Review of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim"

It was an astonishingly quiet night for the surroundings of Winterhold. The pure mountain snow dimly shimmered under the light of two moons, Masser and Secunda, and nothing disturbed the tranquility of the foothills – only the distant howls of snow wolves, out on the hunt. However, the night’s silence was suddenly shattered by a sound that the mountains hadn’t heard in a long time – the grinding and clanking of ancient mechanisms coming to life. A small avalanche descended from one of the slopes, revealing a gate made of golden metal, scarred with scratches and dents, which creaked open, releasing a dark figure from a round chamber resembling a cage. Clad in blood-stained and poisonous slime-covered black-red daedric armor, the warrior wearily sat down on one of the stones after brushing off the snow. With a clawed, armored glove, still flickering with tiny embers from the recent use of powerful fire spells, the warrior grasped one of the horns of his black helmet and sighed in relief as he pulled it from his head. The moonlight danced upon the white skull tattoo adorning the gaunt face of the dark elf, and reflected in the blood-red eyes that have seen much.

Yes, I have truly seen much since I first set foot on the shores of Skyrim in the guise of a Dunmer, who was yet to be called Dovahkiin – Dragonborn. And now, while my hero rests from a hard journey through Dwemer ruins, I will tell you what this new game from Bethesda, which was released on November eleventh, is all about.

Trouble Doesn’t Come Alone

Two hundred years have passed since the events of "TES 4: Oblivion," which the inhabitants of Tamriel referred to as the “Crisis of Oblivion.” Much has changed in that time – the fallen Ministry of Truth in Vivec caused a catastrophic eruption of Red Mountain, forcing the dark elves of Vvardenfell to abandon their now even less habitable homeland and settle on Solstheim Island and in Skyrim. The Altmer from the Summerset Isle allied with the Wood Elves of Valenwood and, amidst the commotion, seized a huge chunk of the Empire, founding the Aldmeri Dominion. After the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of both moons, the Khajiit of Elsweyr, who worshipped the nocturnal luminaries, joined the Dominion, declaring that it was the Altmer mages who managed to return Masser and Secunda back. The Argonians from the Black Marsh invaded Morrowind, igniting a real war with their old foes, the Dunmer. The Mages Guild splintered into several independent organizations, and the Blades were nearly obliterated.

At least something hasn’t changed after so many years

Feeling its power, the Dominion issued a demand to the Empire, which was just recovering from the catastrophic events of the Crisis of Oblivion, to abandon the faith in Talos, surrender the territory of the Redguard Hammerfell to the Dominion, and put forth a series of other equally harsh conditions. Emperor Titus Mede II refused, and the Empire was dragged into a terrible war with its former provinces. The dark elves of Morrowind could offer nothing to help the metropolis, the Argonian lizardfolk had enough of their own troubles, so only the forces from Skyrim came to the aid of the imperial legions – the Redguards and Bretons were the first to feel the elves’ and Khajiit’s onslaught, so they themselves needed help. The result of the war was the sacking of the Imperial City, with most of the troops from both sides destroyed. However, the Dominion could still continue the war, gathering fresh forces, while the Empire had nowhere to expect reinforcements. The Emperor was forced to negotiate peace, accepting almost all of the demands in the ultimatum presented before the war. This, naturally, did not please the Redguards, who had been withstanding the Dominion's pressure practically alone, or the deeply religious Nord, who shed much blood during the war.

Despite the Empire's dire situation, the Emperor's portable throne is quite luxurious

The humiliating conditions of peace and agents of the Thalmor – the Dominion’s government, who don’t hide their contempt for men, finally overflowed the cup of patience for the inhabitants of Skyrim, who had always been the most loyal and steadfast support of the Empire. The Jarl of Windhelm, Ulfric Stormcloak, killed the pro-Empire High King of Skyrim and started a rebellion. The civil war, splitting the northern people, forced the Emperor to send legions to assist the remaining loyalist rulers, and now those who had recently fought shoulder to shoulder with the Dominion forces were at each other’s throats. As if the battered Empire was not enough with the humiliating ultimatum and civil war, from the mountains of Skyrim arose a threat long believed to be relegated to the realm of tales and myths – dragons returned, led by the legendary Alduin, the World-Eater. And in such difficult times, our hero steps onto the stage, unknown to anyone before and condemned to execution simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Need a Hero – There Will Be a Hero

