The only hope for the land of Skyrim is that we identify the source of the threat and save the realm. Within the first main quest, we are identified as the one true Dragonborn, pretty much a being with a dragon's soul, who's capable of understanding and using the ancient dragon language to our benefits. Skyrim expertly stacks several little mechanics on top of each other to build a comprehensive whole, while giving the player the freedom to ignore or embrace most of them as they please.įollowing the story, we quickly learn that dragons appeared across the land, terrorizing its inhabitants. We can create a character of 10 different races, and from there, how and what we play is our own business. As The Elder Scrolls dictates, the game can be played either in first- or third-person view. This is an RPG in one of its truest forms. While Zelda distilled the open world into tightly designed discovery-based gameplay, Skyrim is something else entirely. Many called Zelda 'Nintendo's Skyrim' when it launched in March. The world we encounter is filled with many stories that we experience in the missions and quests, hear from NPCs, and read about in books. While Zelda kept its story as open as its world, Skyrim focuses heavily on the lore.

While that may sound similar to the approach in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Skyrim is its own beast.

While the opening scene is underwhelming, we quickly find ourselves in a big, open world with a singular mission marker that we can either follow or ignore. Our head is placed on a chopping block, and seconds prior to losing our customized facial features to a sharp blade, a huge dragon attacks the town and provides us with an opportunity to flee. We begin as an imperial prisoner in Helgen. As the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is not a direct sequel to previous games, but knowledge of them helps players understand the story details. Skyrim has been released on so many platforms that it's almost impossible to miss, even if RPGs aren't your forte. Like Doom, the question is performance and if the novelty of portable Skyrim can justify shelling out $60 for what could be a PS3 port. Skyrim has also turned six years old, an age that even the best games cannot hide. The concept is exciting, as Skyrim is one of the highest-rated, open-world RPGs ever released, and it's no small feat to have that playable on the go. One of the older titles in the lineup is Bethesda's action-RPG, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. The system may have started off with quality first-party titles, but we're seeing a shift to major third-party titles. Owners of a Nintendo Switch can't complain about the plethora of titles on the system within the first nine months.

Skyrim you feel the world shift