Skyrim (PC, 2011) – Review

Skyrim is already a game which I class as an all time legend. It’s Emmanuel, and I’m here to review one of my favourite, single player, Open-World, RPGs.

Skyrim is part of the Elder Scrolls Series which consist of medieval sort of games. The creators, Bathesda also created another series of games, the Fallout franchise, but let’s save that for another time. First of all I would like to credit Bathesda and how great they are at creating Open-World RPGs, Skyrim I class as almost a masterpiece, note almost.

Gameplay:

The core, the reason you buy games. Skyrim, in my opinion, will be able to suit almost any playstyle you have, so if you like to be sneak-beaky and stab people like me, you can be exactly that. Or maybe you want to summon the undead to do your bidding while also being a sneaky little runt that can also work; anything is possible with the skills in Skyrim as you don’t have to typically stick to the normal “Warrior”, “Rogue” or “Mage” paths. Instead you can mix and match. You can duel wield 2 daggers or have a staff and sword on the other hand. However depending how interesting your playstyle is, will determine how fun combat is. For example a typical warrior will charge and swing his big-ass 2-handed swords around, which could get boring but that is not the case as you have different “abilities” and “shouts” which still make combat interesting as hell. But maybe you really enjoy swinging a big-ass sword around, if that’s the case the warrior is for you. Personally I like to take a stealthier approach leaving my foes lying on the ground permanently immobile and breathless. Hang on, “Shouts”, what the heck is that? I’ll put it this way, you collect these from scriptures lying around on walls, you unlock it by slaying dragons and absorbing their soul. And well you “shout” and bring chaos to your enemies. It’s a very interesting concept and I personally love it, it gives you a reason to stay and fight a dragon rather than run away like a wuss. However combat is not everything. There are crafting skills such as smithing, enchanting and more, which could be more of your thing, if you just want to play as an average towns person trying to make a living and ignore the idea of how Skyrim is being torn into complete ruins. There are even social skills like talking and pick pocketing. In fact there is a huge vass skill range. All together the gameplay is very neat and addictive, however may get a bit boring once you reach the level of “I can one hit anything” level, but maybe that’s just me. That never really happened to me though, and I generally think its very good.

Storyline:

Don’t worry, I won’t reveal too many spoilers (none at all, in my opinion). The story goes like this: you are a very special and very powerful person. Bad things are invading the land known as Skyrim and they are dragons, you must kill dragons and save the land of Skyrim, while exploring its vast open-world. Simple? Kind of. I want to start of with how compelling the story is, you can choose your own path and actions and decisions you make will determine the outcome or the end of the game. This means there is some replay ability (Basically means starting again with a new character). Each NPC will have it’s own traits and personality, as you progress through the game you will like some and hate some which shows great character development.

System Requirements:

You don’t need an amazing PC to run the game but it does help.

MINIMUM:

• OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
• Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
• Memory: 2GB System RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 6GB free HDD Space
• Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
• Sound: DirectX compatible sound card

Graphics:

Skyrim is a pretty old game now, so if you were to compare it to the graphics of games nowadays, I consider it as unfair. In my opinion Skyrim still looks fantastic despite its age.

However since this is a PC reveiw, you can make your game look like this. (Using mods)

Pros of having a PC, eh?

Cons:

There are still a few bugs in the game, however it is rare to come across one. But still, it is infuriating if you do.

Children can’t die. Like in Vanilla Skyrim (no mods or DLC) Children seem to be immortal… Maybe Bethesda isn’t trying to promote child abuse.

Kill a chicken. The whole Town will want to kill you.

Companions are sort of derpy.

Verdict:

The cons of the game are very small if you compare it to how amazing the rest of Skyrim is. If you can’t tell, I love this game. I haven’t talked about everything so you will have to discover things for yourself, like being sent to jail, or starting tavern brawls. All together I give this game a…

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93/100

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– Emmanuel