Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

Skyrim is the newest game in Bethesda's long running open world series: The Elder Scrolls. Oblivion graced our screens back in 2006, but does Skyrim trump its predecessor, or will the Oblivion gates draw you back in?
Before I even get started, Skyrim is a fantastic game and is easily the best in series. You start off on your way to Helgen as an anonymous prisoner after you were captured trying to cross the border from Cyrodiil. Just as you rest your head on the chopping block, the world eater, Alduin, swoops onto the watch tower and saves you from a certain and bloody death. After a somewhat miraculous escape, you are thrust into the crisp world of Skyrim. Larger than Cyrodiil and even more alive, Skyrim brings you a sprawling world filled with lush forests and an ashen tundra. The environments are utterly beautiful but some slow frame rates and sometimes blurry textures pop up from time to time and may threaten to break your immersion. Though this is highly unlikely.
Skyrim offers more customization and choice than ever before. You can choose to be one out of ten possible races, be it a high elf mage or an imperial spellsword. But no matter what race you choose at the beginning, every conversation or choice you make ends up having some kind of consequence someplace else. For example, if you kill the head miner in one area, a rival miner may offer you gold because of your evil deed; and you had no knowledge of this rivalry beforehand!
However, sword fighting doesn't quite have the same immersion as archery or long distance magic does and it can sometimes feel like you are just button mashing when facing off against a particularly hard enemy.
All together, Skyrim is a fantastic game which brings a preternatural element of immersion and satisfaction and is guaranteed to keep you playing for hours on end.