Even at the character creation stage, one can see how significantly the developers have revamped the familiar system from previous games in the series. True, no new races have been added – fortunately or unfortunately, but we are still offered a choice of ten races: high elves, wood elves, dark elves, orcs, bretons, imperials, redguards, nords, khajiit, and argonians. The chosen race provides bonuses to specific skills and defenses against harmful effects, a unique ability (for example, dark elves can envelop themselves in a fire aura once a day, and khajiit can turn on night vision), and in some cases – an additional starting spell. There are also unique traits specific to certain races – the clawed paws of khajiit deal more damage with unarmed attacks, and imperials find more money in chests and other containers. One can already determine the approximate direction of the hero's development further on – the best mages come from altmer and bretons, the best thieves from khajiit, bosmer, and argonians, orcs and nords make excellent warriors, while imperials and dunmers are masters of all trades.

Dunmers are excellent mages, warriors, and assassins. And cooks

However, players will not need to create a class and choose a Sign at this stage – due to the elimination of primary and secondary skills, the class system has also faded into the past, which, by the way, was rarely used. Following it, the set of parameters – strength, agility, and so on – was also deemed irrelevant in the harsh Skyrim. Now, each character has only three parameters – health, mana, and stamina. One can raise one of these by ten points upon leveling up. However, it cannot be said that the role-playing system has been simplified. Remember in "Oblivion," when upon reaching a certain value of every skill, the hero automatically received a special ability – special moves for weapons, enhanced critical hits, the ability to sneak in heavy armor, and so on? Now, nothing is done automatically – for each new level, one point is awarded, which can be independently invested in those traits that you need.

You can only choose a Sign after discovering standing stones scattered throughout Skyrim

Fortunately, there are now not four specialities for each skill, but many more – the developers prepared entire skill trees, each more interesting than the last. However, one cannot develop the entire thieving tree by improving, say, combat magic – each trait requires a certain level of the corresponding skill to be developed, and the most interesting ones, of course, only become available when that skill is developed to one hundred. How about the ability to enchant an item with two effects instead of one, or unlock any lock with a single lockpick that never breaks? And fully developing a skill not only provides interesting features, but often also additional quests that offer unique rewards. For example, after leveling up schools of magic to one hundred, such lovely spells appear as elemental storms, summoning atronachs, raising undead on a permanent basis, mass paralysis, and the like. And if we take into account the emergence of new branches of development, such as smithing, all possible complaints about the simplification of the role-playing system fade into insignificance.

One of the most beautiful skill tree implementations I've ever seen

Yes, for the first time in the series, players can craft their own weapons and armor from available materials, as well as improve it at special workbenches and grinding stones. In fact, nearly all the points that can be invested in the smithing branch will go toward unlocking new types of creations – from simple leather armor made from a passing deer to masterpieces of dragon bones or daedric materials. Now players can forge their own weapons, armor, and jewelry, improve them, and enchant them – a true paradise for lovers of peaceful (conditionally) activities. Conditionally – because to seriously start enchanting, for example, one needs to first find an item with the necessary effect applied to it, disassemble it at a special workbench, and only then can one start applying this effect as much as desired… until the soul stones run out, which again requires filling. War feeds on crafts, and crafts feed on war – an endless cycle of joy and happiness.

This World is Mine!

The first thing you feel when looking at the game after creating your character is the scale. A massive territory that houses snowy mountains, rivers, gigantic lakes, coastal shores, autumn forests, and swamps… And, of course, a great number of cities, towns, settlements, individual houses, caves, forts, Dwemer ruins, and so forth. Moreover, unlike "Oblivion," where apart from quest locations everything else was dull and uninspired, and open spaces were struck by their emptiness, in "Skyrim,” the developers took a different path. Every dungeon, every rundown mine, every shabby hole in the ground is unique and has its own original features. With just a few well-placed strokes, the developers at Bethesda managed to achieve what seemed impossible – to give every location its own, unique story. Here we descend into a smuggler's den, kill the vampires lurking there, and learn from a journal lying on the table that the smugglers, unbeknownst to them, transported vampires in boxes, and later the awakened undead killed them. Or we enter an abandoned mine and learn about the sad fate of the local miners through bloody trails, remains, and the hungry trolls roaming the mine. Or we go into Dwemer ruins and follow the traces of a missing group of researchers, piecing together the picture of what happened from found diaries, corpses, and a few survivors – a scene that could easily serve as a script for a horror movie. And all this is in side dungeons, where we are not sent on assignments.

