Being the stalwart supporter of western RPGs for a couple of decades, Bethesda have grown in stature since the series began with The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Each new game in the core series showcases a new engine that not only looks stunning, but makes the experience last far longer than ever before. Bethesda provided us with the ambitious The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion several years back, alongside the highs of the Shivering Isles and lows of the infamous Horse Armour as paid downloadable content. One thing was mostly missing from the series though, as what good is a fantasy RPG without Dragons? When the trailers for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim first hit, it was clear that it was fully intentional as a plot device, and after three years of development, Skyrim is finally here. Should you take up the arms as Dovahkiin, or should you shirk your Dragonborn responsibilities?

No matter what you choose to be, the origin story is still the same. Skyrim is in a state of war between the Empire and Stormcloak forces. Somehow getting caught up as a prisoner of war, you are led to your imminent demise when, of all things, a dragon attacks the town. Managing to slip away with a member of the resistance, his sister suggests that you travel to see a neighbouring citadel’s Jarl to find out more about the dragon. Word eventually gets out that there is a dragon attacking an outpost, and you are dispatched with the town guard to kill the dragon. Upon killing the dragon though, some strange events occur which culminate in a booming voice coming from the highest mountains. It is hard to not compare these events with Star Wars in a Viking setting. Dovahkiin having the ability to learn the dragon tongue is a little similar to a Jedi feeling the force; there is a rebel force that is up against an Empire; a wise old master offers to teach the hero the way of the Voice.

“The mountainous scenery definitely steals the show, though towns and dungeons look surprisingly diverse compared to the overly familiar dank dungeons from Oblivion.”

The suggestion that this is dismissive of the entire plot is ludicrous however, as the tale is significantly more cunning in structure and quest design as it will see you raiding tombs, ransacking homes of the bad guys and discovering many artefacts along the way. If you are worried about previous experience with the series, note that the story doesn’t rely on prior knowledge so the tale is easily accessible on its own merit, but there are winks to those who have such as the mentioning of the Mythic Dawn or Morrowind. Side quests for the most part don’t seem disconnected from the main plot, despite eventually ending in an occasionally abrupt fashion, while the game’s seemingly endless mini-quests have immersive qualities. Perhaps the most appealing thing about Skyrim though is the thing that The Elder Scrolls as a series manages to convey is a world of intriguing residents, creatures and social instability. Certain locations have obvious rifts between races, such as Windhelms Nords have a huge problem with Dark Elves and treat Argonians as slaves, while there is a tribe of Orcs who will not allow you to stay in their shack as you are not one of them. They should all probably meet up and sing ‘Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist’ from Avenue Q, just to break the ice.

Speaking of ice, the frozen home of the Nords is truly amazing to look at. The mountainous scenery definitely steals the show, though towns and dungeons look surprisingly diverse compared to the overly familiar dank dungeons from Oblivion. Character models have improved significantly from anything Bethesda has made over the past few years. Nords don’t look like both genders have beards any more, while the Khajiit actually look like cats as opposed to people with extensive makeup. The same can be said with enemy design as well, with a wide variety of different designs that reflect their potential threat level. Mud crabs will always look like a pushover, but giants and mammoths are a force to be reckoned with. Then there are the dragons, the main focus of the game’s concept that tower over just about everything that moves. Fighting dragons feels like a true test of mettle, not only because they look menacing, but the music scales to epic tones.

The soundtrack plays a huge part in the presentation as it changes depending on what you are doing and where you are at any given time. The voice cast has certainly improved, but a wider variety in dialogue is still needed to weed out one or two moments of repetition from guards and the one instance of a cast member who needed to record more dialogue as someone had to stand in to cover the rest is a baffling faux pa of continuity.

“The soundtrack plays a huge part in the presentation as it changes depending on what you are doing and where you are at any given time.”

The past few years have certainly influenced the design choices of Skyrim, meaning that compared to the rather cumbersome Oblivion, this is a far more streamlined system that goes down right to the menus. Gone are the clunky books and in its place are two separate menus. One opens up your quest log, status reports and loading/saving, while the other allows you to change your equipment setup on the fly, use potions and check out your skills. Within the skills menu is also the levelling up system, which has seen a minor overhaul. You gain experience by ranking up in everything you do, but using the same skill over and over will increase its potency, though the game never forces you to choose a class. Melee combat feels more in tune than the rather loose combat in Oblivion, archery and stealthy gameplay feels less random than ever before and magic is just plain fun to experiment with. All kinds of players should find something to like here, though as a predominant magic user I have a tiny bit of bias as to my favourite.

