The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC
User Score
8.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4667 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,922 out of 4667
  2. Mixed: 295 out of 4667
  3. Negative: 450 out of 4667

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  1. VuleeHarkonnen
    Nov 11, 2011
    3
    To those who can't believe how somebody could rate this game so low, I know exactly how you feel, about the game and the rating. I couldn't possibly care any less though.:)
    Good WRPG is all about choices/options and involved/enjoyable character development. An epic, well written story helps as well. This game does not have any of this.
    With a large world to explore, it first felt like a     lot was possible. Cave exploration, ruin exploration, underwater exploration, fight X creature, find a random town and talk to random denizen, etc. After about 10 hours, it became more obvious that, yeah there is a lot you can do on the side, just none of it was all that interesting. At a certain point it just felt like I was playing offline MMO, in that the game allows you to do so much but it's just done so poorly.
    I know that the graphics aren't the most important part of a game like this but Skyrim don't even look average. I would never be so ridiculous as to say that I would buy a game just based on the visuals, but this game look like heavily moded Oblivion.    … Expand
  2. DrCola
    Nov 28, 2011
    10
    Subtract everything you hate about past elder scrolls games, add everything you love, add a better engine that does not crash on you every 10 minutes and is not a steaming pile of bugs, pretty up everything, make the faces cooler and make just about everything better and you have skyrim. This game is a masterpiece, its the game that we have been waiting for in 2011, (Most titles this year have been bad to say the least) This game would deserve a perfect 10 if not for the super lame secondary main quest which is the civil war, you can kill the final boss in one hit, I understand that level scaling is bad in most cases, but in some cases things have to be level scaled. The annoying part is, the civil war is about the length of the dragon questline! this game would get a 9.7 in my book now, thanks to that one little detail, but since metacritic forces me to round up my score, 10 it is!
    Also, if you really want to complain about the crappy interface of how you painfully select everything and how its built for a controller, do one of the two following things : get a mod, or use a controller, we all have USB ports!    … Expand
  3. NotGunnaLie
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    I'm not gunna lie, this game is amazing, brilliant, outstanding, a masterpiece. I'm only filling the rest up because i need one hundred and fifty characters.
  4. Skyrim
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim... This game is absolutely stunning. Run to the nearest shop at once and buy this masterpiece, your life will never be the same.
  5. Schtolteheim
    Nov 11, 2011
    0
    Skyrim promises to be more than what Bethesda games have been in the past, yet still fails and manages to fall flat on its face as one of the biggest flops of the year. The animations are as stiff as ever, the voice actor count is still incredibly low for such a high budget game, and of course the game follows the usual bethesda trend of not only being incomplete without mods - it's incredibly buggy, the gameplay systems are broken and the graphics are horrendous, there are still empty spots for them to fill in later with DLC.… Expand
  6. Pzyk3
    Nov 11, 2011
    2
    This game is really broken on PC, it's unbelievable that reviewers do not take into account whether developers put in any effort on the version (PC) of the game that they are rating. Bethesda have sadly been extremely lazy on the PC side. I'm not talking about no added bells and whistles, I'm simply talking about basic PC functionality not working.

    - Numerous graphical issues
    - Alt-tab ca    using hangs/crashes (this isn't even hard to fix!)
    - No borderless windowed mode
    - No key bindings
    - Little/no support for non-xbox controllers
    - Mouse acceleration cannot be disabled

    Unfortunately this was a double day 1 purchase for myself and my wife so we could play through it this weekend, but it looks like this game is hardly playable in its current state (on our 2 PC's). A friend of ours woke up at silly o' clock to play it and ended up going back to sleep because of what a terrible state it is in. I wouldn't be complaining if this issue was limited to a single machine, but the fact is that this game is very broken on all the machines that ourselves and our friend have tried it on.

    If you haven't bought this game already, I would recommend not purchasing it until it is fixed.    … Expand
  7. slothosaurus
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    So i've played this game for the past 12 hours now. And i do have a good bit to say about it.
    1.) all these people **** about the intuitiveness of the controls do have a slightly valid point, the Q command on PC for switching between "favorites" does seem a bit awkward. however, it pauses the game, where before, quick swapping weapons did not. so it adds to the your available options of c    ombat tricks to move around and use. the menu is also a bit messed up - it needs some fixing. i wish that it had been slightly more convenient, though most people who play PC games play on generally high sensitivities, so unless you're on an m18x like i am where the screen is bigger than it should be, it's not a problem.
    2.) the other things people have **** about is AI, and the sharpness of textures - easy, fix your contrast. and for AI, i feel like the majority of people who have so far played this game do not understand that this game is NOT about combat. this game has combat thrown in to develop your character and make it slightly more interesting. this game is about story lines, and personal choices. i don't care if it plays like minecraft, because this game wasn't meant to be BF3 or MW3 (which is both like and have played extensively)
    3. so now that all your **** has been put aside and you 0-raters have been put in your place, we'll get to why this game get's a 9 in my book. A) the story line is perfect, as it introduces a level of depth that is accessible to all players of the spectrum in their willingness to see the world in which they live
    B) the game play is fun, entertaining, unique, and i have, actually, stopped to look at mountains and rivers, as well as waterfalls and even the bodies of dragons
    C) the game went back to religion having an actual element on the gameplay like it did in morrowind, which is nice and helps you see things. it also actually shows cultural perspectives based on races like they did in morrowind, and the levels are completely designed from scratch, which is one million times better than oblivion. As far as how this game compares to other games though? I'm still at a 9, because i do not believe that any game will ever deserve to be on the level of morrowind, even if i've played tf2 and MW3 for 10-15 hrs each this week, i thought morrowind was the beginning of everything games should be, and this was continued into skyrim, though not perfected, and thusly, i give it a 9.    … Expand
  8. AnonymousPower
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Western RPGs don't get much better than this. The amount of effort that has gone into this game is apparent. If this doesn't make game of the year I will be very surprised.
  9. tuhi009
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Summery in a few words - "The BEST Elder Scrolls to date". Even those who loved Morrowind and liked Oblivion will LOVE this one.

    Though some PC specific UI would have been nice. Like implementation of hotkeys. Still the sheer number of content will surprise you....... guaranteed.
  10. Neu-ro-man-cer
    Nov 20, 2011
    10
    Skyrim is a Grand Soul Gem of a game filled with a Grand Soul.
  11. socialperson1
    Nov 11, 2011
    1
    Thumbs up Bethesda!! once again you released a barely unplayable **** game, leaving it for modders to fix it...
    Well, this game ended up being a terrible console port after all..No surprises. I'm sure most people playing this game don't care. But as a PC gamer, this is unacceptable. The irony that on PC, it's virtually unplayable with a mouse and keyboard... Don't bother getting it if you     don't have a 360 controller. The UI was made for controller only. And sadly you will have to go through menus quite a bit. There's some hot-keys and a 'favorites' menu but it really is poor. Combat system is also appalling, we're close to 2012 and Bethesda still hasn't learnt a thing yet. It really feels awkward when swinging your weapon. Your just slashing your way at an enemy, occasionally blocking and pulling back until a random finishing kill pops up. Using magic and weapons during combat is a pain in the neck. You have to un equip your weapon to use spells, and re equip your weapon once your done.
    AI is not that great either to not say worse. There's more actors this time but most of them have boring dialogues and feel they forced. Finally, I haven't played the game enough to comment on the world but so far it feels and looks dull. I'm still laughing how all reviewers seem to give crap games like this a 9.0 - 9.5..    … Expand
  12. Alvord12
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Played this for about 4 hours without any glitches or crashes, and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself! The only complain would be about the shadows in the game. They flicker too much, but nothing that modders can't solve.
  13. Honestly
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    What a great game. Oblivion was amazing, but it had its (minimal) flaws, they've been ironed out in this iteration; I have nothing to complain about: Great story; great gameplay (who doesn't like dual-wielding spells); exceptional graphics. To be honest, I don't know how TES VI will top Skyrim.
  14. MasterKuni
    Nov 11, 2011
    7
    Fallout 3 with swords. Don't let it's marginally improved looks fool you, this is the same game Bethesda have been remaking for the past 6+ years, but this time with dragons and swords. Voice acting is homogeneously unimpressive and even maxed out, the graphics are thoroughly unimpressive, especially when compared with the likes of Witcher 2. The melee combat is almost identical to Oblivion, with no real substance or skill behind the formulaic block-slash-repeat. One of my biggest issues: The control scheme, particularly in the menus on the PC are AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. Completely nonsensical arbitrary keys for archaically navigating menus that were clearly designed with the console in mind. The mouse works on about half the menus, and on the other half, ONLY the arrow keys work, with Tab being the "back button" and Enter being the select button. However, good luck figuring out which menus let you use your mouse, as only trial and error will unveil the answer. This game has potential, but is evidently hampered by what is clearly a bad case of console-itis. Save your money and buy Witcher 2 if you want a truly polished RPG experience where PC users aren't served second-class citizen control schemes.… Expand
  15. MildewPurchase
    Nov 11, 2011
    2
    Bethesda has done it again, folks. They released oblivion, again. This game will satisfy your yearning for endless wandering through a painfully unimaginative world with blocky characters, cups, goblets and plates. This is the exact same game as oblivion only Bethesda has somehow managed to make the graphics look even more hideous despite taking advantage of the latest technology. There are some neat effects here and there but the world is largely filled with dull, ugly textures and awful character models. It also seems that they have combed through their past games to make they replaced every interesting artistic idea with a generic fantasy cliché. I have no idea why they did this. Morrowind had plenty of original and imaginative artistic designs. This dull world feels awkward and floaty, just like the last game. The worst part of it is that there is almost no new content. Looking through the character choices, skills, items, they are all taken from oblivion. I could forgive the boring fantasy clichés, floaty combat, ugly graphics.. etc if there was actually some substantially new content here. All of the laudatory reviews seem to ignore this glaringly obvious issue. If you were hoping for another expansion pack for Oblivion than this game might be worth it.… Expand
  16. SirGCal
    Nov 11, 2011
    0
    More proof that 'professional' game evaluators are clueless console lovers... This SCREAMS console port... Even stinks of it...

    Can't change weapons without bringing up your 'favorite' list (can't even assign weapons or spells to 1-5, etc.). Graphics still look really bad... Hair looks like they used 200 cans of gel or spray, cloth doesn't flow... And even AI movements are totally unbelie    vable. I.E. If you wake the bear in the tutorial part, it stands and spins without moving it's legs. And that's on Ultra settings... I can't say more without being a spoiler of sorts. Anyhow; screenshots can look nice but movement looks awful. And unfortunately, so do far too many textures, areas, etc.

    GET OFF THE DECADE OLD TECH AND MAKE A REAL GAME FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Consoles again ruin gaming... Oblivion, with the High-Res texture pack, looks better... And I've had it crash once already just going through the tutorial... Random 'flash to windows'... And this is on a modern (1100T/6970), non-OCed system with all current drivers. So bug-free it isn't. It's not super-bad but... It does crash...

