The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Developer(s) | Bethesda Game Studios |
Publisher(s) | Bethesda Softworks |
Director(s) | Todd Howard |
Producer(s) |
|
Designer(s) |
|
Programmer(s) | Guy Carver |
Artist(s) | Matthew Carofano |
Writer(s) | Emil Pagliarulo |
Composer(s) | Jeremy Soule |
Series | The Elder Scrolls |
Engine | Creation Engine |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was originally released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.
The game's main story revolves around the player character's quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The game is set 200 years after the events of Oblivion and takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open-world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.
Skyrim was developed using the Creation Engine, rebuilt specifically for the game. The team opted for a unique and more diverse open world than Oblivion's Imperial Province of Cyrodiil, which game director and executive producer Todd Howard considered less interesting by comparison. The game was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers particularly mentioning the character development and setting, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Nonetheless it received some criticism, predominantly for its combat and numerous technical issues present at launch. The game shipped over seven million copies to retailers within the first week of its release, and over 30 million copies on all platforms as of November 2016.
Three downloadable content (DLC) add-ons were released—Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn—which were repackaged into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition and released in June 2013. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition is a re-mastered version of the game released for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in October 2016. It includes all three DLC expansions and a graphical upgrade, along with additional features such as modding capabilities on consoles. Versions were released in November 2017 for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation VR, and a stand-alone virtual reality (VR) version for Windows was released in April 2018.
Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing game, playable from either a first or third-person perspective. The player may freely roam over the land of Skyrim which is an open world environment consisting of wilderness expanses, dungeons, cities, towns, fortresses, and villages.[1] Players may navigate the game world more quickly by riding horses or by utilizing a fast-travel system which allows them to warp to previously discovered locations.[2] The game's main quest can be completed or ignored at the player's preference after the first stage of the quest is finished. However, some quests rely on the main storyline being at least partially completed. Non-player characters (NPCs) populate the world and can be interacted with in a number of ways: the player may engage them in conversation, marry an eligible NPC, kill them or engage in a nonlethal "brawl". As in previous The Elder Scrolls games, killing certain NPCs can make some quests or items unobtainable. Some NPCs cannot be killed due to their importance in later storylines. If witnessed, crimes like murder and theft accrue the player a bounty which is tracked independently in each of Skyrim's nine holds. Should the player be stopped by a guard, they may wipe their bounty with gold or jail time or may resist arrest which will trigger an aggressive pursuit. NPCs may offer the player additional side-quests and some side-quests have parameters adjusted based on nearby dungeons which the player has yet to explore.[3][4] Some NPCs who are befriended or hired by the player may act as companions who will accompany the player and aid them in combat.[5] The player may choose to join factions which are organized groups of NPCs — for example, the Dark Brotherhood, a band of assassins.[6] Each of the factions has an associated quest path to progress through. Each city and town in the game world has jobs that the player can engage in, such as farming.[7]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b9/Skyrim_combat.jpg/250px-Skyrim_combat.jpg)
Players have the option to develop their character. At the beginning of the game, players create their character by selecting their sex and choosing between one of several races including humans, orcs, elves, and anthropomorphic cat or lizard-like creatures and then customizing their character's appearance.[8] Over the course of the game, players improve their character's skills which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. There are eighteen skills divided evenly among the three schools of combat, magic, and stealth. When players have trained skills enough to meet the required experience, their character levels up. Each time their character levels, the players may choose to select a skill-specific ability called a perk or store perk points for later use. Earlier entries in The Elder Scrolls series used a character class system to determine which skills would contribute to the character's leveling but Skyrim allows players to discover preferred skills as they play the game and it rewards them with more experience when a frequently used skill is leveled.[3][9] A head-up display (HUD) appears when any of the player's three main attributes (health, magicka, and stamina) are being depleted. Attributes regenerate over time, although this process can be accelerated by using potions or regenerative spells. Health is depleted primarily when the player takes damage and the loss of all health results in death. Magicka is depleted by the use of spells, certain poisons and by being struck by lightning-based attacks. Stamina determines the player's effectiveness in combat and is depleted by sprinting, performing heavy "power attacks" and being struck by frost-based attacks. The player's inventory can be accessed from the menu and items can be viewed in 3D which may prove essential in solving puzzles found in dungeons.[10]
The player's effectiveness in combat relies on the use of weapons and armor (which may be bought, found or forged) and on the use of magic spells which may be bought or unlocked by finding spell tomes. Weapons and magic are assigned to each hand allowing for dual-wielding and can be swapped out through a quick-access menu of favorite items.[11] Some weapons and master spells require both hands. Shields can be used to fend off enemy attacks and reduce incurred damage or offensively through bashing attacks. Blunt, bladed, and hacking weapons can be used in close combat and each have specific advantages and roles. For example, the player can perform power attacks with each weapon. Spells have several functions such as regenerating the player's health, attacking enemies, confusing people or creatures, temporarily raising the dead, casting light or turning iron into silver.[12] A bow and arrow may be utilized in long-range combat, but the bow can also be used as a defensive melee weapon in close combat by "bashing". The player can enter sneak mode and pickpocket or deliver powerful sneak attacks to unsuspecting enemies.
