Bethesda Game Studios has released its fifth iteration in The Elder Scrolls series with “Skyrim,” and like its predecessors, it gives the western RPG style of gameplay gamers crave and have come to expect from Bethesda.
“Skyrim” takes place roughly 200 years after the events of “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,” and takes place in the country of Skyrim on the continent Tamriel, the continent every Elder Scrolls game has taken place on. To summarize the plot, Skyrim is at civil war with itself and to make matters worse, ancient dragons that haven’t been seen in Tamriel for thousands of years have reappeared. Gamers will create their own, unique character to traverse Skyrim and save the country in whatever fashion they choose.
Just like in every Bethesda developed game, “Skyrim” focuses on player choices. At the start of the game you create your own hero and choose from several different races. Bethesda leaves everything up to the gamer. The depth of creativity is fantastic. You could spend several hours creating your ideal character right down to just how far its chin juts out, or how baggy the character’s eyes are. The whole process is extremely detailed, but Bethesda does not force the player to go through all of that if they do not want to. Several preset designs are available for every race for players to choose from.
Like the games before, “Skyrim” is completely non-linear. The player decides where to go and what to do after a short introduction to the game that teaches the basic controls. The world is massive and the choices are limitless, which makes “Skyrim” that much more fun. The ability to decide where to go and what to do gives a sense that the player is the character and not some prefabricated piece of coding that a developer made.
With the size of the game though, glitches and slow-downs in play are likely to happen. On occasion, the game can slow-down when loading new environments as you explore, and on very rare occasions, the game can freeze and requires a restart. While it is annoying, the little glitches like that are expected and do not take away from the overall experience, which is masterful.
The graphics in “Skyrim” have seen a huge overhaul compared to the graphics level in “Oblivion.” It is impressive to see what Bethesda has been able to accomplish in the five years between the two games. “Skyrim” has much better shading and effects compared to “Oblivion,” and it is most impressive during the dragon fights. Fans of the series have been asking for dragons in the world since the third game came out in 2002. The latest gameplay mechanic to be added revolves around the appearance of dragons in “Skyrim.”
Players can learn abilities called “dragon shouts” from every dragon they kill. These special attacks are powerful and make the harder areas in the game more manageable. The fighting mechanics in “Skyrim” have also been streamlined compared to previous titles.
“Skyrim” excels in player decision and through that, the game is a masterpiece. Players can easily log over 100 hours of time in this game. There are so many things to see, places to explore and characters to meet in this game’s world.
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