    At best, it feels like a new control system for Oblivion or Fallout. At worst, it stinks of console in every way. Still no crouch (really?!?) accept 'sneak'. multifunction select system instead of weapon button assignment (1-5). Even most other console ports can at least get that part right...

    I DARE a developer to make a REAL, Modern gaming engine... But they won't, until consoles catch back up; which they won't... so again, PC users get the shaft...    … Expand
  17. Failbunny
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Game is amazing..And better than oblivion and morrowind.
    The fun you can have in this game is very big.You can do what you want.Kill peoples,steal from someone,kill dragons,talk to someone,get into the house you want...Its pretty good.And the graphics are brilliant.So....Fun+Good graphics = Good for every player!
  18. Isisius
    Nov 13, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a huge fan of the series I hate to do this, i really do, and if i was just playing an ordinary game by an ordinary developer this would be getting a 8 or a 9. If i was just taking the first 5 hours, this would be getting an 8 or a 9. This weekend i have put a solid 35 hours into this game, so i feel like my review comes after some experience.
    Firstly, the positives.
    The game is interesting, the lore is good, the dungeons are varied and have interesting puzzles.
    Combat is improved, if not brilliant and the perks are quite neat.
    These positives are definitely enough to make the game interesting and playable.
    Now the negatives.
    The menus, OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL. How difficult is it to make a frigging spreadsheet, listing the weight, value and name of the item, and let me sort it by those things. Not to mention its all designed for a console, so i waste so much time clicking the wrong thing because the cursor doesn't map properly to the options.
    Secondly, the bugs, man this is difficult to play when it crashes to the desktop ever hour or so with no warning or error message, its just gone. AI does some silly stuff sometimes but i can get over that, its just the crashing to desktop for no apparent reason that's killing me.
    Thirdly, and this is my biggest and most important one, and more general too.
    I don't know if anyone else senses this, but the whole game feels less heroic and epic than Morrowind or Oblivion. Sure you fight dragons, but the game feels kind of scripted.
    ----Minor Companion Guild Spoiler alert---- (I don't say what happens just it doesn't take long)
    So the companion guild is supposed to replace the fighters guild, and it was my first stop. I expected hours of missions and working my way through the ranks to finally become the leader, which would come with benefits such as getting my cut from the other members of the guild i now lead, or special missions, or special perks or SOMETHING. I would have expected extra reputation but that is no longer in this game for some reason. But what happens? I finish the couple of quests in little over an hour and am suddenly head of the guild and my benefits amount to a big fat nothing. Oh i get some stupid axe that i already had weapons as good as. And what is the special quests i get after being the mighty leader? "Hey man, this guy has a wolf (a single wolf) in his house on the other side of the map, can you go kill it?" Yeah send the freaking head of the guild to do that for like 100 gold.
    Same deal with the mages, no benefit at all.
    ----End Companion Spoiler----
    That's ok, ill go work for a Jarl, and get a house and become a thane, surely that will come with benefits and affect the story somehow.
    Wrong, after all the work and money it takes to get there, its just another thing you do that has no real benefit except you can get away with small crimes.
    This game is suffering from what i call Fable-itis, you can even get married ( to random NPCs or no noteworthiness for no benefit). There's so much to do, but why bother. All of my Armour and weapons were crafted by myself and are drastically better than anything i find, the only thing i use that i found was an amulet.
    Even taking part in the Civil War seems to have little affect that i can see so far other than a change in NPC's that run the cities and no benefit to yourself.
    The other Elder scroll games made your character so important, in Morrowind you could join a great house and rise through it eventually building your own castle. How awesome and epic.
    In Oblivion when you were the master of the guild you were the MASTER. You got a cut of everyone's earning and could direct the attention of the guild, and you were famous because of it.
    Where is that in this game? Where is the epic story where you grow in power and fame? Sure there are some epic battles, but the Elder scrolls were never about that, they were about the heroes story from rags to riches, from a dirty prisoner to lord of all you see.
    The problem with Elder scrolls is the expectations that go with it, this game looks great, and plays pretty well, as my 35 hours playtime will show, but it just doesn't feel like a good Elder Scrolls game, and most fans of the series will realize this as the game progresses and they seem to be having less and less effect on the world.    … Expand
  19. Tropxe
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Some people seem to think that you have to use WASD or the arrow keys in the menus; you don't. The mouse can be used for everything. Other people talk about the graphics being like Fallout 3 or even Oblivion; they're not. Even on Medium, the graphics are a clear step forwards, put everything on max and you have a pretty stunning game that somehow runs smoother than past Bethesda games on the same settings. The people's faces are still a little off, a bit clumsily rendered, but are still the best unmodded faces by far you'll have seen in a Bethesda game so far.

    So much as been added to the gameplay. The perks really allow you to customise your character in very specific ways, rather than simply doing more damage against creatures who can now take more damage as the game progresses. The combat still pales in comparison even to The Witcher 2, never mind an actually combat-focused game like Dark Souls, yet it is a lot more satisfying than in previous games, with enemies dropping to their knees when near death or begging for mercy.

    You can take jobs now, becoming a chef, a blacksmith or a lumberjack. Enchanting and alchemy returns too. The NPC behaviour is much improved over previous games. Rather than standing dumbly around and occasionally walking into a wall or tree, as they did in Morrowind, and rather than standing dumbly around and occasionally having in incredibly stilted conversations, like they did in Oblivion, they will now do their daily jobs, cooking, cleaning, making weapons at the forge, carrying lumber back from the nearby forest, and so on. The bard at the tavern plays various songs, actually playing the instrument used in the song, and will take requests from you, even commenting on your song choice ("Only a true Imperial would choose that one!") and receiving applause from any nearby NPCs at the end of his songs. How NPCs respond to you is varies on how you've completed certain quests; one man asked me to deliver an insulting letter to a woman that he'd written in her boyfriend's handwriting, hoping she'd then leave her boyfriend for him. I told him I'd do it, but then went to the woman in question and told her all about the plan. Now her and her boyfriend like me whereas the other guy is always rude to me. Get friendly enough with people and they'll let you stay the night in their house, eat their food and even "borrow" their weapons.

    All in all, an enormous step forward over previous games, and that's coming from someone who always love what Bethesda's games promised but usually ended up hating what they actually delivered.    … Expand
  20. tatchely87
    Nov 11, 2011
    2
    I am so disappointed after waiting so long for the next Elder Scrolls. Morrowind and Oblivion are among my favorite games of all time, and when they were released were among the forefront of gaming as far as visuals, sound, and scale. Skyrim falls short, and is clearly not "next gen" material. The animations look so bad I want to quit. The outdoor visuals are pretty good but the dungeons look exactly like Oblivion. Facial animations are terrible, and the scripted events the first 10 minutes were so bad I didn't think I could make it through them. Come on Bethesda! Its been many years since the last Elder Scrolls, this one should be SO much better -- instead it looks like a highly modded Oblivion. I watched a temple/dungeon just "appear" as I walked up to it -- that's 90's game crap. I can't believe the people giving this game such good reviews. And its SO clear that Bethesda put ZERO effort into the PC version: its clearly for consoles to the point where a mouse and keyboard are very awkward (and they should be better than a controller/gamepad). I've never bought into the conspiracy that game review websites get "paid" by big publishers/developers, but any site giving this more than a 7 is getting paid, sites giving it more than a 4 are drinking the Koolaid. Bethesda, this has been a huge disappointment for a long-time fan.… Expand
  21. aksu113
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    first i think this game is boring and **** i was played that game some hour and now i am sure this is game of the year.this is really addictive :O
  22. Maggifixxx
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Every negative point I could think of (maybe one or two graphical disappointments) get totally out weight by so many positive aspects!
    Im basically playing this game now for 9 hours straight... and it actually got released in my territory 9 hours ago. I refuse to believe that anyone who loves the genre would be disappointed with this game.
    On an entertainment and time per dollar scale this     game tops EVERYTHING!… Expand
  23. Demonbox
    Nov 12, 2011
    5
    Ok my first review was a 7 and after 2 hours of gameplay
    now after about 10 have to drop it to 5, like someone else already mentioned
    why are my weapons invincible? and why do i regenerate health so quick?
    fights are already pretty easy , this way you're a demi-god...
    Lore is nice, but yes have to agree take Morrowind make it a bit more classic fantasy and remove some of the weird interest    ing stuff (Silt stride -> dude on a cart)
    After a few hours menus became a bit more easy to use, but they still are console menus, and yes the fights look horrible, especially when you manage to start a "finishing move", which , don't ask me why happens 80% of times, making fights even more easy.
    A bit of a delusion , was expecting something more, even if i was aware Bethesda is not my kind of RPG game developer.    … Expand
  24. bloodrizer
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Graphics may seems as dated at the beginning (oh man, the caves are sooo fugly), but you will discover soon what amazing work had developers put into the scenery and interiors design. And it works quite smooth on my old mid-end hardware. Annoying loot and mobs leveling seems to be fixed now, since loot is more rare and mobs are more dangerous.
    Skyrim doesn't force you to follow main story     line as Oblivion did, and you are free to travel around from the beginning.
    Controls are somewhat limited on PC (and hotkeys are TERRIBLE), but it seems as I can cope with it.
    The game is like a Morrowind on the steroids. It's a bit more free, more open-world, less generic-medieval than Oblivion. AI is less annoying, dialogs are well-written, voice acting is terrific and everything seems much more alive.

    This game is indeed a big step forward both in the terms of the gameplay and design. Long live the king!    … Expand
  25. Moses89
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Even though I haven't fought my first dragon yet, everything I have seen so far has just blown my mind. I am only playing on high settings dang dual core and a 5770 all with 4gigs of ram, I will be upgrading my PC soon I know that, just for this game. However, the high settings still look amazing, everything is crisp and visually appealing. Although I got a weird motion sickness thing going on with the opening scene. overall the graphics are great! (there are a few tears and artifacts every once and awhile but nothing that can't be fixed with a few tweaks I am sure) I am in love with the dual wielding of spells and weapons already! This is a game that you must get if you even moderately enjoyed any of the previous Elder Scrolls games.… Expand
  26. metalhead980
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Easily the best game Bethesda has ever put out, wait... NO! Its the Best game anyone has ever put out!
    The greatest game i've ever played, the best RPG of all time. A world fully realized in a video game.
    SYRIM! Buy it, play it, love it.
  27. Carda1972
    Nov 11, 2011
    1
    Didn't give a zero for review cause they still managed to port this game from the 360. I highly like RPG games and been playing Elder Scrolls since Daggerfall but after playing a few hours it doesn't grab me at all like Morrowind or Oblivion. The fights are absurdly easy, doesn't require any skill (another game gone bad due to xbox ports). I liked the graphics in Morrowind more then in this game. Strolling through the map is one of my favourite things to do in other Elder Scroll games but this game doesn't offer any fun in doing so. Its one big hyped RPG suited for the XBox generation... very sad… Expand
  28. Togue
    Nov 12, 2011
    9
    After playing for about 4 hours I realized that this game was way over hyped. After getting out of the starting zone, I killed a chicken outside in this small town. After that, I entered the house which is kind of your starting home base. A man inside attacked me because I hit the chicken (which he didn't see). I fought back and killed him, his wife and then started fighting my companion. The companion went to zero health which forced him on his knees, I kept attacking him with my sword but he wouldn't die, he then stood up with full health and kept attacking me. After realizing that this guy is immortal I had to flee the village...