When exploring the game world the player may encounter wildlife. Many creatures in the wilderness are immediately hostile towards the player. However, game animals such as elk and deer will simply run away.[1] Skyrim is the first entry in The Elder Scrolls to include dragons in the game's wilderness. Like other creatures, dragons are generated randomly in the world and will engage in combat with NPCs, creatures and the player. Some dragons may attack cities and towns when in their proximity.[13] The player character can absorb the souls of dragons in order to use powerful spells called "dragon shouts" or "Thu'um". Each shout contains three words in the language spoken by dragons, and the strength of the shout will vary depending on how many words have been spoken. The words to shouts can be learned by visiting "word walls" in dungeons or around the wilderness. The words to each shout are unlocked for use by spending the absorbed souls of slain dragons.[14][15] A regeneration period limits the player's use of shouts in gameplay.[16]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Skyrim is set around 200 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,[14] although it is not a direct sequel. The game takes place in Skyrim, a province of the Empire on the continent of Tamriel, amid a civil war between two factions: the Stormcloaks, led by Ulfric Stormcloak, and the Imperial Legion, led by General Tullius. The player character is a Dragonborn, a mortal born with the soul and power of a dragon. Alduin, a large black dragon who returns to the land after being lost in time, serves as the game's primary antagonist. Alduin is the first dragon created by Akatosh, one of the series' gods, and is prophesied to destroy man and consume the world.
Plot
The player character is a prisoner being led to an Imperial execution in Helgen overseen by General Tullius, which includes Ulfric Stormcloak among the prisoners to be executed there. Alduin unexpectedly interrupts the procession, destroying the town before the player can be executed. The player escapes in the chaos and journeys to the city of Whiterun to request aid against the dragon threat. After slaying a dragon that attacks nearby, the player absorbs its soul, which grants them the ability to perform a shout. The city's amazed guards inform the player that they must be Dragonborn. The player is summoned to meet with the Greybeards, an order of monks who live in seclusion on Skyrim's tallest mountain, the Throat of the World. The Greybeards train the player in using shouts and inform the player of their role in stopping Alduin. The player learns that Skyrim's civil war is the last in a sequence of prophetic events foretold by the Elder Scrolls, which also predicted the return of Alduin.
The player later meets with members of the Blades, an order of dragon hunters. The player and the Blades travel to Sky Haven Temple to find a prophetic engravement on Alduin's Wall and learn that ancient Nords used a special shout against Alduin so they could engage him. To gain more information, the player meets the ancient dragon Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards. Paarthurnax reveals that Alduin was cast into the currents of time by the use of an Elder Scroll in the hope that he would never reemerge. The player locates the Elder Scroll and uses it to peer through a window in time and learn the shout to combat Alduin. The player battles with Alduin, who then flees to Sovngarde, the Nordic afterlife, to gain strength by devouring the souls of deceased Nords.
The player summons and traps a dragon named Odahviing, and learns from him that Alduin has fled to Sovngarde through a portal located at an ancient fort called Skuldafn. Odahviing agrees to fly the player to Skuldafn, claiming Alduin has shown himself as weak and undeserving of leadership over the dragon race by fleeing from the Dragonborn. The player enters Sovngarde and travels to the Hall of Valor. There, they meet up with the three heroes of Nordic legend who defeated Alduin originally. With their help, the player defeats Alduin once and for all.
Development
Having completed work on Oblivion in 2006, Bethesda Game Studios began work on Fallout 3. It was during this time that the team began planning their next The Elder Scrolls game. From the outset, they had decided to set the new entry in the land of Skyrim, incorporating dragons into the main theme of the game.[17] Full development began following the release of Fallout 3 in 2008; the developers considered Skyrim a spiritual successor to both Fallout 3 and previous The Elder Scrolls games.[18] The game was developed by a team of roughly 100 people composed of new talent as well as of the series' veterans.[17] The production was supervised by Todd Howard, who was the director of several titles released by Bethesda Softworks.[17]
Design
The team set the game in the province of Skyrim, designing it by hand. While similar in size to Oblivion's game world of Cyrodiil, the mountainous topography of the world inflates the game space and makes it more difficult to traverse than Cyrodiil, which was relatively flat.[16] In designing Skyrim's world, the team opted for a different approach to what was taken with Oblivion; art director Matt Carofano considered the "epic-realism" of Skyrim's world design as a departure from Oblivion's generic representation of classic European fantasy lore.[8] Howard expressed the team's desire to re-encapsulate the "wonder of discovery" of Morrowind's game world in Skyrim, as the return to the classic fantasy of Arena and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall in Oblivion meant sacrificing a world with a unique culture.[19] As a way of creating diversity in the world, the team divided the world into nine sectors, known as holds, and attempted to make each hold feel topographically unique from another; in addition, the team wanted to reflect the socioeconomic background of the NPCs by making some locations elaborate and wealthy while others are poorer and lower-tech.[3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/aa/Skyrim_dragon_language.jpg/220px-Skyrim_dragon_language.jpg)
The team sought to make each of the game's ten races feel unique; Howard considered the player's choice of race at the beginning of the game a more important decision than it had been in previous The Elder Scrolls games because the culture of Skyrim's world contains more racism. However, he reiterated that the player's choice of race does not have major game-affecting consequences as it simply adds "flavor" in different NPCs' dispositions towards the player, and is not meant as a way of locking players out of particular quests.[20] Efforts to make Skyrim's world feel hand-crafted extended to the team abandoning the use of generated landscapes as they had done in Oblivion. While just one team member was charged with designing dungeons in Oblivion, Skyrim's 150 dungeons were designed by a group of eight people.[21] Skyrim features 244 quests, over 300 points of interest with a map marker and numerous unmarked locations.[22]
