I think everyone and their aunt has played Skyrim at some point. It’s been re-released on so many consoles now that even the creators joked about releasing Skyrim: Alexa Edition. Skyrim has sort of been a running joke about how old and crusty a game can get before the publisher has milked it dry. But the truth is, most people have fond memories of this game that beat out any negative sentiment towards Bethesda Game Studios.

Gameplay

Much like its predecessor, Oblivion, Skyrim involves getting in fights, carrying conversations, trading goods, and improving various skills in a Dungeons-and-Dragons-esque way. Despite the wonky melee mechanics, there is immense satisfaction to be had from cleaving a bandit in the face with your greatsword. The only other major options you have as a class other than ‘generic melee damage dealer’ are ‘sneaky bow/stabby guy,’ and ‘so-many-spells-at-once-that-your-game-freezes mage guy.’ Everything in the game tends to cater towards one of these 3 archetypes, but they are all pretty fun for awhile. You probably won’t get very far trying anything less aggressive, as you’ll find that many of the encounters in the game will force you to resolve a conflict by massacring half a dozen goons.

 

Visuals

The world of Skyrim has a lot to look at. It can be very fun to mindlessly explore in one direction and see what sort of things you encounter. Most of the landscape is gray and white due to the region’s climate, but there are some very green and lush areas to explore too when you’re tired of snow. The vanilla base game has not aged too well, but a few mods added to your game can give it the fresh coat of paint that it needs. Fortunately, the community is extremely active in producing all sorts of mods, especially in the graphics department. The PC version is extremely mod-friendly, and it is usually as simple as copying and pasting a file into your game folder.

Why bother?

The real reason Skyrim has been released on every modern console (other than profits) is because the developers see a lot of replayability in their game. It is possible to sink 200 hours in the game and still not have done every quest. The world is rich and compact, meaning there is always something to do within 50 feet of you. You don’t have to buy a new console to appreciate this game, but it’s worth playing again if you haven’t in awhile.