    A few negatives: even though the graphics look bad, my video card was still stressing and heated up to 75 degrees in certain areas. My card normally stays below 70 degrees even on much better looking games. The combat system is also a joke, doesn't feel like you're even hitting your opponents.    … Expand
  29. zerosum
    Dec 30, 2011
    3
    The game gets boring really fast. Most quests are very linear and many side quests are simple fetch quests. The dungeons are repetitive and the broken crafting system and lack of equipment variety makes exploration pointless. Leveling is also pointless because everything levels with you. Dragon fights are quite underwhelming and often you'll meet common bandits which are stronger than Dragons (Because of the poorly implemented level scaling). AI is as good as in Oblivion, and by that I mean its terrible. Animations are still bad by modern days standards. Combat is a complete mess, probably because of the ridiculous physics in the game or maybe are the weird animations, but often when you hit people with heavy weapons they just moan and keep swinging their weapons like nothing is happening. Also, the finishing moves are weird and there is a lot of clipping issues. Like most modern games Skyrim also suffers with developers trying to appeal to a "wider audence" by removing features from the game (like attributes, skills, armor pieces, etc), that makes the game quite shallow and makes difficult for you to make "builds" that actually plays differently (most characters will just be a mage-warrior-thief hybrid).

    The soundtrack is somewhat good, but not very original because several musics are taken from Morrowind. Most sound effects sounds like they were taken from a bad movie from the 80s.    … Expand
  30. Snowgirl
    May 8, 2012
    10
    This game is beautiful and it has soul. While I think it's not the best TES game, it surely stays true to what makes this series amazing: insanely detailed world, fantastic atmosphere, the huge open world that calls the adventurer in me to explore every corner and delve into the legends of the Nords. The art style, music and character models make Skyrim the most spectacular experience so far in terms of a living world to explore. The RPG mechanics are getting thinner (stats, skills, birthsigns, attributes) but the progression and character customization are still pretty solid in their absence and a good improvement from Oblivion. I can't wait for the expansions for this game.… Expand
  31. Pinocchio
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Okay, i bought it for PC because of mouse control and improved graphics. First i thought, "wow", my HD5870 is good enough but then i realized that the game looks like Oblivion without any graphic-mods and low settings. Don't get me wrong, I will play this game because its like Oblivion, but it is not the game i was waiting for. Seems like the developers are afraid of improving graphics of the pc version because consoleros would get angry. The menus are terrible too. They didn't even try to improve them for pc mouse. I have a wireless 360 controller for Windows, but i won't use it. I got it for sports and racing games. Let the patching begin....… Expand
  32. VIPER15
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    if you buy one game this year make it skyrim the amount of content is worth the price. unlike most games nowadays .ive spent hours in this game already and ive barely touched the main story the side quests and random things you fine are so good you have gamer ADD on what to do next its awesome.
  33. jdsmith98235
    Nov 11, 2011
    0
    Absolutely awful. Try remapping the keys to the keypad and you get "this key is reserved," even though it really isn't. The graphics are absolutely awful, the mouse control is absurd, and textures are washed out and bland. How did this hogwash get released for PC? Why did Bethesda even bother? I get the feeling that most of the reviews here saying "GAME OF THE YEAR" are payed reviewers.
  34. Dethstar
    Feb 20, 2012
    10
    Following the bugs and issues around the launch I initially reviewed Skrim much lower. Oblivion was a 9/10 and Morrowind a 10. However, a few months on and with many problems patched out the game was improving rapidly. Then the mods came addressing all the console based limitations of the original and adding massive value to the game as a whole. For opening up the creation kit and the sheer strength of the modding community response which would not have been possible if Bethesda did not encourage it. This has gone from an ok to another classic.… Expand
  35. Blackcompany
    Dec 17, 2011
    4
    Skyrim is a terrible role playing game. By now we all know about the horrid user interface, the relatively poor combat and magic systems, the disastrous implementation of dual wielding (that makes it, essentially, useless.) We know about buckets on heads and backward-flying Dragons. So I won't even take them into consideration, except to say Bethesda could have done better....................And that is the overarching theme of Skyrim: Could have been better.................................................................................I came into this game not expecting much. It is, after all, a Bethesda game. And I am happy for that, because I didn't get much. No moral choices. No consequences for my character's actions. Speech skill isn't even something you can use. It just lowers prices at merchants. Loot is thrown at you constantly, level-ups are handed out like candy at a parade. There is no challenge, no feeling of accomplishment to completing tasks......................................Questing is, if anything, worse than in Oblivion. Literally everyone in the world has something they lost or need found, but no initiative to go and find it. This game is essentially one big fetch quest after another. Its sickening and disheartening..............................Still, as an action game based loosely on a narrative, with some role playing aspects, Skyrim sort of works. It has its moments. But as a true role playing game Skyrim is beyond terrible, and that is why, despite the things I like about the game, I am giving it only a 5. I am reviewing the game as the RPG it claimed to be and was not, as opposed to overlooking this significant bit of false advertising.........................Bugged launch, zero replay value, linear quest line, poor combat and terrible dialogue and writing (all in the Bethesda tradition) guarantee this will be the last Bethesda-developed game I ever purchase. Terrible developer with terrible writers.… Expand
  36. Hudson
    Nov 11, 2011
    5
    Save your headaches get the console version. The PC version is a terrible console port and once again requires massive tweaks just to make the game playable. Console version was put and play and looks great. Skip the PC version until developers learn to take their time, make a statement with the one you buy and get the 360 or PS3 version.
  37. Slothhead
    Dec 6, 2011
    4
    I scored Skyrim based on what it delivered. While skyrim could have been great, I fear that many of the high scores here are from die hard fans looking at the ooh ahh factor. Because Skyrim deals in the open world we are pleased to see sprawling vistas. But when broken down into its parts, Skyrim is nothing special. I am not rating skyrim on what could have been or what may be in months after patching, i am rating it on what i was delivered. Graphics The graphics are better than that of oblivion, but in current gaming, they are certainly nothing special. They are nice when they work. There are numerous issues regarding graphical problems, and this really brings the score down. Where it could have been an 8/10, what i received are overall graphics of a 4/10. Story line The quests, including the main quest are really quite shallow in terms of their story. There is nothing remarkable about them at all. In fact i found the speed at which i was able to join and become the head of each guild rather pathetically short; everyone seems to trust you very quickly, no need to really prove yourself, just collect this or that and within 4 specific quests you are the head of the guild. Secondly, many of the side quests or miscellaneous quests are completely vacant of thought, Ã¢â… Expand
  38. Synplasm
    Feb 13, 2012
    6
    A game of two halves. The first of which is enjoyable, interesting, engrossing and fun, the second of which is disappointing, tedious, annoying and dull. The second half arrives at an unspecifed time but believe me if you play this game long enough it will make itself known to you. I got my money's worth for sure, but I ended up with negative thoughts about this game which is the main reason for the 6. Who came up with computer generated quests? Who? I cannot think of a better way to make quests mind-numbingly dull. I really can't. Sorry but you can stick your shill job where the sun doesn't shine, buster. Perks. By the time that I was eligible for a lot of these they were completely useless to me. Besides, some of them are useless anyway and others replicated by items that you can get. The banality of almost all NPCs starts to get to you after a while too. How many times did I hear the same conversation in the Palace of Kings? 'He's either with us or against us'. How droll. The main mage's questline is extremely poor, the civil war affair not much better. They need some new writers. Try harder next time Bethesda and make a full game, not one that runs out of stamina half way through.… Expand
  39. Never231
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    It's sad that so many people can't see past the graphics. Let's look at negative reviews, we see too many comments about how the graphics are "no better than Oblivions". If you don't mind mediocre graphics and a few awkward physics, you'll love this game. I admit, some of the controls are awkward (mainly spell switching, it becomes a pain) but the story is very well done and there's always something to do. I also noticed that people like to complain about how this is the "same game in a new box" well you clearly don't understand how to play an RPG. If you didn't know, there's a GREAT storyline in that quest log so I don't see how you don't have anything to do in the game. The gameplay is much improved from oblivion, but a lot less clunky and easier to control. I'd give this game a 9.5 out of 10, -.5 for graphics/clunky animations at times, but these issues should have no effect whatsoever on how much you like this game.… Expand
  40. obro
    Nov 11, 2011
    6
    OK so Skyrim... I will keep it simple. Good stuff: spellcasting immersion (streams carry you if you try to swim, beetles in forests that you can catch, night sky) atmosphere looks (not graphics LOOKS as in it aesthetically it looks great but it's still a DX9 game in **** 2011) character models (much better than in Oblivion) character faces (again much better than Oblivion) dungeons traps soundtrack

    Bad stuff:

    User Interface is pure consolitis designed for controller not M+K
    melee and combat in general (melee sucks the most it's like they didn't improve one bit from oblivion hell they made it even worse now you cant even backpedal and thus cant evade **** the melee is nothing but a button masher at best
    controls - I mean ...there are some things that are just puzzling. For example you cant jump from sprinting. Why? It makes no sense what so ever.
    inconsistency (something looks great and then you notice the wall behind it with 420x200 textures or some **** like that)


    Bugs

    A lot of them. And some really REALLY annoying ones like chickens and horses report you for stealing/murdering. Yep. You heard it right. **** chickens and horses are witnesses.


    That all said it's a good game IMO. Can and will be improved with mods. Pity if you're a console users you wont experience them. So yeah not a perfect game but it's good stuff.