Engine
Skyrim is powered by Bethesda's Creation Engine, created specifically for Skyrim.[23][24] After Fallout 3's release, the team devised numerous design objectives to meet for Skyrim, and according to Howard, the team "got all those done and kept going".[20] Had the team not been able to meet their design goals with current hardware, they would have waited for the next generation and released Skyrim then,[25] but Howard felt that the technology of the time did not hold the team back at all.[20] The Creation Engine allows for numerous improvements in graphical fidelity over Bethesda's previous efforts. For example, the draw distance renders farther than in previous Elder Scrolls games; Howard provided an example where the player can stare at a small object such as a fork in detail, and then look up at a mountain and run to the top of it.[19] Dynamic lighting allows shadows to be created by any structure or item in the game world, and the Creation Engine allowed for greater detail in flora production than SpeedTree had in previous Bethesda games.[14] For example, with Bethesda's own technology, developers were able to give weight to the branches of trees, which affects how trees blow in the wind. In addition, the technology allows wind to affect the flow of water in channels such as rivers and streams.[4] Because of the large presence of snow in Skyrim's game world, the technological upgrades were applied to weather effects and allow for dynamic snow fall upon the terrain, instead of snow that was rendered as a textural effect in previous games.[4]
The team used Havok's Behavior toolset for character animation, which allows for a greater fluidity between the character's movements of walking, running and sprinting, and also increases the efficiency of the third-person camera option, which had been criticized in Oblivion.[4][26] The toolset allows interactions between the player and NPCs to take place in real time; in Oblivion, when the player went to interact with an NPC, time would freeze and the camera would zoom in on the NPC's face. In Skyrim, NPCs can move around and make body gestures while conversing with the player. Children are present in the game, and their presence is handled similarly to Fallout 3 in that they cannot be harmed by the player in any way,[14] since depictions of violence involving children in video games are controversial.[27] Skyrim uses the Radiant AI artificial intelligence system that was created for Oblivion, and it has been updated to allow NPCs to "do what they want under extra parameters".[13] The updated system allows for greater interaction between NPCs and their environments; NPCs can perform tasks such as farming, milling, and mining in the game world, and will react to each other.[28]
Audio
Untitled | |
---|---|
The team employed Jeremy Soule, who previously worked on Morrowind and Oblivion, to compose the music for Skyrim. "Dragonborn", the game's main theme, was recorded with a choir of over thirty people, singing in the fictional dragon language.[29] Creative director Todd Howard envisioned the theme for Skyrim as The Elder Scrolls theme sung by a choir of barbarians. This became a reality when the idea was passed by Soule, who recorded the 30-man choir and layered three separate recordings to create the effect of 90 voices.[30] The language, Draconic, was created by Bethesda's concept artist Adam Adamowicz, who also developed a 34-character runic alphabet for the game.[15] The lexicon of Draconic was expanded as needed; as lead designer Bruce Nesmith explained, words were introduced to the lexicon "every time [the studio wanted] to say something".[13]
A physical-only release consisting of four audio CDs was released alongside the game on November 11, 2011. As with the previous two entries in the series, the soundtrack to Skyrim is sold via Jeremy Soule's distributor, DirectSong. All physical copies ordered via DirectSong were personally autographed by Soule.[31] "Day One" pre-orders from Amazon.de also included a five-track promotional Skyrim soundtrack sampler.[32] A digital version of the soundtrack was released via iTunes on January 31, 2013.[33]
The voice-over in the game included 70+ actors and over 60,000 lines of dialogue.[34] Casting director and production supervisor Timothy Cubbison worked with the creative team at Bethesda Softworks to evaluate auditions and oversee the recordings.[35] The full cast consisted of three Academy Award nominees and several other high-profile actors including Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Joan Allen, Michael Hogan, and Vladimir Kulich.[34]
Marketing and release
Skyrim was first announced at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, on December 11, 2010, on Spike's annual Video Game Awards; Howard appeared onstage during the awards and presented the announcement trailer, which introduced the game's story and revealed its "11–11–11" release date.[36] It was the cover story for the February 2011 issue of the Game Informer magazine, wherein journalist Matt Miller wrote a fifteen-page article that revealed the first details about the game's story and gameplay.[14] Asked about downloadable content (DLC) packages in a June 2011 interview, Howard expressed the team's intention to release DLC packages, having done so for previous releases; he revealed that it was the team's goal to release a lower number of DLC packages that were larger in content than those released for Fallout 3, as he felt that releasing a larger number of low-content packages was "chaotic".[37] Via a press release, the team announced that the first two planned DLC packages would release on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live a month ahead of PCs and the PlayStation 3.[38] At the 2011 QuakeCon conference, the team unveiled Skyrim's collector's edition package. Bundled with a copy of the game is a map of the game world, a 12-inch figurine of Alduin, as well as a 200-page concept art book and a DVD feature about the making of Skyrim.[39]
