Summary

Emerge yourself in a beautiful and breathtaking adventure with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim! If you got the man hours to spare. Skyrim is the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series. This is Bethesda Game Studios fifth stab at the epic RPG adventure with a massive depth. Question is; Will it leave you wanting more or is this one of those ultimate games?

Story

Speaking about story lines in a game like Skyrim is hard, because you as player can basically ignore the main plot and do a wide range of quests or dive into sub stories. However you choose to play, the game starts off with you arriving at Helgen by prison transport along with Ulfric Stormcloak (the alleged assassin of the high king) and some other prisoners.  You are rounded up with these prisoners to be executed.  When it’s your turn to be executed, a dragon appears and with some quick decisions from there, basically you as player can take two paths and either way you’ll arrive to this village, but after that the rest is up to you as player.

This “create your own story as you go along” is a great way to express the beauty of Skyrim. This is my first Elder Scrolls adventure, but it’s in no way intimidating to take on the story because you can take it in your own stride.

Game play

The game plays out in either first person or third person, depending on what you prefer. Personally I’m new to the fantasy FPS world and more used to playing FPS games like Modern Warfare and the Battlefield series and I was a bit hesitant at first to the concept of playing a game in first person where your arsenal is based on traditional fantasy weapons. The way Bethesda work it out though is truly amazing! I was a bit worried if handling a weapon like a sword would be conveyed well or not, but it actually feels believable the whole way through.

Moving around the world feels really natural and especially with the quick move feature, it’s even easier to get around the massive world. I was a bit worried before picking this up that the intro knowledge level to get into the game would be high and that you had to know much about the story and game play to even be able to play, but it’s the total opposite! You can pick this up and with easy to navigate menus and explanations, there’s nothing to worry about! If you on the other hand want to dive more into the background story you can do so by reading books in the game, but the game play will still be there if you skip that part.

Design

Skyrim is a beautiful place! I felt, and still do, like a kid in the candy store with wide open eyes, trying to take everything in.  The landscape and architecture bears similarities to a Tolkien/Nordic mythology . If it would be something in this great design that sometimes can look a bit weird would be that the characteristic design breaks a bit when you come up to  people or object real close. This though is such a small problem  (well, it’s not even a problem per say) so it doesn’t even come close to interfering with the rest of the design. Sometimes character design is a bit off, but this stands short in comparison to a mostly stunning environment .

Sound

The music score in the game is amazing! You really feel this epic music coming on and the best part is that the music doesn’t interfere when you play. Some games it feels like you have to mute the music in order to be able to play it, not in Skyrim though.

To play or not to play

To play: If epic adventures is your thing and love questing, this is just your ticket!

Not play: If you want a linear game play and story design,  then this probably is not your cup of tea. In Skyrim quite a lot relies on you as player to move the story along.