The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

🎮 Steam ⏳ 100 hours ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Iconic Open-World Freedom #

The 5th Elder Scrolls entry is one of the most iconic open-world RPGs ever released, known for its immense freedom and richly detailed world. Set in the northern province of Tamriel, the MC is called Dragonborn, a prophesied hero capable of harnessing the power of dragons. While the main story follows a battle against the return of these ancient creatures, much of the game’s appeal lies in the countless side quests, guild storylines, and emergent events that let players shape their own path.

Memorable Main Quest #

While I highly encourage everybody to play this game as much as possible, trying to experience the side-quests on your own pace, I can safely say that if you only want to experience the main quest then you’ll still have an amazing experience. It is truly one of the most unique main stories compared to any and all videogames at the time, and in the gaming history in general. Though it sometimes lacks good characters to carry them, at least in my opinion, despite having a lot of different factions and stories behind them.

A Vast Living World #

The world of Skyrim is vast and diverse, filled with snowy peaks, dense forests, ancient ruins, and bustling cities, each brimming with lore and secrets to discover. Its flexible gameplay allows players to approach challenges as a warrior, mage, thief, or a blend of all three, making every playthrough feel different. Though you are not limited to traditional classes, or even races, you can use the unfun and boring regular human, or something like a Khajit, which is a cat-like race that helps with stealth-focused playstyles. Combat can sometimes feel unrefined, but the variety of spells, weapons, and stealth mechanics helps maintain engagement.

Enduring Modding Legacy #

Despite technical issues and occasional bugs, Skyrim’s atmosphere, modding community, and sheer depth of exploration have kept it alive well beyond its release. I highly encourage the exploration of the modding community, which is still strong even for today’s standards, creating whole games out of them, or whole different ways of playing it, so much that makes it feel like a completely different game. This is similar to something like the Fallout series modding scene, or even the STALKER one. It remains a landmark RPG that continues to draw in new players while offering veterans endless reasons to return, even if played the vanilla way.