In October 2011, pictures of many pages of the manual of the game were leaked,[40][41] later followed by footage from the introduction, revealing some more details.[42] By November 1, 2011, a copy of the Xbox 360 version had been leaked and made available through the Internet, allowing those with a hacked Xbox 360 to play Skyrim 10 days before its official release.[43][44] In the Netherlands, the game has been available for purchase since November 7.[45] On November 10, stores in Australia began selling the game ahead of its November 11 release date.[46]
A compilation package called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition was released on June 4, 2013. It contains the version 1.9 patch and the three expansions, along with the main game.[47] On June 4, 2016, Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition, a remaster for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows.[48] It was released on October 28, 2016.[48] Windows players who owned the original game and all of its downloadable content on Steam were offered the Special Edition for free.[48]
In October 2016, the reveal trailer for Nintendo Switch featured gameplay of Skyrim on the console. At the time, it was reported that Bethesda only used the game for the reveal trailer and that it was not officially releasing on the Nintendo Switch. On January 13, 2017, Todd Howard officially confirmed that the game will come out on the Nintendo Switch, making it the first Elder Scrolls title to be released on a Nintendo platform, as well as the first game Bethesda has confirmed to be released for a Nintendo home console since Home Alone for the NES in 1991.[49] During Bethesda's E3 2017 showcase, it was revealed that the Nintendo Switch version will support Amiibo and the Joy-Con motion controls.[50]
At E3 2017, Bethesda announced a PlayStation VR version of Skyrim for release in November 2017.[51] A Skyrim themed expansion for The Elder Scrolls: Legends, titled Heroes of Skyrim, was released on June 29, 2017.[52]
A standalone VR port of the game was released for PC on April 2, 2018, supporting the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.[53]
A parody of Skyrim's numerous ports and re-releases, titled Skyrim: Very Special Edition was released by Bethesda at their E3 2018 press conference for Amazon Alexa, with them also saying it would be also released for the Etch A Sketch, Motorola pagers and Samsung smart refrigerators.[54] The Alexa version was found to be a legitimate version of the game developed by Bethesda, playing off the joke that the studios had seemingly ported Skyrim to all possible platforms following its E3 2017 announcements.[55]
Additional content
A wide variety of modifications are available for Skyrim, both official and fan-created and generally made using the packaged Creation Kit. These "mods" are distributed freely on file-sharing sites such as Nexus Mods, and are also officially aggregated via the Steam Workshop's controlled content distribution mechanism. The mods include features such as a more vibrant night sky, new lighting systems, new characters and locations, user interface updates, and more.[56] The biggest of these mods include Beyond Skyrim, which aims to recreate the entirety of Nirn in the 4th Era; Skywind and Skyblivion, which remake and remaster The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, respectively in the Skyrim engine; and Falskaar, a completely new land that does not officially exist in the lore of Nirn, among hundreds of others. The first official Skyrim modification was The Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1, created by Bethesda in collaboration with Valve Corporation. It causes the Space Core (a fictional device from Valve's video game Portal 2) to fall from the sky and land in a burned-out house near Whiterun. The Space Core acts as a non-player character voiced by Nolan North that follows the player around the world of Skyrim and dispenses space-related comments.[57][58]
Dawnguard was the first downloadable add-on for Skyrim, revolving around a battle between the Dawnguard and Clan Volkihar. The Dawnguard are a band of vampire hunters who rely on the use of their trademark crossbow weapons in their pursuit against Clan Volkihar, a family of vampires. Early in Dawnguard's quest line, players must choose which of the two factions to join forces with. Dawnguard adds new content to the game, including weapons, spells, and armor, and expands the abilities afforded to players who choose to become either a vampire or a werewolf. It also adds two new areas to explore outside of the mainland of Skyrim: the Soul Cairn (a plane of the realm of Oblivion) and the Forgotten Vale (a secluded glacial valley). Dawnguard released on the Xbox 360 in English-speaking territories on June 26, 2012, and in European countries in mid-July 2012.[59] It was released for Windows on August 2, 2012, via the digital distribution platform Steam.[60] Performance issues on the PlayStation 3 hampered Dawnguard's release on that platform. It was released on the PlayStation 3 on February 26, 2013, in North America, and on February 27, 2013, in Europe.[61]
Hearthfire was Skyrim's second add-on, which allows players to build houses and adopt children. Three plots of land are added to the game world which players can purchase. Once land is purchased, players build a small basic house, then select rooms to add on. The house and its additions are built from raw materials such as lumber and clay, which can be gathered or purchased. Players may also adopt up to two children and have them live in the home, along with the player's spouse.[62] Hearthfire was released for the Xbox 360 on September 4, 2012, and for Windows on October 4, 2012.[63] It was later released for PlayStation 3 on February 19, 2013, in North America, and February 20, 2013, in Europe.[64][65]
Dragonborn is the third and final add-on for Skyrim. It revolves around the player character's efforts to defeat Miraak, the first Dragonborn who has become corrupted and seeks to control the world. The add-on takes place on Solstheim, an island northeast of Skyrim which is presented as an open world. It adds new content to the game and allows players to ride on the backs of dragons, along with other shouts that can be learned exclusively from Solstheim. Dragonborn was released for the Xbox 360 on December 4, 2012,[66] for Windows on February 5, 2013, and for PlayStation 3 on February 12, 2013.[67][68]
In April 2013, Bethesda announced via their blog that they were "moving on" from Skyrim and preparing to work on other projects. They added that they would only be releasing "minor updates" for the game.[69]
Reception
Critical reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | (X360) 96/100[70] (PC) 94/100[71] (PS3) 92/100[72] (NS) 84/100[73] (XONE) 82/100[74] (PS4) 81/100[75] (PC:HD) 74/100[76] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
