Format: Xbox 360 (Tested) | PlayStation 3 | PC
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: 11th November 2011 (Out Now)
Emerging from a long hard fought dungeon at dusk, your main thought is what to do next. Go and rest, perhaps even do some minor tasks or even jump straight back into the next big task. Suddenly a large silhouette fills the ground below your feet. A deafening screech disturbs the silence and your worst fears are suddenly realised. A dragon has come. Do you run for your life or draw your sword and take on the beast? This is Skyrim. A deadly world that is your oyster. There are many stories to be told in this vast land. Providing you’re brave and strong enough to take it on.
From the get-go you realise the struggle of the new land you have been forced to venture into. Soon to be beheaded by the Imperial troops, a nasty attack from a dragon (which many believed to be mythical) saves your bacon. Upon emerging from the opening action Skyrim is yours to do what you please with. It’s suggested where you should go next to get the ball rolling, but from then on you are free to roam the land and make discoveries for yourself. There is no linear order to your adventure.
The province of Skyrim, in the fantasy world of Tamriel, is in the far North. Above Oblivion’s Cyrodil and to the west of Morrowind. Its position makes it very mountainous, cold and very snowy. You can be snuggled up in your warm home and still feel the cold of Skyrim. It’s not a happy place to be, with civil unrest and the threat of dragons.
As a Dragonborn (of whatever character class you choose), you possess the soul of a dragon, and have the ability to speak their language in the form of deadly dragon shouts – a nice skill that can get you out of sticky spots at times. New shouts can be found at the end of dungeons or hidden on mountains. Once found you’ll have the ability available to you in the Shout menu, but before it can be used you need to unlock it with a dragon soul. To obtain a dragon soul you need to achieve the daunting task of slaying a dragon. While at first this can be tough, as you level up certain types become easier to kill. However, there are many types and some will have you fleeing for your life throughout.
While there is a main quest that revolves around the dragons and your dragonborn skill, there are plenty of stories waiting to be told in Skyrim. There are side missions galore across various factions, including the infamous Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guilds amongst others. The smaller missions are put into the Miscellaneous section of your mission list. These can be basic “find and fetch” quests or sometimes just a small piece of information that can lead to much bigger tasks. Being on the Misc list may make quests seem like throwaway missions, but some can be time consuming and very rewarding, making you want to do them as much as the main and side missions. In fact you may go many hours without even touching the main quest. There is plenty to do in Skyrim.
Skyrim is a character in itself. It’s a vast, atmospheric, deadly and very believable world. Upon setting a map marker to a new area, you just know you’ll stumble across many distractions along the way. Whether it be an epic battle against a foe, or discovering a new area, a new cave to explore or a whole new mission. Fast travel becomes an option once an area is discovered, but it’s always a good thing to take a walk, or ride a horse. Not only will you likely find a new adventure, it also gives you a chance to level up your skills.
Each skill in the game can be levelled up depending on your personal playing style. From one-hand combat to two-hand combat, blocking, sneaking, pick pocketing, lock picking, plus various sorts of magic, and so on. Each time you use a skill successfully it’ll gradually level up. Levelling up skills adds up to an overall level. Unlike Oblivion, enemies don’t level up with you so those that are challenging in the earlier stages will soon become one hit kills. Upon levelling up you receive a Perk Point, which can be distributed into the numerous skills to make them better. Thankfully you get a Perk every time you level up and not every few times, like in Fallout.
Bethesda has also improved the combat to make it feel more rewarding. Rather than simply slashing with your sword until the enemy is downed you can now trigger kill animations. These are in third-person and there are numerous ways of finishing beasts. While they do make you feel badass they’re not exactly animated very well, with your sword looking rather off on some enemies. It would certainly make combat more awesome if you could de-limb or behead enemies, but sadly you can’t do this. You can dual wield weapons though, while magic players can wield two spells also. New magic can be learnt by finding or buying a spell book, of which there are many to acquire.
You still have the option to play the entire game in third or first-person. Thankfully, unlike previous Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, the third-person view works very well. With your weapons put away the camera is tight at the hip, but when you draw your sword it moves out, giving you a better view of your surroundings. Because of the improvements I expect many third-person fans will happily play the whole game this way. Even first-person players will no doubt switch to third occasionally to check out their awesome armour.
Small distractions include alchemy, forgery, cooking, enchanting, etc., where you can take your looted haul and turn them into something worthwhile. Alchemy can turn items into useful potions, which can do many things such as regain health, magic and stamina, resist magic or even turn you invisible for a short period. There are seemingly hundreds of different potions to use to your advantage. Meanwhile, forging can strengthen existing armour and weapons. Or you can even build new weapons if you find the right ingredients. Nice distractions these may be, but they are also essential to prepare for the tougher sections of the game. To make Skyrim feel more homely you can even buy and decorate a house (great for storing loot), and find a woman to marry you.
It’s hard to sum up everything Skyrim has to offer in one short review, but at the same time I don’t want to reveal too much. There is so much to do here that it’s best when you discover it for yourself. That is a big part of Skyrim’s appeal. Bethesda has created an engrossing game, with hours and hours of play, in a believable world, with a haunting and atmospheric musical score. Skyrim will steal your life, and you will happily let it. If that isn’t game of the year/decade/century material then what is?