    Oh yeah and a big **** YOU to Todd Bull**** Howard for lying to us PC users that we are getting a User Interface made FOR m+k and not just a port from consoles. I am really disappoint. That and I am also very disappointed when they in a recent interview said that "it's hard to program for PC and there is a lot of piracy"

    Console version was leaked 2 weeks before the launch and nobody said anything. And to think that a company that owes it's existence to PC market says something like that.... just disgusting.    … Expand
  41. Thyriel
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    It is a very nice game. It seems to have a lot of depth and detail. But it does carry over some quirks with the AI and at least on my machine I have at the launch of the game som weird audio problems with Surround. However in general it is one of the best elder scrolls and open world games in existence.
  42. xcomonline
    Nov 12, 2011
    0
    Now now .... where to begin. The controls on the PC are just awful and no remapping(in 2011?) and when i say controls i dont only mean the combat oriented ones but the interface ones too . This is propably due to the fact that Bethesda could not take the time to "smoothen" that console port of a game. Combat is still as awful as it was in Oblivion withconstatly bugging animations and with no actual feel of the weapon or the incoming hits and ofc as simple skillwise as ever , I bet "shank" which is an action game can produce more moves and with better mouse/keyboard response.
    The graphics and audio are mediocre to say the least which is rather interesting since the elder scrolls series after morrowind used to be well known for their cutting edge video/audio making us tremple thinking the amount of moneuy it will take to witness the awesomeness.
    Even storywise Skyrim falls short to its heritage with detached and boring sidequests blinking lights and everything expressed in "easy" words directed ofc to your average console gamer. To be honest thought i can't really speak for the main plot since im not too far into it yet.
    So conclusion is that this is not a highly anticipated PC RPG game but a rather mediocre console action/rpg that just hapened to be ported to PC because of its heritage. Thank you bethesda for not giving me the heads up and i wasted my money.    … Expand
  43. Yoshiwol
    Nov 14, 2011
    6
    Overall this game has a great story and engrossing and believable fantasy world that looks and feels great, but the gameplay is lacking and unless you can take enjoyment at exploring just the world and meeting the people, there is little difference to this title than there is to Oblivion. Why people liked Oblivion so much is beyond me, it was a minor improvement over Morrowind - in fact I enjoyed Morrowind more. The combat by now should be far better than what it is, and so should the stealth. The fact that it has been 8 or so years since Morrowind was released and the combat still feels the same really lets this game down, alongside the A.I being poorly pathed and difficulty settings poorly scripted, it makes the game feel more like a highly interactable novel, but not a great novel that you enjoy reading and recommend to friends, more a novel you might hear about in reviews and buy if you saw it in a charity shop.

    This game is hardly due of the attention it currently receives and I think it's mostly due to the mindset of the people wishing to review. Most hardy gamers, who throw themselves at fantastical franchises get too engrossed in the fact that it is as close as they can come to a living breathing fantasy world that they can explore, engage in and conquer. What they seem to forget, is the "as close as" part. While the game does draw out an epic fantasy adventure that feels unscripted and organic, where every small action seems to have consequence to larger actions and where the depth of the world is at times mesmerising there are many flaws. And the reason these shouldn't be overlooked - is that the same flaws were present in Oblivion as are present here.

    When I see this game getting so many 100 reviews it almost makes me sick that such a game is garnering such attention when so many of these flaws have existed for almost 6 years. Floating NPC's and objects STILL in the game since Oblivion. Poor A.I pathing, STILL in the game since Oblivion - including the very annoying friendly units getting in the way. The clunky and shallow combat system STILL in the game since MORROWIND. Melee combat is still shallow and lives a bitter taste in the mouth, it is tiresome and dull and the reason for this is its not exactly easy, but at the same time provides no satisfaction. The difficult settings in the game STILL shallow, they do nothing but bunk up stats for the enemies and for the most part makes fighting them near impossible. Taking 5 hits to die against an opponent on adept? Them taking 10 to fel? Stick it up to Master and watch as they kill you in 1 or 2 hits while they take possibly 50 sword strikes to take down. That's not an exaggeration either. The A.I don't get smarter, they just get more stats, which makes the already tedious combat more lengthy than it should be. Alongside that, if you ever get companions, they seem to believe themselves the hero - and will always block your shot with spell or arrow, or your swing with sword, axe or mace.

    Instead of engaging in combat that is natural, you feel like you are part of an unrehearsed college drama, swinging plastic swords at each other while you all forget at which point you are to act dead.

    HINT BETHESDA - Why not use certain animations and gameplay mechanics that other stealth games use, like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear or Assassins Creed, or even GTA IV that have all copied ideas from each other and other mainstream titles like Gears of War. Make combat more fluid and natural, and more with the times, take ideas again from games like Assassins Creed, where swords can actually clash, and the strength of enemies felt to a degree

    With all those points aside though, it has made improvements on Oblivion - I would have given Oblivion a 3, a 4 at best, but this definitely deserves a 6. It has potential, the story is much better this time around and it is much easier to get engrossed in the world and really enjoy the depth of everything to explore and do. There are certainly many hours to enjoy, whether you play them is up to you, and many of them are not really hours of fun but instead follow the grindy nature of RPG games - such as collecting ingredients, or deciding what you should and shouldn't loot from dungeons (which can be painfully lengthy due to the menu systems).

    The game is clearly not designed at all for PC, the mouse has different sensitivities based on x or y, and the menu system is very uninformative and difficult to manoeuvre. I play using a USB xbox360 controller I bought for racing games and it feels odd but it is far less odd than the mouse and keyboard. The game also suffers greatly from consolitis, some of the graphics are stellar, and really evoking, while others remind me of the PSX and even the SNES.

    Conclusion is at the top.    … Expand
  44. Xnugget
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Brace yourselves GF's, Skyrim is released! A Sandbox RPG with an interactive world full of beautiful scenery and amazing graphics, gotta be definitely a game of the year for me. What i love about Skyrim, is the "Karmatic" System like in Fallout 3. Steal corps, and the local inn will not sell you beer, and so will people in the inn reject to come and help you with battle, etc.
  45. SittinginBasket
    Oct 23, 2012
    6
    A decent attempted at rebooting the Elder Scrolls series, but just that. Visuals and audio leave something to be desired, cities and towns feel extremely small and uninteresting compared to the series' past cities and towns, melee combat is unsatisfying and sloppy while magic is fairly well done. The engine's physics still suffer in realism, and putting a potato into a bowl is the game's most difficult feat. The game lacks much depth and immersion, feeling like a simple video game instead of an immersible world. Quests are extremely shallow and mostly consist of fetch-quests where your only true objective is to go into a dungeon, get to the end, and get back out, with no real story or anything interesting. Certain features such as the horse carriages are rendered useless after the first use by fast-travel and merchants will only ever be used to sell items to and buy potions, arrows, and ingots, as every other item will be inferior to what you currently have. The game redeems itself in it's openness to modding. Without mods, the game is just another mediocre RPG. It is highly recommended to install mods before going into the game, as the vanilla experience is extremely lacking.… Expand
  46. ge2dachopa
    Nov 14, 2011
    2
    I cannot believe the average critic rating for this is 96. It's just sad that such a flawed game can receive a score 4 points away from absolutely perfect. In some places, the graphics even look inferior to Oblivion (such as lack of properly rendered textures, so reflections of light on walls don't happen, animation is just as awful, objects don't reflect or shine anymore) I've been playing for almost 20 hours now and am amazed that supposedly reputable review sites would be so generous to a game that is ridden with bugs, glitches and design problems. Movement is SLOW. Very slow - get a horse and it's barely any faster - sure you can sprint but the horse runs out of stamina, and if it gets hit it runs away and sometimes disappears entirely (one of the many weird glitches). You can get companions to follow you around, but they walk at a snails pace and get in the way when you're in dungeons. Combat is exactly the same as Oblivion, just point at the enemy and spam the button. You'll have read about the awful UI. Yes, on the PC it really is that bad. Good luck scanning through a massive inventory - it was better on Oblivion, at least you could view your character. Yes, in this game you cannot even see your character when setting up equipment and there's no way of sorting items. The graphics really do look like something from 4 years ago (and I have a decent rig, it's even rubbish on ultra). Textures are so poor they look like PS2 at points. The music is okay but nothing memorable. The quests are nothing more complex than standard WoW stuff (go here, talk to this guy, bring me that object). Recent RPGs have been pretty bad, so this is going to do well because it's something to play, but much I wanted to like this, it's a poor effort. I'm stunned that the reviewers have rated this so highly.… Expand
  47. Renegade
    Nov 13, 2011
    4
    Absolutely horrible performance, bugs everywhere, awful menu system and UI, and it isn't even that fun. Oblivion was interesting and felt like something I wanted to explore. This game, at least what I've experienced of it, is nothing but "go here and talk to this person" and "go here and find this thing". You get to traverse large, empty plains and mountains that remind me of Fallout more than anything. The animation is nice, graphics are okay at best, but sound and music is mediocre and mono-sounding. It also isn't really fun to play at a constant 30fps when you're using the lowest possible settings.… Expand
  48. skuby
    Nov 12, 2011
    3
    The Professional review sites are officially dead. It's not just a coincidence any more, they are obviously bought and paid for.

    This is a really mediocre console port, and not a successor to Elder Scrolls: Morrowind or even Oblivion. The controls are 'horrible'. The interface/inventory/etc., is horrible. The story and voice acting, are really bad, the intro was boring and very linear     and quickly care nothing at all about any of the forced, rushed, generic characters. Voice acting is in spots good and in other spots, well, spotty. Exploration feels about the worst ever for an Elder Scrolls game and environments have a really weird scale to them, that makes everything feel squished and steep, like walking up the side of a cliff just feels really weird, like everything is made out of 80 degree angles.

    Controls make this game basically un-playable, they ruin combat. Dunno what the developers were thinking, but my guess is that they didn't want to catch all the major BS they would catch if they just stopped making PC games, so they just do this instead. Bad news though, I wouldn't even enjoy this as a console game, the original Morrowind played on the original Xbox was better (I know because that's how I played it through the first time and I pre-ordered that old classic...)    … Expand
  49. Whiskey990
    Nov 13, 2011
    9
    Okay, initial impressions were actually CRAP. The menus angered me, as I refuse to accept anything resembling a console setup. My mouse and aiming lagged to high heaven... But within an hour or two I had mastered the menus (even though I agree it is still a console setup and I wish it wasn't) and thanks to the wonderful world of .Ini files, fixed all my lag! Hell I even added more shadows, and sharper details :D

    This game looks beautiful. I keep looking at my screenshots, like "Wow, I was really playing that?!" The sounds make me want to crank up my surround system to hear the skeleton parts roll down the rock stairs, hear the chant as I level up...or even the bass upon startup! Side quests, and unique locations have taken 15 delightful hours of my time and I can't wait for more. (Am avoiding the main quest for now).