AllGame | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Famitsu | 40/40[80] |
Game Informer | 9.5/10[14] |
GameSpot | 9/10[81] |
GameTrailers | 9.3/10[82] |
IGN | 9.5/10[83] |
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | 7/10[84] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 94%[85] |
X-Play | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Wired | 10/10[87] |
Skyrim received critical acclaim upon release. The removal of the character class system, present in previous The Elder Scrolls entries, was well received. Billy Shibley of Machinima's Inside Gaming and Charles Onyett of IGN praised its removal because it allowed players to experiment with different skills without having to make decisions about a class early in the game.[83][88] John Bedford of Eurogamer stated that by removing the character class system, the game tailored itself to players who wanted to build an all-around character, while still letting other players specialize in a preferred play-style.[89] Steve Butts of The Escapist considered the addition of perks to the character development system "a great method to make your character feel even more unique and personal".[90] Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot praised the way perks allowed for the player's preferred skills to become more powerful over time, stating that the perk system "forms around the way you play, but allows for tweaking so that you retain a sense of control".[81] The user interface was also praised by reviewers for its accessibility;[81][83][91] Bedford complimented its "elegant design" which succeeded Oblivion's comparatively complex interface.[89]
The art style of the game world drew acclaim from many reviewers, who welcomed the departure from Oblivion's Cyrodiil. Jason Schreier of Wired described the land of Skyrim as a "Viking-inspired treasure trove of flavor and charm", noting its contrast to Cyrodiil, which he considered generic by comparison.[87] The Staff at Edge magazine described Cyrodiil as a "patchwork of varying terrains", praising the more consistent design of Skyrim.[92] Shibley praised "the lack of copy-and-paste level design that's plagued Bethesda's previous games, ... giving a lived-in and handcrafted look to the world".[88] Bedford noted that the improved graphical fidelity over Oblivion allowed the game world to feel more lifelike, praising the "misty mountain setting, complete with swirling fog and high-altitude snowstorms".[89] An editor for PC PowerPlay praised the diversity of the dungeon design.[93] Andrew Reiner of Game Informer cited criticisms that Oblivion faced for repetitive dungeons, noting that "the composition of each dungeon is largely unique and individualized" in Skyrim. He also favored the design choice to have a quick route out of a dungeon leading from its last room, eliminating a problem he identified Oblivion as having, where the player would clear a dungeon and then have to go all the way back to the beginning to exit it.[91] Many reviewers praised the large number of things to do in the world outside of the main story.[81][89][91] Tom Francis of PC Gamer noted that it was difficult to explore the world without becoming distracted by things to do, stating that, "it's hard to walk for a minute in any direction without encountering an intriguing cave, a lonely shack, some strange stones, a wandering traveller, [or] a haunted fort".[85]
Reviewers welcomed the ability to dual-wield weapons and magic.[83] An editor for PC PowerPlay felt that the dual-wielding ability "transforms the tactical scope of each combat encounter".[93] Shibley noted that the dual-wielding option gave the player more freedom to experiment with combat, writing that, "the ability to apply a spell to each hand ... generates huge potential for getting creative with your spell combinations".[88] However, many reviewers were critical of the melee combat, feeling that it had not been improved upon as much as other areas in the game.[81][88][89][92] Justin McElroy of Joystiq felt that "what should be thrilling fights in Skyrim are often weighed down by the same clunky melee system Oblivion suffered from".[94] Onyett described the melee combat as "flat" and "floaty", and that "many times it feels like you're slicing air instead of a mythical creature's flesh".[83] Francis agreed with this sentiment, stating that, "too much of the time, you wave your weapon around and enemies barely react to the hits".[85]
Many reviewers noted glitches while playing Skyrim,[81][83][87][92][95] some game-breaking.[85][88][91][94][96] Nick Cowen of The Guardian pointed out that the game's glitches were a trade-off for its ambitious scope, and that he had experienced glitches that forced him to reload earlier saves.[96] Edge began their review by criticizing the lack of polish, while still acknowledging many areas in the game which made up for it.[92] In addition, the quality of the main quest divided some reviewers. While Reiner praised the main quest as "superbly penned" and "Bethesda's best effort to date",[91] Butts and Francis criticized the fact that the story was delivered primarily through conversations and quest journals, rather than through the player's own interactions.[85][90] While the dragon battles were well-received, some reviewers observed flaws in the AI for dragons. Onyett pointed out their "predictable attack patterns",[83] which Francis agreed with, claiming that "fighting them never changes much: you can just ignore them until they land, then shoot them from a distance when they do".[85] Reiner felt that, due to the repetitiveness of their attack patterns, the dragons were not challenging enough for low-level players.[91] Edge pointed out a curve in difficulty for players who favored archery and magic, as dragons were difficult to attack while airborne.[92]
Technical issues
At the launch of Skyrim, many technical issues of varying severity were reported. Some examples include a texture down-scaling issue on the Xbox 360 version when the game was run from the hard drive;[97] crashes, slowdown and frame rate issues on the PlayStation 3 version when save files exceeded 6 MB,[98] commonly occurring due to extended gameplay times;[99] and various crashes and slowdowns on the Windows version. According to Skyrim's director Todd Howard, the notion that bugs were caused by "restrictive RAM"[100] is incorrect. Howard said, "It's literally the things you've done in what order and what's running."[101]