It's not a good idea to sit in an ancient crypt with your back to niches with corpses

But even just being outdoors offers many interesting things, often unmarked on the map – random encounters, carried over from "Fallout 3" to "Skyrim" – for example, you might stumble upon a wandering adventurer on the road who will share hints on where you might find work, or meet a mad mage who challenges the hero to a duel. And the impressions from meeting a headless horseman on a moonlit road at night are hard to convey in words. However, random encounters are not the only thing one can find in the vastness of Skyrim. Once, while just wandering from point A to point B, I saw a ruined house on the bank of a river, crushed by a fallen tree. Under the trunk lay the corpse of a guy nicknamed Lucky, from whom one could loot a ton of alchemical ingredients and a treasure map. This location was not marked in any way on the global map and had no name – just another reason to explore the world on foot, instead of using fast travel.

Thank you, guys, for digging up this chest yourselves - I only had to dirty my hands on you

Speaking of the global map. It can't be called very convenient, but it is certainly impressive – the three-dimensional model of Skyrim highlights the scale and makes players hold their breath at just the thought of the interesting things this land hides.

And what does the hero do in ninety percent of cases with those who hide from his gaze in various dungeons? Right – exterminates. And here "Skyrim" once again surprises fans of the TES series – the combat system has been completely redesigned. Now, players have both hands of the hero at their disposal, which can hold anything, not just a weapon and shield or two-handed weapon. You can wield two weapons, a weapon and a spell, two different or the same spells, and so on. Just two shields and two bows cannot be held. Accordingly, tactics directly depend on what the player has in hand – two weapons strike at great speed, but it is absolutely impossible to block with them, one can cast two different spells at an enemy simultaneously or take one and the same spell in both hands, significantly enhancing the effect of the enchantment with the right skill, or simultaneously strike an enemy with a sword in one hand while throwing lightning at him with the other – or healing… In short, the combinations are numerous.

Burn, burn bright!

Melee attacks sometimes end with spectacular finishers, unique to each type of enemy – for example, when facing a giant spider, the hero stabs it with a sword from above, with a giant Dwemer centurion he cripples its knees, grabs a Falmer by the neck and drives the blade into its temple, and so on. But it should be noted that such finishers also apply to enemy attacks – more than once have I found myself watching my hero being impaled on a two-handed sword or having his head smashed by a mace right before loading a save. Fortunately, although the automatic level adjustment of enemies to the player’s level is present, it is far less absurd than in "Oblivion" – bandits in daedric armor and Terminator guards have been consigned to oblivion. You can change your equipment right during a fight using a fairly convenient Favorites menu, where the player places their favorite tools for vanquishing enemies and other fun, while the game pauses. You can even access the inventory – the game also pauses.

One just wants to exclaim: "Eat this!"

A few words about the inventory. Accessing it – just like the skill window and the spell book – is done via a radial menu. This is organized much more conveniently than in "Oblivion." The promised feature by developers to examine any item up close and turn it around from the inventory is realized – however, apart from admiring your equipment, this function is used only a few times, mostly when solving puzzles with dragon claws.

The function of such examining is mostly useless, but beautiful

The interface in "Skyrim" is generally well thought out and convenient – except for the skill window, which is executed as a panoramic map of constellations, each corresponding to a specific skill. It is very beautiful, I admit, but selecting the desired feature in the tree is pure torture.

The game often shows fantastically beautiful views - especially in third-person view

But the main innovation of the interface is the third-person gameplay mode. After "Morrowind" and "Oblivion," where it could at best be used to admire your hero in beautiful armor, it’s a real shock to realize that now it is possible to really play this way. The first-person view is still more convenient, but not so much that it is critical.