    OH and my breezehome is fully decked out and has tons of goodies in it...despite my housecarl being dead :(    … Expand
  50. anonVas
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    9/10: This game is definitely not a 10, but it is definitely not a 0 either (wtf, why must you people be like this?). Here is my honest review thus far! Skyrim is a major improvement over Oblivion. Magic and Archery got a much needed overhaul and the UI system looks much nicer. It is a great idea to be able to hotkey spells and weapons to favourites. The character animation is much improved over Oblivion, HOWEVERmelee combat still feels 'floaty' (e.g. when you cut into flesh, it doesn't 'feel' like that, it's like you're cutting at air). Furthermore there are a few bugs that kind of detract from immersion (my face disappeared, a few non-important quests bugged out and my horse is floating lolol). However, nothing of game breaking proportions. FURTHERMORE, stealing is REALLY bugged in that I can place a pot/cauldron/basket over someones head and steal ANYTHING from them. It was pretty funny to do it initially, but now it's kind of making moments where I'm asked to steal something that should be difficult quite easy! The graphics on PC are good, but not the greatest. There is quite a difference between my PC settings (maxed with minimum 60FPS) and my friend's Xbox version, however the difference isn't as marked as BF3 PC-BF3 Console. The game install size is TINY and it is amazing that Bethesda has managed to improve their engines compression rate. I have sunk so many hours into this game so far and have not even made a dent in the main story line. While you wont find high fidelity in very minute environmental details, you will find a breathtaking scenery when looking out towards a snowy mountain (oh and the weather effects are AWESOME!), or even looking out across a lake as the sun begins to set. Truly what Bethesda has created is amazing. Yet for me, the game could never be a 10, the amount of bugs, floaty combat and the decent graphics for modern PC's all detract from the score I gave it. I hope you have enjoyed reading my review. Please do not trust the words of straight out 10/10 or 0/10 reviews, the game does have some problems, but it is a VAST improvement over Oblivion in all aspects. If you must know: Yes you can be a werewolf, the Dark Brotherhood quests are awesome and you can keep performing infinite kill contracts after you finish its main story and a few other things I want to tell you but shouldn't (I don't want to spoil it)!!. If you have money to purchase 1 game this summer, AND you love sandbox RPGs, this is a great game. Also, the MASSIVE strategy guide makes for awesome toilet reading material haha, fans of the Morrowind guide book will NOT be disappointed. 9/10. Thanks guys, enjoy!… Expand
  51. loisho
    Nov 16, 2011
    0
    The reviewers must of gotten a different game to us. This game feels like it was made for console, it is so sluggish even with 60fps, You cant browse the menus with your mouse, only the keyboard works, that in itself is a 0. The graphics are some of the worst i've seen compared to the era they were released in. The game itself? who knows, there's too many hindrances to get to the gameplay itself. I'm sure if i tried the console version it'd be near flawless as the consoles have very strict releasing protocols.
    I guess with the pc version they threw their hands in the air and said let the mod community fix it for us.    … Expand
  52. Wolfman121
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Where to begin where to begin... How about its amazing graphics, or possibly its large and expansive world, its unending game play the dungeons are large and complex complete with puzzles of various designs.The new dual-wielding system is amazing and runs flawlessly with each other. and you can get flipping married!!! Hire Mercs.… Expand
  53. Ythumb
    Nov 11, 2011
    5
    Holy ****
    This is TRULY A TERRIBLE GAME.
    DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP!
    Please save yourselves the time and dont support devs that make terrible games like this!
  54. zugu
    Nov 12, 2011
    6
    Fallout 3 with dragons and swords. This is what this game is. I simply cannot understand the hype around this game.

    Level designers worked their asses off, because everything in the game is detailed, and each zone, and each house have a story to tell. But graphics are horrible. Everything has that bland, monochrome Fallout 3 look. Facial animations look like something from 2005, and the e    ntire game feels like it was built on some game engine from the same era, that Bethesda continuously iterated upon until Skyrim. (Oh, wait, that actually happened. Bethesda could have learned something from Valve's Source engine, because that's what good iteration looks like.) The facial animations are so bad and ugly that, at times, I can't even understand what character is actually speaking.

    Voice acting is terrible, I was expecting much more from Skyrim. The UI is nothing to write home about.

    All these shortcomings, yet people rave about this game like it's the second coming of baby Jesus. What is this world coming to?    … Expand
  55. DOSfan
    Nov 18, 2011
    4
    it's a well done game in some ways, mainly if you're a console gamer.
    the menu designs are just horrible on pc, why can't i use my mouse???
    graphics are sub par, over hyped, and the character progression is painfully simple.
    i got bored and frustrated after only 6 hours in :/
  56. CorporateGreed
    Nov 11, 2011
    5
    Terrible controls for the PC. Remapping buttons causes some features to simply not work at all such as stealing books or crafting. Gotta admit it does run stable, but really doesn't look much better than oblivion did 5 years ago. The mouse Y sensitivity is somehow controlled by the frame rate, so you'll never have the controls exactly as you want them. The good thing is I have had no stability issues or crashes of any kind, which makes sense since it's basically Oblivion with a worse UI and menu system. Looks a bit better, but nothing like the screenshots from Bethesda on any settings. Would rent only, and then use a console as the PC version is an afterthough.… Expand
  57. Delogic
    Nov 13, 2011
    4
    BLAND BLAND BLAND.

    How this can get 10's from 10's of critics is beyond me. Oh, I have a thing or two to say about that..

    1. Design is bland. Enviroments look just the same as Oblivion, with the same random-dungeon-generation as Oblivion, with the same lack of feeling, charisma, distinctiveness. It's like it couldn't be made better looking and equally uninteresting at the same time. None     of the enviroments are actually connected to any type of function - they're just made to look awesome. Large expances? Check. Walkways floating in the air? Check. Underground lighting and strange floating plants? Check. Oh, and I started as a feline with enhanced vision to see in the dark. Think I ever needed to use it? Nope! Chuck Testa.

    2. Game mechanics are bland. Wow, I got a sword that does 15 fire damage instead of 10. THAT's CONSIDERABLE. Oh, this sword does frost damage instead of fire, NEVERMIND, damagetype almost never matters ANYWAY. Perks? Yeah, 20% more damage, 40% more damage, can it get more flavorful? Oh, what's that I hear? You can get 25% chance to make monsters bleed from axes or something? ... Sorry, I think I fell asleep. Automatic difficulity adjustment is back, btw! Hell, you're wearing the best armor possible? Well, be prepared to be slaughtered by peasants and iron-armed cave-men. All for a decent challenge, you know!

    3. Spells are bland. Fear, Spark, Fireball, Tashas hideus laughter - sorry, made the last one up. That one would actually been interesting. Make X do Y for Z seconds. Step-n-repeat. All elemental spells have same structure: Low-level, medium-level, high-level, a bit more awesome level, I can guess what this is going to be level, and I couln't care less level.

    4. Dragons? Yeah, **** fly-like-on-rails one-trick-pony kill-them-the-same-way dragons. All look the same. Try killing them with a close-range weapon? HAH!!! Yeah right. Try instead getting them glich-stuck behind a tree and spend 20 minutes waiting for your mana to recharge or your petty spells to do your work. Dragon powers? You can become a ventriloquist! With great power comes great responsiblities!

    5. Inventory? HAH! Be ready to spend equal time in the horrible menu-system as watching the scenery go by, slowly on a horse with no name that can actually run - for 10 seconds - then plot along. Potions of healing and Potions of health and Potions of Regeneration and Potions of **** well, all these are going to be just a blast scrolling though. Some heal you. Some doesn't. You'll just have to find all of them again and again. Easy to recognize visual representations? Pff.. who needs'em. Up, down, left, right. Get ready to be confused. Select skills without jumping to another skill and trying again and again and again and again and almost destrying your keyboard? You wish!

    Well, at least it doesn't have any bugs.. ..oh, wait.    … Expand
  58. NeronDarkiuss
    Nov 12, 2011
    1
    No STATS. No character doll. Stupid consolish interface. Outdated DirectX9 engine. Lot of low-res textures. Sometimes funny psychics. Combat is dull and simple. etc. etc.
  59. JosephR
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    After waiting over a year for this game, and after playing both morrowind and oblivion, I am happy to say this is my favorite one so far. The only disappointing thing for me is that my computer cannot run skyrim on max, which is a big supprise considering I can run bf3 on ultra with no anti-aliasing. In short, If you have a pc, ps3, or xbox 360 and you don't buy this game, you are missing out on the best game of the year.… Expand
  60. AndyRock
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    If you buy one game this year, this is the one to get, it's the best elder scrolls yet, minus the ui, and the graphical errors, it would be perfect, but those will get patched and modded out. Bottom line BUY THIS GAME
  61. Dolar
    Nov 18, 2011
    2
    I really want to like this game I really do. But the UI on the PC is just horrendous. No modern PC game should ship with a 100% console UI and awful support for keyboard and mouse. All kinds of performance issues, I had a game stopping issue that took 4 days and a user fix to make the game playable.

    Once I was able to play the game, with an xbox controller mind you, It was a lot of fun. I    t is a very atmospheric game and is a whole lot of fun when you can play it. Getting to play it is the obstacle on the PC however.

    Here is to hoping the patch will fix these issues, if so I would have no issues giving this game a 8. But the UI has to be fixed.    … Expand
  62. TappedOut
    Nov 28, 2011
    6
    For the casual or new gamer, this game is the pinnacle of single player RPGs and is without rival. For experienced players to the Elder Scrolls series, many of the balance issues that plagued Oblivion are present. While leveling and monster scaling is no longer an issue, the crafting skills in the game make the hardest difficulty so easy that they are nothing short of broken. Without using exploits, this game is devoid of limitations to prevent players from becoming overpowered if they so wish, removing the challenge from the game. This can largely be circumvented by avoiding smithing and enchanting.