Since release, several patches were published to address technical issues and improve overall gameplay. Patch 1.2 was released on November 29, 2011, to fix some of the game's issues;[102] however, some players reported new bugs in the game following the patch, including more frequent game crashes.[103] Patch 1.3 was released on December 7, 2011, to improve stability, further address known issues, and fix some problems that were introduced in version 1.2.[104] Patch 1.4 was released on February 1, 2012, for the PC. Another list of issues and bugs were addressed in this patch, and Skyrim launcher support for Skyrim Workshop (PC) was provided.[105] Patch 1.5 was released on March 20, 2012, for the PC. Numerous bugs were fixed, and new archery/spellcasting kill cams were included.[106] On April 12, 2012, Bethesda announced that Kinect support would be coming for the Xbox 360 version of Skyrim, with over 200 voice commands.[107] Patch 1.6 was released on May 24, 2012, for the PC. This includes a new feature: mounted combat.[108] Patch 1.7 was released on July 30, 2012, for the PC,[109] and 1.8 was released on November 1, 2012, for the PC.[110] These two introduced only minor bugfixes. Patch 1.9 was released on March 18, 2013. In addition to providing various bug fixes, this patch also added new features, most prominently the new "Legendary" difficulty, and "Legendary" skills, which effectively remove the level cap.[111]
An unofficial community patch attempts to fix remaining issues unattended by the official patches.[112][113] It lists hundreds[114] of gameplay, quest, and other bugs that it fixes in the game and its add-ons.[115][116]
Sales
During the first day of release, Steam showed over 230,000 people playing Skyrim concurrently.[117] Within two days of the game's launch, 3.4 million physical copies were sold. Of those sales, 59% were for the Xbox 360, 27% for the PS3, and 14% for the PC.[118] In the first week of release, Bethesda stated that 7 million copies of the game had been shipped to retailers worldwide, and that total sales through the following Wednesday were expected to generate an estimated US$450 million.[119][120] By December 16, 2011, this had risen to 10 million copies shipped to retail and around US$620 million.[121] Additionally, Valve stated that it was the fastest selling game to date on their Steam platform.[121] Steam's statistics page showed the client breaking a five million user record by having 5,012,468 users logged in on January 2, 2012. The total number of sold copies on the PC platform is difficult to confirm because Valve does not publicly publish digital sales.[122] Shortly after its release, Skyrim was the most-played game on Steam by a huge margin, with double the number of players as Team Fortress 2, the second-placed game.[123] In the United Kingdom, Skyrim was the 9th best selling title of 2012.[124] In June 2013, Bethesda announced that over 20 million copies of the game had been sold.[125] Regarding sales on the PC, Todd Howard stated in an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun that, "Skyrim did better than we've ever done on PC by a large, large number. And that's where the mods are. That feeds the game for a long time."[126] Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, a market research firm, estimates that the game has sold 22.7 million copies worldwide.[127] In November 2016, Howard confirmed that Skyrim had sold 30 million copies since its release in 2011.[128]
Awards and legacy
Publication | Award |
---|---|
IGN,[129] GameSpot[130] GameSpot Readers' Choice[130] | PC Game of the Year |
Spike TV,[131] IGN,[132] IGN Readers' Choice,[132] X-Play,[133] GameSpot,[134] GameSpy[135] | RPG of the Year |
Spike TV,[131] X-Play,[133] Machinima.com,[136] GameSpot,[137] GameSpot Readers' Choice,[137] 1UP.com Favorite Game,[138] Game Revolution,[139] GameSpy[140] Joystiq,[141] Interactive Achievement Awards[142] | Overall Game of the Year |
Skyrim received awards from numerous gaming sites and publications. IGN and GameSpot named Skyrim "PC Game of the Year".[129][130] It also received GameSpot's "Readers' Choice" award.[130] The game received the "RPG of the Year" award from Spike TV,[131] IGN,[132] X-Play,[133] GameSpot[134] and GameSpy.[135] It received "Overall Game of the Year" wins from Spike TV,[131] Giant Bomb,[143] X-Play,[133] Machinima.com,[136] GameSpot,[137] 1UP.com,[138] Game Revolution,[139] GameSpy[140] Joystiq[141] and the Interactive Achievement Awards.[142] It was voted No. 1 in Good Game's top 100 video games of all time[144] and No. 1 in PC Gamer's "The 100 Greatest PC Games of All Time".[145] In Giant Bomb's 2017 Game of the Year Awards, the game was a runner-up for "2017's Old Game of the Year".[146] The VR version was nominated for "Best Virtual Reality Game" at the Gamescom 2017 Awards;[147] for the Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best Virtual Reality Game and the Tappan Zee Bridge Award for Best Remake (along with the Switch version) at the New York Game Awards 2018;[148] for "Excellence in Technical Achievement" and "VR Game of the Year" at the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards;[149][150] and for "Best VR/AR Game" at the 2018 Game Developers Choice Awards.[151][152] At the 17th Annual National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, the VR version was nominated for "Control Design, VR", "Direction in Virtual Reality", and "Sound Mixing in Virtual Reality", while the Switch version was nominated for "Costume Design".[153][154] The VR version was also nominated for "Best VR Game" at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards.[155]
References
- ^ a b Reilly, Jim (January 11, 2011). "New Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Details". IGN. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
- ^ Onyett, Charles (March 31, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls Evolved: What's New in Skyrim". IGN. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ^ a b c The Game Informer Show (February 3, 2011). "Todd Howard Skyrim Q&A". Game Informer (Podcast). Game Informer. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Bertz, Matt (January 17, 2011). "The Technology Behind The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". Game Informer. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
- ^ Howard, Todd; Nesmith, Bruce; Carofano, Matt (July 6, 2011). "Skyrim Fan Interview". Bethesda Softworks LLC. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
- ^ McCarthy, Al (August 5, 2011). "The Dark Brotherhood Confirmed for Skyrim". Attack of the Fanboy. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
- ^ Reparaz, Mikel (July 2011). "Dragonborn (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)". PlayStation Official Magazine (47). United States: Future plc: 48–57.
