any choise.
so its a good game but the lack of choise for this kind of game bugs me
1 Like Skyrim is "Twilight" for boys. And seeing this casual half-done game getting such a high score just amazes me. Gamespot, sometimes You are so inadequate.
P.S. Epic dragon Battles are so "epic", lol (Went playing MH and waiting Dark Souls for PC)
@124C1 I agree with you, but Skyrim is still is very well-made game. The dragon battles are most certainly not epic. I can 100% agree with that, but it's still a fantastic adventure.. Dark souls won my GoTY vote. If Skyrim wasn't main-stream, it would have never won GoTY.
Well-made? I can agree with the point that it took much resources.
Dragon Batlles - Epic? oh COME ON, when even Guards could take them out. When These dragons fly around, go down to get their portion of hp damage with shitty animation, doing nothing, then flying away so U could heal? Yeah, it just can't get any cooler than this.
Dragon fights from MH games are surely not that epic, uh-huh.
And Dark Souls. just some clicking, right?
Not everything that wins GOTY is a good game indeed, it's just pick of some people, and today's game industry is full of wastes.
Sadly, "pieces of art" tend to be manipulative at some times. So RPG about so manly nords, fighting dragons IS manipulative.
2 Like It was a great game, until I got a lot of bugs in quests making them unfinishable(does this word exist??)
1 Like they give it a 9.....and yet it will most likely beat out gears of war 3 and dark souls (which both got a 9.5) and win game of the year....doesn't make much sense to me.
2 Like @hamebone123 Skyrim only won GoTY because it's mainstream... Dark Souls deserves the 9.5... A 9 for Skyrim is very generous.
2 Like @mattsp10 dark souls is great too. i'm glad it got a 9.5 as well...but one of the main reasons most publishers didn't give it game of the year is because most of them were put off by how hard it is and never gave it a chance. If dark souls won game of the year...you wouldn't hear me complaining about it one bit.
@hamebone123 @mattsp10 I don't think dark souls is hard and few boss battles are hard, and enemies in dark souls has terrible AI compared to skyrim.
In skyrim if we sneak attack they will search for us and leaves us after a while but in dark souls if enemies are hit from a certain distance they won't even bother that they are being hit.
@mattsp10 yeah. That's what i meant. I wish dark souls won but i'm not mad at skyrim because both games are very different but they're also great in their own ways.
3 Like @hamebone123 Well said. 100% agree with you. It's not even the difficulty for me. Dark Souls requires thought and concentration. Once you learn the basics, it becomes one hell of a ride. I still like Skyrim, but Dark Souls takes the cake, for me.
@hamebone123 Game of the year isn't the game that gets the highest score, but the game that made that year what it was, and a lot of other reasons they put forth in one of the videos. Demon Souls got game of the year with a 9 as well.
1 Like @Lord_Python1049 I agree...it should win goty, what i meant was that they should have given it a higher rating. if they watied on reviewing skyrim until the patches were created then it would have gotten a higher score since the biggest issue was the "game breaking bugs"
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
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- Publisher(s): Bethesda Softworks
- Developer(s): Bethesda Game Studios
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Release:
- ESRB: M
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Navigation