    That aside, the graphics are gorgeous and spectacular with the proper hardware. The open world map does away with much of the copy paste terrain of its predecessor, and sets a new standard for adventure games. The volume of quests is somewhat overwhelming and some of the real gems can be difficult to pull out of the masses, but they are there and they do deliver.    … Expand
  63. Tubie
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    This game is more like Morrowind and less like Oblivion. For all the good reasons. No other game can make you immerse yourself in itself like The Elder Scrolls V. The only fault I could even think of is the kinda clunky UI takes time to get used to if you don't use a controller. Aside from that, this game is as close to perfection as a video game can get.
  64. The_Ommadawn
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    I'm confused? Skyrim is advertised as a fantasy RPG. It has a vast world to explore, dungeons to loot, dragons to kill, bandits to beat down, trades to learn, inn's to sleep in, booze to drink, rivers to swim in, mountains to climb, weapons to fight with, spells to heal and destroy, towns to find, 300 hours of content, etc. So what did the low scoring people expect? Shoot, reload, shoot, reload, die, re-spawn??? As for the graphics ... (on ultra) are 'pinch myself' incredible when you consider what this game represents. I can see way, way off into the horizon with no fogging, people walking around, birds high in the sky, clouds realistically moving and trees swaying in the wind without the slightest lag or frame rate drop (60FPS). What other game does this??? Also, the load times leaving buildings/new areas are, at most, 3 seconds! How in the hell does Skyrim load this in so quickly? Something else I found impressive was I was walking through the bush during the night and a shadow of a bird of prey passed me. I looked up and there it was!!! Such attention to detail. I'm over and above amazed with what Blethesda have created. OK, It's not a huge leap from Oblivion or Fallout 3, but it's built upon those foundations and created the BEST of that genre. People are so hard to please these days (myself included) and when something comes along with genuine effort and thought, it becomes 'cool' to disrespect all the hard work. I salute the team behind Skyrim as they have given us (gamers) something to rejoice in. Best pre-crimbo present I could have hoped for. Thank you.… Expand
  65. Kelu
    Dec 25, 2011
    4
    Tremendous fun at first, but the game's charm wears off quickly. Each subsequent installment of TES series removes more of the RPG elements, and Skyrim is pretty much just a FPP hack'n'slash. The main plot is a cookie-cutter sub-par heroic fantasy dragon slaying "adventure" and side quests are rather disappointing too - kill, exterminate, assassinate, murder and fetch. Playing a warrior archetype will get you bored to death, sneaky rogues and mage might fare better though. The world is big, but compared to, for example, Morrowind, it's bland, default north of the default fantasy setting. Exploration isn't really worth the effort, random dungeons litter the landscape, filled with random baddies to murder, bearing random, level-scaled loot. There's barely anyone to talk to outside of main cities - not saying that's a bad thing, since the dialogues are quite badly written and uninteresting, voiced by about 10 actors at that. Not to mention the interface, which was designed for consoles and is agonizingly annoying to use on the PC, and the outdated graphics. This game jest needs mods to be decent, and without them it's a solid 4/10. Skyrim made me look more favourably on Oblivion.… Expand
  66. Bas92
    Nov 19, 2011
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Skyrim is a game that looks absolutely great from the outside. The quality could be a lot better though.
    The game starts in a village and as I looked around, everyone was either a Nord or an Imperial. The character creation is incredibly simple, all you have to do is select a race. It's purely cosmetic anyway because any race can be an equally skilled mage/thief/warrior. The game starts quite promising with a dragon who attacks the village, but sadly this is the only instance in the entire game where a dragon actually destroys something. There's no character progression in the entire game so you can already imagine what the ending of the main quest will be. You're the dragonborn after all, whether you like it or not. Personally I'd rather have a main quest like in Fallout New Vegas, with the Stormcloaks and Imperials as the two major factions. Currently you're just the boring "chosen one" and there are no choices or different outcomes in the MQ. The MQ is also quite short, it took me only 10 hours to beat it.
    But hey, you don't buy TES just for the MQ. By far the best part of this game are the dungeons and the world. The world is, as we've come to expect from Bethesda, huge. It feels bigger than Cyrodiil because it has more mountains. There are more unique places and the cities look a whole lot better than the cities in TESIV:Oblivion. The dungeons are linear but brilliant. They all look unique, most dungeons have a story to them and they're full of surprises. I've had the most fun in this game by randomly exploring dungeons.
    Sadly the game suffers from many other problems. The user interface was made for the consoles and is absolutely terrible. You do get used to it but I think it's quite an achievement from Bethesda that I'd rather get Oblivion's UI back.
    The graphics are a major improvement but not up to today's standards. Many textures, especially rocks, are very outdated and would even look bad in TESIV:Oblivion. Games like The Witcher 2 and Two Worlds 2 look much better than Skyrim.
    The combat hasn't changed much since Oblivion. There's dual-wielding now (and dualcasting) and killing moves. The first-person killing moves are pretty cool, the 3rd person ones are annoying and can't be turned off. Melee combat is still simple hit&block where you're hitting air. If you're an archer, expect a lot of fights against a bandit with an arrow sticking out of his head.
    The dragons are a wasted potential. They look great but they're pathetically weak at lower levels. It shouldn't be possible to even kill a dragon at level 5-10 imo. They get better at level 20+ but they're still not that hard to kill, especially when they land so you can easily reach them. As I said, there's no destruction model in this game, so the dragons never feel as terrifying as they should. The guild quests and side quests are a mix of good and mediocre quests. Most are poorly written and almost all quests are simple fetch or kill quests. Don't expect any meaningful choices or different outcomes. The quests are mostly an excuse to explore the dungeons in this game and fight enemies.
    While the world itself is huge, it looks more like Oblivion than Morrowind. You won't find any big mushrooms here or other unique fantasy stuff. The Nordic theme is pretty good but there are so few elven/animal NPC's in this game that it's almost sad. I feel like I'm playing in the medieval era instead of a fantasy universe. Some people might like that but it's a big change from Morrowind. To sum it all up: Skyrim is a pretty good action game. If you liked Oblivion, you'll love this game. You can easily spent hundreds of hours playing this game. Just don't expect any good RPG elements, a memorable main quest, meaningful choices, well written quests, epic dragon encounters or a great combat system.    … Expand
  67. Nacirema
    Nov 13, 2011
    10
    God damn! Here's some answers for the kids: 1) Bad Graphics. Upgrade your PC (That's all really.) 2) Game is too easy. Put it on Master difficulty (Settings -> Gameplay) 3) It's Oblivion! Rather than be a dumbass and rate the game without playing(EVERY ONE IS DOING THIS HERE) Why don't you just look for the faction quests? 4) It has bugs/glitches. Well, this game is not for you. Such lammer doesn't deserve to play this masterpiece. Compare this game with the previous game you played and try to think about how complex it is. If Bethesda wanted, I am pretty sure they would make the best action game ever, because it's just too easy for them.… Expand
  68. Although
    Feb 10, 2012
    7
    Guys. I would like to give a new review , sad to tell but i get bored this game after two weeks, guess my mistake i thought skyrim give me freedom and true rpg experiences together. But unfortunatelly it doesnt give. This game was made for stupid american kids mainly. And so my mistake when i was thinking of Skyrim give me similar rpg experiences than Witcher 2. The story not bad but its like to a once watch american movie simple and easy. I really hope Bethesda will make a perfect addon but... frankly i dont believe they will...So summary it is a nice game with lot of new part compare to Oblivion but it never will compete with Witcher 2 or Dragon Age 2!!! I have to say DA2 is better rpg than Skyrim. its my opinion. sad really sad.… Expand
  69. Articunoh
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Great graphics, Amazing lore, architecture and world, massively improved AI and gameplay, this Elder Scrolls just about surpasses any Elder Scrolls- in fact most RPGs I have ever set my hands on. Even still- it's better on the PC with better graphics and mods/modding tools.
    Great game if you enjoy exploration, fighting, interacting or living in a world, or hell, even story. It's truly amon    g the best RPGs to date, and the best Bethesda game to date. A true masterpiece. The only real downside are the frequent bugs, but honestly there are so many plus sides to this game that I couldn't give it anything but a 10.… Expand
  70. Modernmin
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Only played this for around an hour, but very good so far! Well worth the buy and if someone rated it 0 or something, they just are either blind or not playing the same game!
    Buy this one!
  71. UntoldForce
    Nov 12, 2011
    10
    Skyrim is everything I wanted it to be... and more. This is the first AAA title that launched this year that I was actually impressed with. The character creation and leveling system has been improved, using magic doesn't feel like it's a slow-motion pause fest, and the world is truly beautiful. Every Bethesda game has problems at first--and that's acceptable for a game that has hundreds of hours of content. I'm not going to expect a bug-free experience because many other (and admittedly much shorter) games can't even get things running on launch day (BF3, Dead Island, etc).

    The graphics are beautiful if you can afford to play on Ultra settings (2xGTX 560 Ti cards on my rig), but there's still a few issues with shadows indoors, which is a bit counter-intuitive considering that the outdoor spaces are huge. The graphics aren't groundbreaking (like the Crytek engine) but they'll do just fine, especially in the massive outdoor spaces.

    I'll address the most common complaint: the UI sucks. It does. The menus don't work half the time unless you perfect the art of scrolling, but that's a bug that I'm sure will get fixed. The other complaints are about the standard UI, which tells you less information than Oblivion. I think it gives you a more immersive experience, so you don't have to look at health/magic/stamina unless they're being used. It allows me to spend more time focusing on the world when I'm not in battle.

    Another complaint is about the voice acting and dialog. Come on guys, you can't get Patrick Stewart to voice EVERY TES game. Dialog can be a bit cheesy at times but I don't remember many games that don't have moments of cheesy dialog (in some cases it's lovable!)

    Overall, Skyrim stays true to the feeling of TES series, while making vast improvements in keeping you immersed in the game. It's truly one of the few titles out there that was actually worth the wait.    … Expand
  72. Civesato
    Nov 12, 2011
    0
    This game is one big marketing joke, it was anticipitated to the sky's, and look now? what an unfinished wierd ass game, yeah the game is BIG, and EMPTY, the controls are really stupid, the graphic havent changed much, caves, dungeons looks awfull in textures, dont be fooled here guys, this is not worth it, just can't accept that it gets 9/10 - 10/10 almost everywhere, now i dont give a s... about those reviews around anymore! normally i would give it 5-6/10 but because every "gamesite" is giving 9-10 witch is such a joke, then i only give it 0. its not even close to 7-8-9-10 at all..… Expand
  73. cjMason
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Best Bethesda game by far. Many are complaining that it's exactly the same as oblivion and same engine as fallout, and it is with quite a few tweaks. Some could argue the EXACT same thing about Modern Warfare 3. But unlike MW3, that isn't where the game's heart lies, it's in the incredible content the game has to offer. Massive map with uncountable quests and loot, and incredibly fun activities. They may have used a slightly modified engine, but they went out of their way to deliver the best content possible. I think you can play Oblivion and have quite a similar experience, but Skyrim is the evident superior… Expand
  74. shea224
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Take Oblivion, and combine it with Fallout 3 and BioShock. Make a new engine, let the game look gorgeous, and let the player influence the world. Then put all that on steroids, and you have Skyrim.
  75. ws5ev
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    I like this type of games, I am a huge Morrowind and Oblivion fan, but after the first hours of game-play I must say that the user interface is just horrible as is the fighting and lock-picking.