- ^ a b Hanson, Ben (January 26, 2011). "The Art Of Skyrim". Game Informer. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ "First 'Skyrim' Info And Screens Surface". TheSixthAxis. January 8, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Bertz, Matt (January 28, 2011). "Inside Skyrim's Menu System Overhaul". Game Informer. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- ^ Plunkett, Luke (January 7, 2011). "The Next Elder Scrolls Has New Combat & Levelling". Kotaku. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ Bertz, Matt (January 24, 2011). "Skyrim: Building Better Combat". gameinformer.com. GameInformer. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c "The Future Of Fantasy (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)". PlayStation Official Magazine - UK (55). United Kingdom: Future plc: 70–81. Spring 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Miller, Matt (February 2011). "Emerging From Legend (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)". Game Informer (213). United States: GameStop Corporation: 46–60.
- ^ a b c Miller, Matt (January 20, 2011). "Skyrim's Dragon Shouts". Game Informer. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ a b Nasamura, Seiji (April 21, 2011). "Interview with 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' executive producer, Mr. Todd Howard" (in Japanese). Game Watch. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c Howard, Todd (March 8, 2011). "Welcome Back Elder Scrolls". Bethesda Softworks LLC. Archived from the original on March 2, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Bethesda Blog (December 16, 2010). "The Bethesda Podcast Episode 6: Enter the Dragon". bethblog.com (Podcast). ZeniMax Media. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ^ a b Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (March 9, 2011). "From Morrowind to Skyrim: how Bethesda built its latest gameworld". Official Xbox Magazine. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Video Interview mit Todd Howard" (in German and English). Gameswelt TV. April 24, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Channell, Mike (March 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". Official Xbox Magazine UK (70). United Kingdom: Future plc: 30–45.
- ^ Collector's Edition – "Making of Skyrim" DVD
- ^ Francis, Tom (December 12, 2010). "Confirmed: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will use an entirely new engine". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
- ^ Peckham, Matt. "Skyrim Performance Review: It's Definitely a DirectX 9 Game". PCWorld. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
- ^ Robinson, Andy (August 3, 2011). "No PS4, Xbox 720 before 2014, says Skyrim boss". ComputerAndVideoGames. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Onyett, Charles (March 24, 2006). "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion — PC Review at IGN". IGN. Ziff Davis. p. 4. Archived from the original on April 5, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
Though the game offers a third-person mode, don't bother using it save for checking out your armor. It's nearly impossible to fight with the camera pulled back, and some of the third person animations look unrealistically silly
- ^ Campbell, Colin (September 4, 2011). "Editorial: Do You Want to Kill Children?". IGN. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Raven, Chriss (January 8, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Details and info". TGN TV. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Hanson, Ben (January 14, 2011). "The Sounds Of Skyrim". Game Informer. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
- ^ "BethesdaSoftworksUK on YouTube — The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim — The Sound of Skyrim". Youtube. November 3, 2011. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 4 CD Set". DirectSong. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "Amazon.de Video Games: The Elder Scrolls: Limited Day-One-Edition".
- ^ "Now on iTunes: The Best Beats from Bethesda". Bethesda Blog. ZeniMax Media. January 31, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
- ^ a b Fahey, Mike (September 27, 2011). "These Are the Distinguished Voices of Skyrim". Kotaku. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ Peterman, Mindy (November 14, 2011). "Skyrim's Ellen Dubin Is A Woman of Many Voices". The Morton Report. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ Skyrim's unveiling to the world. ZeniMax Media / Spike VGA. December 13, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ Farrelly, Steve (June 22, 2011). "AusGamers Todd Howard Skyrim Video Interview and Transcript". AusGamers. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ Gilbert, Ben (August 26, 2011). "First two Skyrim DLC packs heading to Xbox 360 first". Joystiq. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ "QuakeCon 2011: Skyrim Collector's Edition Announced!!!". Bethesda. August 5, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
- ^ McElroy, Griffin (October 11, 2011). "Skyrim manual leaks, reveals details about the game". Joystiq. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ Kollar, Phil (October 10, 2011). "Are You Desperate Enough For Skyrim To Read Its Leaked Manual?". GameInformer. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ Ng, Alan (October 31, 2011). "25 minute Skyrim gameplay leak and Elder Scrolls morals". product-reviews.net. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ Pirvu, Dragos (November 1, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim For Xbox 360 Already Leaked For Download On Torrent Websites". GeekSailor. Archived from the original on November 6, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Xbox 360 version LEAKED on Torrent". Gamepure. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ Crecente, Brian (November 8, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Sale Now... In the Netherlands". Kotaku. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ Serrels, Mark (November 10, 2011). "Skyrim Being Sold In Select Stores Across Australia – Street Break Could Be Imminent [Update 2]". kotaku.com. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ "Legendary Release". Bethesda Softworks. April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
- ^ a b c Skrebels, Joe (June 12, 2016). "E3 2016: Skyrim Special Edition Official Headed to PS4, Xbox One, PC This Year". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
- ^ Workman, Robert (January 12, 2017). "Yep, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Is Officially Nintendo Switch-Bound". WWG. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
- ^ Whitehead, Thomas (June 12, 2017). "New Trailer for Skyrim on Switch Showcases Motion Controls and Link amiibo Support". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 12, 2017). "Skyrim coming to PlayStation VR". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
- ^ Osborn, Alex (June 11, 2017). "E3 2017: The Elder Scrolls Legends Heroes of Skyrim Expansion Announced". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR". Steam. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ^ Plagge, Kallie (June 10, 2018). "E3 2018: Bethesda Jokes About Skyrim On Amazon Alexa, But It's Actually Real". GameSpot. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ^ Plagge, Kallie (June 14, 2018). GameSpot [Why Bethesda Turned Its Skyrim On Amazon Alexa Joke Into A Real Thing Why Bethesda Turned Its Skyrim On Amazon Alexa Joke Into A Real Thing]. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
{{cite web}}
: Check|url=
value (help); Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Hatfield, Tom (October 28, 2012). "The 25 best Skyrim mods – updated". Retrieved December 1, 2012.
