Jul 15

Jul 15 Classic Comeback - Games of 2011 | An Ode to Skyrim

Not to alarm anyone, but this year will mark 10 years since Skyrim was released.

If you can’t hear this screenshot, we probably should be friends.

Despite being released a decade ago The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim remains an immensely popular game, and with good reason too. With an estimated 30,000,000 copies sold worldwide, it’s one of the top 20 best-selling games of all time. It has also been released on (*deep breath*): Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS4, Xbox One, PSVR, PC again, Nintendo Switch, PC a third time (in VR), it is also backwards compatible on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S and Bethesda made an audio-only version of the game for Amazon Alexa.

Although it was far from the first open-world action role-playing game, it managed to become the embodiment of something that many of these games lack: replayability. With the amount of content available, it is possible to have played close to 1000 hours and still not have completed the game. I’m not saying I’ve done that but...

There are so many different ways to play Skyrim that it almost seems a waste to not play it through multiple times. From choices with minor impacts, like your race, to game-changing decisions, such as the side you support in a bloody civil war. Skyrim only becomes more memorable when you start over and try a different path.

It’s hard to write an article about Skyrim and not talk about mods. The modding community has ensured that even after a decade, Skyrim feels fresh, looks beautiful and can be packed full of new adventures. Whether you add in sweeping overhauls of the core mechanics, such as the popular Ordinator mod (which massively improves the perk system) download a simple mod that brings the weapons in from Lord of the Rings to Tamriel, or play through an entire quest created by modder, there truly is a mod for everything (yes, I mean everything, now get your mind out of the gutter).

Macho Man Randy Savage Dragon Mod also pretty much required to be installed before each playthrough.

At this point, I can’t imagine doing a Skyrim run without a selection of quality of life mods, namely; the Unofficial Patch, SkyUI, Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM) and Alternate Start - Live Another Life. It has to be said that vanilla Skyrim (even the 4K next-gen version) is graphically underwhelming nowadays, not surprising given its age, and has a range of bugs and glitches that mods are still needed to help to fix. The graphical improvements available on PC aren’t exactly necessary, but I really recommend some simple ones as a minimum; Skyrim has a somewhat timeless artstyle and with a few of the right graphics mods or shaders has the potential to be truly breathtaking.

Skyrim has always struck a good balance between being a complex game with plenty of lore to learn and mechanics to master, while also being simple enough to learn that anyone can get into it. Whether it’s your first game or hundredth, whether you've played a million RPGs, or you’re looking for a game to use to introduce your friend to video games. Skyrim, and its world, still holds an intangible appeal.

The giant is leveling his yeeting skill tree right now.

One aspect of the game that I love is the skills and perks system. In essence, rather than relying on some variation of the classic RPG system of having 5-6 overriding skills (based on stats like; strength, dexterity, constitution, charisma, intelligence and wisdom) every skill is unique and only divided along the rough lines of magic, combat and social. Each skill can be levelled individually by either using them or training with an NPC. As you swing swords, you improve your “combat”, as you trade and talk to people, you improve “social” and as you blast your enemies with bolts of fire, you improve "magic”. Then as you level up your character you are allocated perk points which can be used in each skill's perk tree to improve a particular ability within that branch. Improve your bartering prices or do more damage with one-handed weapons. It is both extremely approachable and extremely deep.

Skyrim encourages you to think about how you want to play without forcing you into one specific, archetypal playstyle. Each skill being separate means you can play a heavily armoured knight who moonlights as a master pickpocket just as easily as a classic destruction mage. Equally, you don’t just magically become an expert in picking locks if you’ve never done it before; you will have to either train with an NPC, practise or read some damn books before you can crack those master chests.

Skyrim continued the trend set by Bethesda Game Studio in Morrowind and Oblivion by releasing extra content in the form of DLCs. Each of these major expansions, Dawnguard and Dragonborn, added hours of new content and narrative to the game, just in case you didn’t already have enough to do. The DLCs mainly focused on later game content, giving you new NPCs to meet, new lands to discover and unique enemies to fight.

Hey kiddos, wanna know something cool?! Before me and your wife lived together and before this DLC came out, I installed a mod that let me kid you… Now go to sleep, ok!

While the Hearthfire DLC brought the much smaller changes, they were also some of the most welcome. The update allowed you to adopt up to two children and build three houses of your own with modular options to make it feel more personal, while also allowing the player to hire various staff including a bard and a carriage driver. You can also have a small farm’s worth of animals roaming your land, as well as start growing your own potion (or poison) ingredients. Although it doesn’t bring in sweeping changes, Hearthfire does bring a sense of comfort and a place that allows you to take a break from saving the world and work on creating your ideal home for you and your potential family.

I’m telling you, if this released in a post Lady Dimitrescu everyone would be thirsting over the Vampire Lords.

As the suggested starting level is lower, Dawnguard is likely the first of the two quest-based add ons you will play. It expands on the quests featuring vampires within Skyrim, giving you the choice of becoming a vampire hunter or a vampire lord, depending on your choices during the missions. Choosing the path of the vampire lord grants you a litany of new powers and abilities that vary from allowing you to turn into a cloud of bats to the ability to draining the very life force from your enemies. Fighting as a vampire lord is a whole new experience, and it’s a lot of fun. While if you'd prefer to be a werewolf, this DLC also adds a whole new perk tree that allows you to go full Lycan and increase your power as you eat your enemies’ hearts. Dawnguard allows you to embrace an evil playthrough in a way the base game never really encourages. It helps that this break from being a hero and saving the world feels really damn cool too.

The final DLC, Dragonborn brought in a bunch of new enemies, a whole island to explore and, most importantly, the ability to ride dragons. The new setting, Solstheim, is, for the most part, wildly different and refreshing from anything seen in the Skyrim region. Rather than the lush, green fields and mountains of the mainland, you are surrounded by an ashen wasteland. Compared to Skyrim, Solstheim feels almost alien, and with the local fauna including the jellyfish-like netch, insectoid ash hoppers and goblinesque Rieklings. At times you’ll feel as though you have entered a whole new game.

It’s also a beautiful nostalgia trip for anyone who played Morrowind, incorporating elements of its original soundtrack that stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it.

Given the sheer diversity of ways you can play this game, its popularity is hardly surprising, even all these years later. Sure, it may not be the most polished of games and the gameplay hasn’t aged super well, but most of these issues can be fixed by a fantastic community of modders, and most of the things that made it fun in 2011 still resonate.

So while I can’t wait for The Elder Scrolls VI, for now, I am more than content to continue exploring and finding new things, and who knows, maybe I’ll finally kill Alduin.