Perks also play a huge part in character development, though I suspect some may cry in dismay over the use of perks here. Fear not! They genuinely help progress your character and give them advantages in not just combat situations, but social and crafting activities. Just don’t expect much in the way of the craziness featured in Fallout’s perks, as Skyrim was built for a full on fantasy experience and not in a satirical Monty Python way. Alongside spells you learn from books there are also scrolls to use on a one-off basis – these choices give you a real sense of progression. Each new level feels like you learned something on this journey.

New to this game though are the Thu’um, which are words of power learned from murals on walls in certain dungeons. Finding these words isn’t enough though as you will also need to slay a dragon in order to learn one part of a phrase. Each phrase has three syllables and the more that are said means the effect is more powerful but has a larger cool-down time. Some powers certainly feel more useful than others, since the ability to slow time down briefly is far more effective than the dash ability you learn from the wise sages on the mountain. Almost a shame it took them decades to learn one really, as they could have learned something of more use, like breathing fire or slowing down time perhaps…

“A triumph in just about every way, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim really has raised the bar for just about every RPG in existence.”

To those who have explored Morrowind or the realms of Oblivion, Skyrim’s open world would initially seem a fairly familiar experience. However a few hours in, new details begin to emerge that give the realm of Skyrim a different feel. Towns contain facilities to enable players to create new items from the collectables found elsewhere. Blacksmithing is available for the first time in the series, alongside enchanting and alchemy. You can also buy a house and decorate it, get married and raid various locations to clear them of enemies. The only downside is that if you are not careful, your quest menu “to do list” becomes so large that to work through them would take weeks. Most are lumped under the miscellaneous category, with no real sense of when you should tackle them. Suffice to say then that Skyrim has the occasional hard section, and this is mostly due to either not being a high enough level or being overly ambitious without knowing it. Without a constant routine of saving whenever you can, you could find progress could easily be lost, and this is certainly bad thing.

But perhaps the crowning jewel of Skyrim is just how huge the game is. I have played the game for seventy hours, taking in the sights, slaying a ton of monsters, performing deeds that the people will remember for a long time; and yet somehow I’m nowhere near finished with the game. It isn’t because I keep dying like in Dark Souls though, as though the game has tricky moments it isn’t anywhere near as punishing. It is because the game is crammed with more tasks to do than items on an Annual General Meeting for a board of directors.

“How fitting therefore that Skyrim is the Einherjar of the humble RPG; chosen by the people and doing them proud by fighting with honour and defiance in the conventions of popular culture.”

A game this sheer size and scope of Skyrim won’t be without some bugs and glitches, though most of them aren’t completely broken in nature. For example, the overhead swing of giants would instantly kill you whilst sending you skywards, but won’t kill companions at all. One of your followers can teach you archery skills for nothing, if you take back the money you pay him straight afterwards that is. The worst is when the game is decides to crash for no reason though, as it has done so at least five times to me alone. Then there’s a few graphical misdemeanour’s, with one rather hilarious moment of fortune as a dragon managed to get fully stuck on a tower, spinning around so fast that it couldn’t get out and was eventually put out of its misery. Perhaps the one glitch that helps players most is that enemies get really confused when you jump between ledges. Larger enemies have been prone to give up, only for me to fire more magic and arrows in its direction in relative safety. Ultimately, they will invariably be some bugs in a game of this size, but they rarely hamper your enjoyment.

A triumph in just about every way, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim really has raised the bar for just about every RPG in existence. Not only has Tamriel seen its most dramatic improvement yet, but the realm of Skyrim looks stunning. Combine this with a significantly improved gameplay experience, a potentially endless amount of things to put on your to do list and the dramatic unique aspects that are key to creating this Viking inspired epic and you’ll be singing the games praises to Valhalla quicker than a dragon scoffs a farming community. With a game this big that does so many things right, it is easy to forgive the development team for the bugs that are still lying around. We currently live in a Ragnarök of endless FPS and party games. How fitting therefore that Skyrim is the Einherjar of the humble RPG; chosen by the people and doing them proud by fighting with honour and defiance in the conventions of popular culture.