Sights & Sounds
- As an 11 year old game, it's not going to blow you away out of the box. It looked pretty decent for it's time, though, and the graphical improvements offered through the various upgrades (special edition, anniversary update, whatever Todd Howard decides to do with the game next) are appreciated. However, I highly recommend taking advantage of the modding community's efforts. You can get the game looking really nice if you've got the right hardware
- The music is excellent. The main theme is a classic, but many of the other tracks really do lend to the epic, grandiose feel
Story & Vibes
- You probably already know the story even if you've somehow never played Skyrim. You're the chosen one. Kill Alduin before the destroys Tamriel. Oh, also, there's a civil war going on because apparently people can't set aside their differences in the face of the literal end of the world
- The best plotlines in Skyrim are the side missions. The Assassins Guild and the Thieves Guild are two of the best long questlines in the main game. The DLC plots are fairly good and add two more fun side missions to your adventure. In addition to these, there's plenty of weird little missions that are fun and add flavor. The Anniversary Update also makes some of the community content canon and adds it to the game, and a lot of it is actually quite well done.
- Characters in the game run the gamut from well- to poorly-written. It's hard to typify their quality in a short summary with so much variability
Playability & Replayability
- Let's be honest, Skyrim has always been and always will be a buggy mess. Weird ragdoll physics, randomly dead NPCs that can ruin questlines, and braindead AI are par for the course. In spite of those flaws, the game is a ton of fun to play
- Over the years and across a few different platforms, I've tried out warrior, rogue, and mage playstyles. Each is fun and feels unique. I probably had the most fun playing as a stealth archer, and the least fun playing as a 2-handed warrior. Besides stealth archery, I also found sword/board and illusion mage to be very fun builds. For melee builds, I find the game more manageable in a 3rd person perspective
- Given the amount of time it takes to experience the bulk of the game's content and the varied combat styles, it's the sort of game you're going to want to play more than once in your life. You don't have to do all the content with each character; it's more fun if you pick and choose thematically appropriate quests for the character you built.
Overall Impressions
- Each playthrough is its own fun, unique experience
- With how much love the devs show to the modding community, it's fairly easy to tailor your experience to your preferences and hardware
- Be prepared for the bugs. Most of them are hilarious or confusing rather than infuriating or progression-blocking. Just try to save often enough that you can revert in case something goes awry.
Final Verdict
- 9/10. It's a classic. If you haven't played it yet, what are you even doing?
- As an 11 year old game, it's not going to blow you away out of the box. It looked pretty decent for it's time, though, and the graphical improvements offered through the various upgrades (special edition, anniversary update, whatever Todd Howard decides to do with the game next) are appreciated. However, I highly recommend taking advantage of the modding community's efforts. You can get the game looking really nice if you've got the right hardware
- The music is excellent. The main theme is a classic, but many of the other tracks really do lend to the epic, grandiose feel
Story & Vibes
- You probably already know the story even if you've somehow never played Skyrim. You're the chosen one. Kill Alduin before the destroys Tamriel. Oh, also, there's a civil war going on because apparently people can't set aside their differences in the face of the literal end of the world
- The best plotlines in Skyrim are the side missions. The Assassins Guild and the Thieves Guild are two of the best long questlines in the main game. The DLC plots are fairly good and add two more fun side missions to your adventure. In addition to these, there's plenty of weird little missions that are fun and add flavor. The Anniversary Update also makes some of the community content canon and adds it to the game, and a lot of it is actually quite well done.
- Characters in the game run the gamut from well- to poorly-written. It's hard to typify their quality in a short summary with so much variability
Playability & Replayability
- Let's be honest, Skyrim has always been and always will be a buggy mess. Weird ragdoll physics, randomly dead NPCs that can ruin questlines, and braindead AI are par for the course. In spite of those flaws, the game is a ton of fun to play
- Over the years and across a few different platforms, I've tried out warrior, rogue, and mage playstyles. Each is fun and feels unique. I probably had the most fun playing as a stealth archer, and the least fun playing as a 2-handed warrior. Besides stealth archery, I also found sword/board and illusion mage to be very fun builds. For melee builds, I find the game more manageable in a 3rd person perspective
- Given the amount of time it takes to experience the bulk of the game's content and the varied combat styles, it's the sort of game you're going to want to play more than once in your life. You don't have to do all the content with each character; it's more fun if you pick and choose thematically appropriate quests for the character you built.
Overall Impressions
- Each playthrough is its own fun, unique experience
- With how much love the devs show to the modding community, it's fairly easy to tailor your experience to your preferences and hardware
- Be prepared for the bugs. Most of them are hilarious or confusing rather than infuriating or progression-blocking. Just try to save often enough that you can revert in case something goes awry.
Final Verdict
- 9/10. It's a classic. If you haven't played it yet, what are you even doing?