    I think this game has such high scores only because of its predecessors.
  76. xXDrFeelgood69
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    This game is absolutely amazing. I have never played a game as good as skyrim since Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, this game deserves game of the year. The brilliant gameplay and beautiful world is astonhising. This game is so smooth with the controls if your used to the keyboard and mouse, so many things to do im only 5 hours into the game and i love everything about it and its so much fun watching the NPCs talk to each other like they are real people. One of the best things about this game is dragons, seems as though they never run out and a blast to kill to collect their souls to level up your shouts. Wont be seeing the sunlight for a few months or a couple of years =D… Expand
  77. JEgroeg
    Dec 29, 2011
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Where do you begin with a game like Skyrim? At first I was thrilled, but by the point I had beat all the guilds, mainquest, civil war, Deadric quests, and most the miscellaneous, I realized this was the pinnacle of the complete devolution of the Elder Scrolls as a series. The guilds lack depth and have no purpose. A hack and slash barbarian can lead the College of Winterhold by fighting through a few linear dungeons. The Dark Brotherhood is shorter than Oblivion and lacks the dark humor and unique kills. Most assassinations are simply, go here and kill this guy with a marker over his head. The Companions are equally short and devoid of challenge. Every guild treats you like an outsider then after three quests blindly trust you to be the next leader. Once you become guild leader the random filler quests generated are so repetitious you will be burned out quickly. The Thieves Guild is extremely guilty of this. The random thievery quests are so unoriginal and for a game the prides itself in its AI the people basically let you rob them blind. If they detect you don't worry, they won't call the guards and you can walk back in an hour latter and rob them again. Then there is the fact that there are no actual consequences to your actions as almost all the characters even slightly related to a quest are made unkillable. For a game that prides itself in character choice, why do I have no choice in this matter? The perks are poorly implemented and completely unbalance the game. They will leave you one shotting any enemy with a bow, enchanting armor to cast entire magic schools with no cost, and other outrageous feats that remove all challenge from the game. In just three hours you can craft a god-tier suit of armor and kill everything (except half the NPCs with immortality) in the game. The crafting system has no depth and isn't even related to you respective skills. Why can a character with 15 in smithing craft an item at every attempt? Let me see anyone inexperienced in smithing create a dagger at every attempt. And did I mention weapons don't decay after use, hardly the pinnacle of realism or even providing adequate challenge. I mean if weapons don't decay why even have magicka deplete with spells cast? The civil war quest line is a joke, both sides are mirrors of each other and don't even use different tactics in battle. The main quest is predictable with a typical enemy that has no real motives other than destroy everything. At least Dagoth Ur had motives. He wanted to unify Morrowind against the Empire's invasion at any cost. Skyrim's main enemy is a dragon that wants to destroy the world, how original. Then there is the matter of the new AI system which the developers clearly banked on generating worthwhile and memorable quests. Quite simply it completely fails to generate quests with any degree of complexity. Furthermore, the Norse culture and lore seems like a secondhand rehash of established fantasy clichés. Overall this game hardly even qualifies as an RPG. So much has been streamlined since Morrowind and Oblivion. Even custom spell creation is gone. Nearly every quests has only one way to complete it and it usually involves killing/finding an item that has a magic arrow over its head leading you directly to it. Sure the graphics and environments are nice, but they're nothing amazing compared to the current crop of PC games. Justify this games greatness with the rave reviews, record sales, or mountains of cash it has generated but time will be its ultimate judge. This is just another example of a studio catering to the masses to maximize profit and everyone is eating it up. So this concludes my review of The Elder Scrolls: Call of Duty… Expand
  78. DeadlyJoe
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    Love or hate Bethesda's RPG's, you can't help but appreciate these absurdly massive sandbox worlds that they create for us to play around in. Skyrim presents a truly spectacular landscape filled with wildlife, lore, and quests. Although I've only played the game for about five hours, I can already tell that this iteration of the series will become my favorite. That said, I am a bit disappointed that they haven't improved on the user interface. Bethesda decided on a rather utilitarian and minimalist UI with a menu-driven inventory system. Therefore, I suspect that some of the first mods that people make will probably be UI mods. And although the companion system is great, I was a tiny bit disappointed to discover that you can't easily outfit your companions with the gear of your choice (either that, or I don't know how to do it). But since the main focus is your own character, the somewhat sketchy companion system actually doesn't take away from the game's enjoyment much at all. I'm having a lot of fun with my female Barbarian "Red Sonja" look-alike! Hey, I wonder if I'll run across Kalidor? :)… Expand
  79. Snorre
    Nov 12, 2011
    0
    Many of the mistakes from Oblivion makes it into this game as well. * Big empty world
    * Level scaling which makes leveling up totally pointless. Did they not get the point from the critics after Oblivion?
    * Inventory in most chests are rubbish. I worked my way through a big dungeon and the end chest contained 6 gold!! That is so pathetic!

    On the pc, many textures look like they are f    rom a 8 year old game. Skyrim looks VERY dated on the pc.

    The whole interface is just wrong for a pc game. It's made for console and do not make use of the advantages of a keyboard and mouse. It even installs and starts with a game controller as the default input device. That really says it all I guess :(

    The only thing Bethesda has put even more effort in since Oblivion is the hype they created for Skyrim.
    I like the Fallout games, but Skyrim is a sorry excuse for a new age rpg.

    The more I play this game the more it feels just boring and wrong.

    Shame on you Bethesda.

    The game deserve more than 0, but to compensate for all the misplaced high scores that is what it gets from me.    … Expand
  80. dioxideUniversa
    Nov 13, 2011
    0
    The lack of acknowledgement by so many reviewers about how broken this game is for some people only makes the fact that it is unplayable that much more upsetting. Out of the box the game has critical control issues thanks to it's sparkling new consolized engine. The mouse is floaty and awkward feeling and inputs come out late. You can look up a wide variety of fixes and tweaks for these problems, but it MAY NOT ACTUALLY FIX THEM. Nothing online seems to address the fact that the mouse inputs--even the clicks--are not simply delayed. If you do not hold down the button for long enough, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. You can mash right or left click as fast as you can and your character will not swing his or her weapon because you are not holding the button long enough for it to read it. Worse yet, Bethesda offers no support for these things that actually work--their forums are probably being flooded with registration requests and validation emails simply never happen, so you can't even post about your problem and post specs to get support. I feel really angry that I paid $60 at launch expecting something that was actually playable, but I guess that was simply too naive.… Expand
  81. Oneheven
    Nov 13, 2011
    10
    When I first started I wasn't sure about the changes it has compared to its predecessors. The changes to the menus, the way combat feels and the change in classes and skills.
    But after I have been playing non stop since I got my hands on it I love it. Everything works so well and it makes me feel like i'm in the game that i'm an high elf mage and that is what i love a game that can make me     feel like i'm part of it.
    If I could only have one game this year this would be my pick, you have to pick this up or you are missing on of the best games created so far.    … Expand
  82. Vigidis
    Nov 15, 2011
    10
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> ~50â
  83. bukhrin
    Mar 7, 2013
    10
    400 hours and still playing this. Not many games nowadays gets you going after 40 hours. Sure, it's not a scripted kind of game, but in a real RPG kind of sense, this whole land of skyrim is literally your gameboard.
  84. Fuz
    Nov 12, 2011
    0
    Fire the guy who designed the interface. Just. Fire. Him. It's the worst interface I've ever seen. We have a mouse, non a gamepad. Apart from that, is the same game we already knew from Oblivion. Lots of bugs, pleasant graphics (but you can do better IF you don't do a straight from console porting) et cetera. If you liked Oblivion you will like this. If you couldn't stand all the little problems and annoyances like the unresponsive combat (no feedback on hits? seriously?) and the TERRIBLE enemies scaling you wouldn't like this game. I'm still waiting for a Daggerfall 2. Or a Daggerfall remake. And by the way: FIRE the guy who designed the interface. Also, the guy who approved it.â… Expand
  85. thebigalex
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Skyrim will definitely be Game of the Year. Best TES Game I ever played. Also the Steelbook, map of Skyrim and the coloured Manual are awesome. Buy it!
  86. Gladio77
    Dec 9, 2011
    9
    To my big dismay i have no other option than changing my previous 9 to a zero.

    I was very impressed with this game until it got a mandatory update through steam. Since then the game is unplayable. Errors and performance issues( had none of these problems) Even the update 1.3 to cancel the effects of updatge 1.2 did not work. So a shame really but a well deserved zero for a game that doe    s not work anymore.… Expand
  87. Azill
    Nov 12, 2011
    8
    Improved everything that was bad from Oblivion. Except for the interface. My god, it's terrible. I was hoping they would put together a menu for the PC version but that is not the case. Fix that and the game gets a 10/10 from me.
  88. ARandomGamer
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    I dont give this game a 10 so easily.

    I was quite skeptical about this game, but I feel it deserves a ten simply because of the many improvements and overall change it's went through since oblivion. The entire theme is changed, a more interesting main quest that is much less repetitive. (Might remind you of morrowind's epic quest) Dragons are a ton of fun and don't get old so quickly, esp    ecially when you see them intermix with combat against other enemies. The spell system has been changed, as you can no longer make your own spells. A bit disappointing, but dragon shouts make up for this. The 'perk' system is so extensive that it literally makes me fall flat on my face and go "Oh my god what should I level up?" Leveling up is a LOT more detailed now than it has in the past. It isnt just attribute raising anymore, you're literally crafting your own character. This could be the biggest improvement within the game, and the most interesting one at that.

    The Ai is improved from oblivion's AI. Many enemies are more dynamic, including the giants who, though being incredibly dangerous, only attack when provoked or approached too close. Wolf type enemies will hunt in packs, so expect there to be some team behavior going on among enemies. But the AI is not perfect, it is improved, but it could be better. While it shines in some places, in other places it's completely laughable. The graphics are definitely improved, though comparable to fallout 3's graphics. On the PC there is a huge level of detail difference, so upping that definitely provides for some interesting eye candy. And the shadows are greatly improved. But it is a console port, so we can't expect crysis 3. But to honest, they did a great job with the current tech, the game looks beautiful, though lack luster in other places... (Shoddy textures are common) But the environment looks great, the atmopshere is incredible, and it's a definite change of pace in the graphics department.

    A big thing is dual wielding, and when I say dual wielding, I mean quite anything, spell one hand, weapon the other. It's very customizable, and a big big improvement for some.

    The combat system itself is a bit different than oblivion's, it does require more strategy as some enemies, become quite over powering. Yes I just said that, enemies can be overpowering. The game will base enemies upon your level, but there are some enemies that will beat you to pieces in one swift hit. (The giants. *cough cough*) there are also boss battles. Yes I just said that, combat got a lot more interesting. And this isnt just including dragons.There are also finishing moves, which I find entertaining.

    The dungeons, I need to say this, are vastly improved.

    Almost every dungeon, and when I say almost, it's pretty damn near to 90 percent of them, are entirely unique in their own way. No more copy paste dungeons, the cookie cutter corner dungeons of oblivion are gone.

    I cant say the graphics are spectacular, but consoles hold us back. But the improvements are incredible, including in the graphics. So this game, in every right, deserves the score I gave it.

    Good job bethesda, you have done us well.    … Expand
  89. Katabug
    Nov 12, 2011
    0
    Abysmal! I can't believe the high scores this game is receiving. This is one of the worst console to PC ports I've ever had the misfortune to play. This game might be acceptable on the console, but on the PC it's just atrocious! I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend this game to any PC gamer.
  90. Mistwaver
    Nov 13, 2011
    1
    Simply terrible. This is the worst Elder Scrolls game I've ever played, and I've been playing them for many, many years. I don't know what Bethesda was thinking, but they simply failed miserably on this one, and never again will I give Bethesda MY heard earned money for any game with Bethesda anywhere near it.


    First and foremost, the game is unfinished. It should have stayed in developme    nt for another 3-6 months. The UI horrible. The worst ever in a Elder Scrolls game. It's a main in the @** to navigate because it was designed for consoles, and Bethesda was too lazy to fine the UI for the PC version. If my $60 is going to support a company who is too lazy to spend a couple more days to refine the UI for the PC version, then I'll send that $60 elsewhere next time.


    Secondly, the combat. They went backwards instead of forwards with the combat. The screen pitches and rolls far too much. It makes me nausea and dizzy, so I started playing from third person view, which is undoubtedly, not properly implemented. It has input lag where the first person view does not, and the animations are laughable. Not to mention, avoid those trolls because they'll send you flying 200 ft in the air with one swing. Good job Bethesda! Don't take that in a positive way, because it's not -- it's meant to be a smart-@** remark telling you good job on screwing this one up after years of anticipation. Not to mention, the map system simply is terrible. Additionally, they should have just left the map out if they weren't going to do any better than this. It's so terrible it's not even usable. It doesn't help with navigation at all, unlike in Oblivion. Then within 30 minutes it the game they make you spend 30-45 minutes trying to find your way through this mountain to get to your next objective. What in the hell was Bethesda thinking if anything? I can see this after playing the game for 4-6 hours, but not as a second step in the main quest within 30-45 minutes of starting the game. Shameful Bethesda, you are now simply terrible.


