The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I once had a brief conversation with a colleague regarding medieval times. As it turns out we both had similar romanticized ideas, visions of dashing knights, saucy wenches and pointy castles perched high up on misty mountain peaks. The reason it was a brief conversation, however, came when the woman in question remarked how she longed to live in those times - to be there with, and I quote, "all the adventure and the dragons and stuff". Staring at her like a rooster who’d just been shown an elaborate magic trick, I made the mistake of pursuing the matter. Dragons and stuff? Oh, yes, most definitely. And how do we know there were dragons? Well, because of all the stories. Obviously. Now, as ridiculous as that may seem to those of us with, oh, I don’t know, a pre-school education, it does go some way to show just how deeply ingrained the concept of dragons is in our collective consciousness. Folktales of the big scaly bastards are strewn across history with such frequency that one might just be fooled into believing there might be some truth to the legends. Most fantasy writers will agree that very little compares to a fire-breathing dragon when you’re looking for a bad guy to put at the sharp business end of the hero's sword. Which brings us to the case in point - Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a fantasy adventure with the ‘dragon’ just about sewn into its narrative flesh. After the hype that has surrounded this title you’d be forgiven for being skeptical, but be sure that in Bethesda’s gifted hands, these beasts and the fantastical world they live in become the heart of one of gaming’s true masterpieces.

A lot of our skepticism is based on past experience - more specifically, the bug-ridden Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its overblown delusions of grandeur. At the time, Oblivion was the proverbial king of the castle as far as open world fantasy role-playing was concerned, but under deeper inspection it really was quite flawed. Game breaking glitches were the order of the day, and the hokey fantasy setting and characters were rather twee and forgettable if you really think about it. Don’t be mistaken, I loved Oblivion with all of my heart (I have my Special Edition Septim gold coin to prove it), but it definitely had its share of issues. Skyrim is a different kettle of mudcrabs all together though. More grandiose than Oblivion could have ever hoped to be, but never obnoxious or overblown; more purposeful in the way the story is delivered, but rarely pushy. This is the game that Bethesda has been trying to make since the Elder Scrolls series kicked off seventeen odd years ago.

As with its predecessors, Skyrim is very much a narrative-based role-playing game, but I am loathe to use that term. "Narrative-based" conjures up images of a swashbuckling fantasy adventure, littered with maidens in distress, wizards in funny hats, epic set-pieces and cut-scenes to drive the story to its fiery conclusion. Which will probably include goblins, and a magical staff. Yes, there is a central story here, and yes, it’s a cracker, but to really enjoy Skyrim you almost have to banish that desire to rush to the grand finale and see the end credits roll. Still, tradition dictates that I give a quick rundown of just what the story is all about, so...

Some 200 years after the events of Oblivion, the focus moves to the realm of Skyrim, a northern province of Tamriel in a state of almost perpetual winter. Once again our hero begins his quest as an unnamed prisoner, and once again he is freed by unexpected circumstance and sent out into the world. Now, should you follow the first few instructions properly, you will soon be off on a whirlwind adventure to discover your true self, save the world and put a few holes in a few dragons. As it turns out, you are the last of the Dragonborn - dragon hunters with a touch of dragon in their souls - and as such it falls to you to rid the world of these beasts which have suddenly resurfaced in Skyrim. However, should you decide to take a left when Generic Bearded Person X suggests you take a right, you can effectively postpone your involvement with that central narrative for as long as it suits you. That’s not hyperbole either - ignore that core thread, and an endless barrage of other plot lines surface in its place. I’d say that the most fulfilling way to experience Skyrim is at least to touch on the main story, just long enough to get a feel for things, meet a few people, stab a few orcs, and then venture off at your own pace.

Think of Skyrim as the polar opposite of most modern action games. These games funnel you along a set path, showing you the things the developer wants you to see, peppering you with scripted surprises and linear progression. The result is a Hollywood-like experience, where they piece the puzzle together for you in front of your eyes. Skyrim, on the other hand, is the blank canvas and the quiver of brushes, begging you to paint your own story. Those "choose your own adventure" books we read as kids? Skyrim is what you always wished those books were really like.