I Know of No Other Game Where NPCs Live So Freely

However, one way or another, after roaming the world to their heart's content, players inevitably turn to the storyline and side quests, which means also to interacting with non-playable characters. The developers at Bethesda have extensively advertised this aspect of the game – and, on the whole, not without reason. Despite the fact that "Skyrim" uses the same engine as "Fallout 3" and "Oblivion," it has been significantly refined. Characters now look indeed beautiful and realistic; no more shiny, plastic freaks. They also behave surprisingly naturally. During conversations, they no longer freeze in place like statues, but continue to pursue their tasks – chopping wood, cooking food, forging weapons, weeding gardens… The dialogues themselves have also become much livelier – now, besides the usual choice of response options, in many conversations, there is an opportunity to attempt to persuade the other person, threaten, or even bribe them. The effectiveness of these attempts depends on the character's skill in the high art of charming speeches, which also positively affects prices in shops.

Of course, flipping through pages with a hand holding a fireball isn't the best idea...

The daily routine of characters has noticeably complicated – now it varies from day to day, sometimes evoking a desire to follow a character to figure out what their plans are. A mage, trading with the player under the counter with not-so-legal goods and spending all his time at the College, suddenly went somewhere in the city – why? The “big shot” and generally unpleasant guy sleeps at home during the day, but goes off somewhere at night – where? And so on, if there’s free time, it’s very interesting to observe the NPCs’ behavior. It’s very hard to describe all that NPCs can do in Skyrim – they train in archery, hand-to-hand combat, and combat magic, engage in agriculture and smithing, listen to bards and sing themselves, hunters roam the forests for game and sell it in towns, Vigilants of Stendarr wander the world seeking Daedra and their servants, adventurers attack strongholds of bandits and sorcerers… Once, while accidentally stepping into the College of Winterhold’s great hall, I caught the tail end of a report by one of the mages who was discussing the standing stones of Skyrim – and since then, I’ve become much more observant of what those around me are doing.

Skyrim's mages don't miss the opportunity to practice Destruction magic - just in case

NPCs also respond to the player's actions, just as the developers promised. From this perspective, the guards are the most interesting – they will comment on your armor and skills, ask the destruction mage to be careful with magic and not to set the city on fire, and ask the enchanter to enchant their weapons, they will inform the werewolf that fur is sticking out of his ears, and the vampire that they’re a bit unnerved by such a hungry stare. They may demand that Dovahkiin use their shouts less, so as not to scare the townsfolk, and not to just throw weapons on the ground – someone could get hurt. Other characters will also take the opportunity to ask a mage, wandering with a summoned atronach, to keep a safe distance away from them with such a dangerous creature, and express their surprise at the hero absorbing a dragon soul. As you complete quests and join various factions, NPCs gain new lines of dialogue. And if you toss an unwanted piece of armor on a busy street, it’s quite possible that someone might become interested and ask the hero if they can take that armor for themselves. Their chatter carries practical benefits too – overheard conversations often lead to new quests or the appearance of map markers over previously unseen locations.

The guard is stern and fierce, but his warnings can be safely ignored - you can litter the city with weapons, and there should be no consequences

And what about the aforementioned quests, you ask? I remember, Bethesda clouded the issue regarding the “radiant story system that creates quests on the fly.” Because of this, some even started to sound the alarm, fearing the disappearance of such beloved and carefully crafted quests from previous parts of the series. So, these fears turned out to be unfounded – however, the developers did not deceive in their promises. There are two types of quests in the game – those that are written from start to finish, and those that are fully scripted, except for the destination, which is determined using the radiant story system. The first part is straightforward – these are the good old quests from "Morrowind" and "Oblivion," with dialogues, scripted scenes, and other tricks. The second type looks something like this: we are given a task to save someone, kill someone, or bring something. The actual target of the quest is randomly placed in some dungeon using the radiant story system, about which the quest giver informs us. We head to the destination and fulfill the request. Simple and beautiful. Moreover, sometimes these two systems combine in such a way that it’s not immediately clear whether radiant story was used or the quest's goal was always in that spot from the beginning.