    The ONLY reason I even gave this game a 1 is because of the soundtrack, or it would have simply just gotten a 0. Bethesda, patch this pile of junk you released, redo the UI so it's mouse friendly, fix the lag in the third person view, fix the trolls, revamp the map, because it simply sucks, add more presentation to the game, because as it is it's just a simple mindless quest grind with voice over until you reach the end of the story. There is simply nothing in the game that drives the story forward Go visit BioWare and take some lessons from them -- you can learn a lot from them. Trust me, because you flopped on this game.


    $60 I wish I had kept.    … Expand
  91. HD3
    Dec 16, 2011
    3
    Skyrim has two major strengths ; you can wander anywhere at almost any time and kill almost anything you find there and you have a huge number of sidequests available to you. Outside of that the game has a lot of flaws which everyone seems to be a little too willing to overlook. Character development is almost universally absent and plot never delves much deeper than prophecised hero slays ancient evil. Even the civil war arc which is intitally established as a major feature of the game's world remains largely stagnant, save for Imperial or Stormcloak troops replacing the local militia after certain quests.
    The copy and paste enviroments aren't quite as bad as Oblivion but still enough that you can see some of the days where the developers weren't at their best. The biggest problem is the combat however. If you're going to play Skyrim, go with a mage, because melee combat, particularly if you use a two hand weapon, rarely amounts to more than mashing w/e key you've assigned your sword/mace/dagger etc to until the thing you were aiming at is dead. If you are looking for a game that satisfies wanderlust and affords great flexibility, you'll enjoy Skyrim. If you're looking a tight engaging story and well developed combat systems, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  92. filippo333
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Skyrim, one of the most anticipated games of 2011 and well worthy of all the positive reviews. Many aspects of Skyrim have improved over Oblivion, changes made have been for the better, Bethesda are likely in for another Game Of The Year and here are a couple reasons why. The game mechanics and all specializations such as combat, stealth and magic have been greatly improved over their predecessor, Oblivion. Not only is there much more to do this time around such as smith, get paid jobs and even get married, but all the details from the game have been enhanced further. An example of this is lock-picking, Bethesda have defiantly taken on feedback not just from Oblivion but Fallout 3 and have applied it successfully in Skyrim. Minor things such as adding animation to inanimate objects such as doors and chests as well as adding fog and smoke in caves and mines really adds to the whole atmosphere in a game. It's not all about the minor details of course, Bethesda have clearly used the talent of their new level designers, dungeons and caves feel are no longer linear like they were in Oblivion. The extensive use of puzzles as well as adding depth, forcing the player to explore in more upwards and downwards direction really makes the game feel a whole lot more natural and larger in size. There are also much less boring quests this time around, Bethesda have clearly put a strong emphasis on making the game feel as large and detailed as possible. The music also makes the game, the fantastic compositions by Jeremy Soule and superb voice acting by over 70 voice actors, make Skyrim worth buying alone. I could ramble all day by how fantastic this game is, even if you are one who dislikes the idea of a role-playing game or a free-roam game, I can assure you there's more to it that what it may initially appear to be.… Expand
  93. CaptainRAVE
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    One of the best RPGs (and arguably games) I have ever played - yes there are minor (very minor problems), but it gets so much right - engrossing story/conversations, stunning visuals and environment design, epic soundtrack, fun combat system - so fun in fact, many of my friends can't decide on the combination of weapons/magic to go for.

    The controls are great and the 360 controller integr    ation makes it easy to sit back and relax.

    A must buy!    … Expand
  94. frostrocks
    Nov 14, 2011
    10
    The negative critics are rating the game off of **** You rate the game off of what it is and how the producers than brought that to life. It's like you're asking for a good steak from TGIF. 10/10 easy.
  95. Vegor
    Apr 5, 2013
    10
    Even though the game has its drawbacks the story is quite poor, the quests often tedious and the voice acting sub par this game is still miles ahead of anything out there in terms of an open-world sandbox action RPG. Just the game world size and detail both exteriors and interiors earn this game a 10/10 in my book.
  96. Ukrutor
    Feb 26, 2012
    0
    **** I don't want to review a game after 2 hours of playing it, but i don't have stomach to play this any longer. I can't understand how can any company make a game with 100+ hours of content, but totally fail at UI. Most of those 100 hours you spend searching for items in totally **** up inventory. Shortcuts and using spells is another tragedy. Never seen a worse console port. Some can say there are mods now that fix this, but i don't want mods, i want complete game from the company, not modders. World is open, but there are hardly any interesting places at all. Dialogues feel like being made by a 12y child. No epicness, no intelligence, nothing at all. Your character is boring, you can't give a **** about him. The choice of race hardly matters to you or the environment. As long as ppl worship crappy games like these, there is no future for gaming.… Expand
  97. TheangryOne
    Nov 11, 2011
    9
    When The Witcher 2 first came out, I said that Skyrim couldn't possibly be better; well, ladies and gentlemen, I was wrong. Very,very wrong. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim takes everything you loved about the previous titles and doubles it. Where to start? Oh, how about the world itself. Remember how big Oblivion and Morrowind were; in Skyrim, you could put both worlds into this game and STILL have so much more to explore. Some say the quests and fighting is boring, but trust me, none of the quests are what they seem. There's a suprise waiting around every corner, and even finding a missing child or travelling to a village throw twists that would make M. Night Shyamlan say "Damn!" There are many games out there that just say "Do this, hero." without really giving your character any motivation at all. Well, if you want inspiration to be the strongest, toughest, smartest hero in all of Tamriel, just look up. I talk of course, about the dragons. As most of you know, your character is a dragonborn. I don't want to go into too much detail about it, but suffice it to say that the dragons are majorly pissed at you, and will sometimes attack you completely at random. Not bad enough? Sometimes you'll just be walking along with some peasants or hill giants, all of you just minding your own business, and then suddenly "BAM!" random dragon attack. These encounters are not only intense, but very rewarding. You see, each time you kill a dragon, you gain its soul. These souls are used to activate certain dragonian power words that are not only insanely powerful, but require absolutely no magika at all, just a set cooldown after each use. This also gives you plenty of inspiration to go exploring dungeons. At the end of caves or dungeons, there are a myriad of rewards. They could be an exotic weapon, a f***load of gold, or best of all, a new dragon power word to learn. So how will you go about doing all this awesome stuff? Will you sneak around like a shadowscale? Fight like a Blade? Or throw spells like a crazed Enchanter? Well, with the new dual wield and skill system, you can fight however you want. With dual wield, you can put any weapon in either hand (staff/sword, heal spell/fire spell, dual daggers, etc.) to make your own special combination. At first glance, the skill system looks almost the same, and yes, it even levels the same too, but it has been rewritten and is now far mor versatile than ever before. In fact, at the beginning, you only pick your race (the usual lot), and the rest develops along your own playstyle. The only really significant times the game ever forces you to play in one particular style is when you fight dragons, but otherwise I can't really complain too much. This brings up a few flaws in the game. First, as everyone had mentioned, the textures in the game do feel dated and rigid, and things can get a little repetitive. Though the conversations are suprisingly 3 dimensional, the NPCs still look stiff and akward when speaking. I will not mention the glitches of this game because there have been none that I've found, that do more than make you ask "WTF" for a second, and the few that still exist are probably just the result of "First Week Syndrome", so I won't take off for them. All in all, this game is a masterpiece of storytelling, action, and exploration that make the Witcher 2 look like Contra. Get this game, and you will never regret it.… Expand
  98. KaZAamM
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    Holy crap!! Last night when I installed Skyrim on my beefy machine, my 4 other friends were sitting with me... It took awhile to get it started and after creating a character, (which by-the-way blew everyone's minds) we set out to explore. Within the 4 hours of playing, "Holy crap" was dropped more than a thousand times! Of course the more offensive word was used, but I figured you would figure out that yourself.

    It left us all in awe... Yes, thats right. AWE... I have more than 500 games on my computer. I am not kidding. 430 on Steam alone. No other game I have has had this impact. Sure, there are some games that simply look amazing, but Skyrim takes awesome, and turns up the awe to the point of mesmerizing.

    Everyone's socks were blown right off into oblivion.

    On a 27" monitor with 2 GTX590's this game is worth the investment I made. Until last night, my friends thought I was nuts to upgrade so heavily. They understand now. Oh yea, they understand perfectly well why I upgraded, and now all of them want the same system to play Skyrim. If you upgraded your computer you are going to witness an amazing game. To those that have old computers, well, its going to suck being you. The low ratings here are based upon people who have old computers.

    Skyrim is simply a mind-blowing visual extravaganza. Holy crap...    … Expand
  99. Johnman
    Nov 14, 2011
    9
    I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion before this, and I feel as if they know what I hated about them and fixed it. I've played ~40 hours of this game and it still feels like the first day, I want more (and I usually get bored rather quickly). The game world feels dynamic and the music and sound is just fantastic. The storyline is not award-winning, but it is certainly engaging, and the best of all is it just takes you in the way a book does. I don't know how to explain that better. The graphics are more than fitting, but I really don't care about those. There are bugs, but not as many as there have been other games released lately. Nothing serious. Regarding the user interface, it's obvious it's a compromise from a game that is intended for both consoles and PC, although nothing else has been compromised. The controls feel really good and load times are a breeze. If all "console ports" were like this I'd gladly buy them.… Expand
  100. Bigboy0007
    Nov 11, 2011
    10
    To those who claim the graphics are bad: find the settings to turn them up! It's not a challenge, mine are good. For those of you who complain that it's full of bugs: that's a problem with your setup, mine is fine, but if in doubt wait for updates, perfect games don't get released. For those of you moaning about the controls: change them. That's not difficult either, mine are good. For those of you who claim there isn't enough to do? You're either joking, or haven't worked out that pressing 'new game' brings out a whole new world to play in. Great graphics, great gameplay, tons to do. Simple.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
94 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 29, 2012
    90
    Unfortunately, Skyrim trips and falls on its own (most probably, to make the cool-sounding deadline of 11-11-11) and just before it reaches perfection as the ultimate specimen of its genre, it self-destructs in a crucial aspect of game design: the interface and the peripheral components (inventory, journal, map, etc)... but that is not to say that Skyrim is anything but a truly majestic, epic RPG that will suck you right in its cosmos.
    Read full review
  2. Armchair Empire
    Feb 14, 2012
    100
    Skyrim is definitely one of the best games of 2011, but if the DLC holds out, it might just be one of the best games of 2012 as well.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 19, 2012
    90
    Skyrim is the best open world RPG you can get. A true evolution of genre is not flawless but still it is the game you love to live in. [Christmas 2011]
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