Skyrim scores many of its points on the strength of the game world and the characters and creatures which bring it to life. Vast in a way that most gamers won’t even be able to grasp until they’ve played this, the domain of Skyrim spreads from the dry tundra plains through murky, inky swamps and up through countless snow capped mountain ranges. The sheer size of the world allows for a real sense of discovery when you stumble up over a ridge and a little village appears through the mist below, hopefully with an inn where you can rest your head and buy a drink. It’s the kind of game which makes you do silly things, like heading indoors to a roaring fire when it’s snowing outside, even though it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all. These sort of things only happen because this is a believable world - a world which draws you in and makes you forget about the real world for a while. There is just so much to do here too - it wasn’t long before I had six or seven primary quests and around twenty secondary quests on my "to do" list at once. Escapism is central to gaming in general, but the sense of immersion in Skyrim goes beyond almost anything else I’ve played.

The gameplay mechanics which hold this sprawling world together are much the same as they were in Oblivion - for better or for worse. Thankfully the clunky menu system, inventory system and other such navigation have been streamlined, with a cleaner look which makes it far easier to sort through your items, find your way on the map, or manage your many saved game files. You’d be surprised how important a sleek user interface is for an RPG of this sort - it’s not just about pretty menus, but can be a matter of life or death. Combat is largely unchanged, it’s still very much a hack and slash affair, but the addition of dual wielding does open up a number of new strategic possibilities. Pop an axe in one hand and fire up a lightning spell in the other, and you’re instantly transformed into an agent of electro-death. With no set class system there is now more freedom to develop your character to suit your needs, giving even more control over how you shape your progression through the world.

Surprisingly, considering the five year break since Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim doesn't seem to be the massive jump forward that many expected in terms of the visuals. Not initially, at least. Some textures seem a little rough, tiling quite badly when viewed from a distance, and some of the environmental artifacts look a little outdated under heavy analysis. But that's a skewed perception - load up Oblivion now, and it’s instantly clear that Skyrim is actually a marked improvement. Character models are more lifelike, with far better lip syncing to go with the generally excellent voice acting. Once on the move, it’s hard to ignore the sometimes unrealistic animation routines which govern your enemies, allies and creatures of the field though (a moonwalking rabbit is not an uncommon sight on the icy slopes of Skyrim). Any concern regarding animation or texturing fades into obscurity the first time you come face to claws with a dragon in the wild though - as apposed to the scripted dragon encounters which form part of the core story. In that moment of instant dread, everything else becomes extraneous. The world itself is filled with moments of genuine awe - I spent far too long just staring up at a mountain towering above me, just marveling at the wisps of cloud resting in every nook and cranny, and was amazed at some of the vistas which spread out ahead of me when I least expected it.

It would be unfair to have expected Skyrim to have the same kind of visual fidelity of something like Gears of War 3 or the like, purely because Skyrim offers so much more than any other game out there right now. When you take into consideration the scale of the world which Bethesda has created, suddenly the minor texture issues and choppy animation become irrelevant. Not only is it a vast, detailed world, it’s a world packed to the very brim with things to do, people to meet, and wooly mammoths to poke. It’s also one of the few single-player games which manages to dynamically create the same kind of memorable moments which make our multiplayer shooters so enjoyable. It’s not often that an AI-populated game world reacts in such an organic way to the player’s every action. If that isn’t enough, Bethesda assures us that the game will spit up an endless stream of quests on the fly, so even when you’ve done your bit to save the world, the magical world of Skyrim lives on for your pleasure. It’s the kind of game which you can’t judge based on the same silly conventions we judge most games on - it’s a masterpiece of gaming excellence simply because of how it feels to be a part of it. And once you’ve plucked your first fearsome dragon out of the sky in a hail of arrows and pure fury, and then gone home to curl up in front of your virtual fireplace, you will be as grateful as I am to know that this game only has to end when you want it to.

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