A very beautiful landscape. Find the alien element that I am about to kill

But, surprisingly, even the quests that are scripted ahead and in full have improved! Previously, we rarely received options for what to do and how to act, which side to take. In "Skyrim," this is usual. For example, two suspicious Redguards approach us asking to help them find a Redguard woman hiding in the city, refusing to explain why. We find this woman, she tells us these are assassins sent for her by the Thalmor occupiers because she and her family refused to acknowledge the new power in Hammerfell, and begs us not to give her away. We are faced with a choice – on her request, we can kill the leader of the Redguards hunting her or turn her in. If we press the hunters, they will reveal that they are not assassins but are looking for a traitor who fled from justice. And which side to take? It depends only on the player's decision. The improvement of quests from the Daedric Lords is particularly noticeable. Previously, they mostly boiled down to finding a statue of the Lord, accepting the quest, and then completing it. In "Skyrim," receiving a quest from most of the Lords is a quest in itself, and often the player isn’t even aware of where it will ultimately lead.

It’s not very often that we get a chance to participate in a sacrifice not as the victim

Finally, the last serious change concerns our hero’s relationships with game factions. In "Skyrim," there is no Guild of Warriors, Guild of Mages, or Guild of Thieves with lots of branches in every city – they have been replaced by the Companions, based in Whiterun, the College of Winterhold, which is, oddly enough, in Winterhold, and the local equivalent of a thieves' guild in Riften. Clearly, the decision of the developers to concentrate all members of each guild in one place was heavily influenced by the public's love for the Dark Brotherhood from "Oblivion." And it turned out to be a mostly successful decision – now all characters of the factions are unique, possess well-written personalities, and are memorable, allowing the player to better immerse themselves in their role and feel sympathy or antipathy toward them. There is no clear, registered progress in the guild hierarchy – simply as we progress through the main quests of the guild, we gain influence and respect from others, which may or may not be accompanied by a change in official status. High reputation in the eyes of other faction members grants access to side quests, sometimes very interesting and promising unique rewards, and allows some characters to accompany players as bodyguards. Overall – a very reasonable and realistic system, looking less mechanized than the strict rank divisions from "Morrowind" and "Oblivion." After all, what is more important – real gaming opportunities or a flashy note in the log about achieving a new status?

Hidden Beneath the Snow

Lastly, something worth discussing is the technical side of the game. And here, unfortunately, the impression is mixed. As mentioned above, the game is made on an old engine, albeit refined. The result is peculiar – characters, monsters, and effects look simply amazing, and I would specially highlight the animation of dragons, which fly very realistically, land on buildings, walls, and all sorts of cliffs, leaving real furrows in the ground upon landing and can severely damage an unwary hero in their jaws. But the surrounding world is somewhat lacking. Stylistically, everything looks great, but occasionally, jagged models, blurry textures, and sheaths protruding through clothing stand out from the overall bright picture. Shadows behave very strangely, sometimes graphic artifacts occur around light sources, and the game also does not handle minimizing well.

Shocking News - there is levitation in Skyrim! Though, only for bugged corpses

However, worst of all are the millions of bugs. Silent characters in scripted scenes where they should speak, glitching quests, invisible items… Sometimes due to bugs, it’s impossible to complete a quest correctly – for example, I had to pull the Necromancer Amulet out through the console because due to a bug I couldn’t get it through the quest. One can only hope that these issues will be fixed by patches.

The sound in the game is simply wonderful. Besides new melodies written especially for "Skyrim," carefully integrated music from "Morrowind" and "Oblivion" can be found, the voice acting for each character is unique, and indeed, there are many bards singing in truly different voices! The sound effects are top-notch as well. However, bugs are still present here – sometimes melodies strangely stutter and don’t change when the game situation changes.

And what do we ultimately have? Despite all its flaws, "Skyrim" is an epic role-playing game of the highest caliber. Here you can tread a bloody trail in the snow and find the corpse of a hunter with a treasure map. You can chop wood and sell it at the sawmill or harvest crops from the fields to please farmers. You can hunt dragons and make armor from their bones. You can find yourself a wife and go shopping together. You can… live. And it will be a very, very interesting life. And for my dark elf, sitting on a stone is enough – it’s time to put on the helmet forged by my own hands and go, for Skyrim holds so many secrets!