I am climbing the steep icy stairs and my foot slips. I regain my footing and carry on walking. A cold breeze pushes the snow around in a vortex. As the snow starts to clear I see a figure of something big. It suddenly dashes towards me and as it jumps through the snow in to the clear I see it is a wolf. It lands on its feet and jumps on me pushing me to the ground.
Dragons are returning to Skyrim. As the Dragonborn you must hunt them down and take out their leader Alduin, The World Eater. You must find out what brought the dragons back and learn how to kill them. Along your journey you meet a lot of people who introduce choices that affect each other.
Skyrim is in the midst of a civil war when you arrive. You can decide to fight alongside the Empire or the rebel Stormcloaks. I like the civil war because you are able to affect the outcome of the war and the missions are engaging and fun. However, I would have liked it to have been more prominent. They could have done this by having battles in the open world, sieges at strongholds where you receive a note so you cam help your side, and town that support the opposite army are more hostile towards you.
As you travel Skyrim you meet hundreds of people. The majority of them will give you side quests. These are very interesting because some of them will involve other NPCs and a great backstory that you can immerse yourself in. It is also a great way to explore Skyrim as a lot of the side quests given by citizens in the strongholds show you map points throughout that area.
Like the other games in the Elder Scrolls series there are guilds that target specific types of players. In each of the guilds there is a main storyline that allows you to get invested in the guild. One of my biggest problems is that the story isn’t long enough and after I finished the main story I didn’t feel invested in the guild anymore. I would have liked it to be more split up so having a main storyline and then smaller ones. For example, if I was doing the mages guild quests I would have liked to have destruction magic missions that teach you unique powerful spells.
To complete the story, side quests, civil war and just surviving in Skyrim you need an arsenal of weapons and/ or magic. One of my favourite features in the game is being able to favourite weapons and magic. You can press one button during battle and switch to another weapon in your arsenal. I really like this because I can use a powerful summoning spell and switch back to my bow in a matter of seconds.
There is a great range of enemies from human to beasts. There are dungeons and ruined forts that have specific enemies guarding them. I really like this because it makes the game feel like there is some order with the dungeons instead of just randomly spawned enemies.
You can also hire allies to help fight alongside you and you can summon creatures of all kinds. The AI on the allies isn’t always the best and they can get in your way a bit but they can also be used to compliment your fighting style. I really like to use Lydia as a tank/ front line so I can be in the back with my bow and if enemies get too close I have a range of summons I can quickly bring into the battle.
I really enjoyed playing through the standard version of the game and have started many different characters. When Special Edition was introduced with the mods I was a bit skeptical. However, it has become one the most enjoyable parts of the game. I am able to role play much more deeply now. I usually play as a hunter-mage and the mods have given me much more magic to play around with along with elemental arrows. There are many more mods that can appeal to a wide range of people and their play style.
GameCritUK 