- ^ O'Conner, Alice (February 7, 2012). "Skyrim gets HD texture pack, Portal 2 Space Sphere". Shacknews. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ^ Kolan, Nick (February 7, 2012). "Portal 2 and Skyrim Collide". ign.com. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ "Dawnguard comes to Skyrim in mid-July for some Euro countries". Joystiq. AOL Inc. June 22, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
- ^ "QuakeCon 2012: Dawnguard now available on PC". Bethesda blog. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
- ^ Ivan, Tom (February 27, 2013). "Skyrim DLC Dawnguard hits PS3 in Europe today with 50% discount". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
- ^ "Skyrim: Hearthfire DLC allows you to build a house, adopt a child • News • Xbox 360 • Eurogamer.net".
- ^ "Hearthfire available on Steam | Bethesda Blog".
- ^ "Skyrim Hearthfire Releasing On PS3 Today". February 19, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
- ^ "PS3 Skyrim DLC Release Date: Hearthfire Releases Tomorrow, Feb 19, Followed By Dawnguard One Week Later". February 18, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
- ^ "Skyrim Dragonborn DLC confirmed, out December 4th • News • Xbox 360 • Eurogamer.net".
- ^ "Skyrim Dragonborn Launches On PS3 Today". CinemaBlend.com. February 12, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "The Dragonborn Comes in February (and Hearthfire & Dawnguard, too) | Bethesda Blog". Bethblog.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ^ Karmali, Luke (April 15, 2013). "No Further Skyrim DLC Planned, Team "Moving On"". IGN. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox 360 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for PlayStation 3 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.com. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Nintendo Switch Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition for Xbox One Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition for PlayStation 4 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
- ^ Template:Allgame
- ^ Template:Allgame
- ^ Template:Allgame
- ^ "Skyrim is first Western game to get Famitsu 40/40". Computer and Video Games. November 29, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f VanOrd, Kevin (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review". GameSpot. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox 360 – GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Onyett, Charles (November 14, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review". IGN. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ "Skyrim PS3 review". PlayStation Official Magazine (UK). November 29, 2011. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f Francis, Tom (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ Sessler, Adam. "The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Review". G4. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- ^ a b c Schreier, Jason (November 10, 2011). "Review: Boundless Skyrim Will Become Your Life". Wired. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Shibley, Billy (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review". Inside Gaming. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Bedford, John (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review". The Escapist. November 10, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Reiner, Andrew (November 10, 2011). "Skyrim Review: An RPG Worth Shouting About". Game Informer. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review". Edge. November 10, 2011. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ a b Staff (January 16, 2012). "REVIEW: THE ELDER SCROLLS: SKYRIM". PC PowerPlay. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b McElroy, Justin (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review: Paths of desire". Joystiq. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
- ^ Lewis, Cameron (November 10, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review". Official Xbox Magazine. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ a b Cowen, Nick (November 10, 2011). "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
- ^ "Texture problems hit Xbox 360 Skyrim". Eurogamer. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ "Skyrim players call for PS3 save file bug fix". Eurogamer. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ Onyett, Charles. "This is What Skyrim PS3 Lag Looks Like". IGN.
- ^ "Fallout: New Vegas dev blames PS3 lag on rest". Shacknews.com. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (February 16, 2012). "Bethesda knew Skyrim could run into "a bad memory situation" on PS3". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- ^ "Skyrim 1.2 update". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. November 28, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
- ^ Denton, Jake (November 30, 2011). "Skyrim 1.2 patch breaks Resistances, makes dragons fly backwards". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
- ^ "Skyrim patch 1.3 hits Steam, probably gives boot to backward-flying dragons". PC Gamer. December 7, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
- ^ Haas, Pete. "Skyrim Patch 1.4 Now Live On PC, Xbox 360/PS3 Versions Still Pending". Gaming Blend. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ^ "Skyrim 1.5 Available on Steam". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
- ^ "Kinect support coming to Skyrim, features more than 200 Voice Commands". Gamer4Eva. April 12, 2012. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Mounted Combat arrives in 1.6 Skyrim Update". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. May 24, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
- ^ "Skyrim 1.7 available to all Steam users". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. July 30, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
- ^ "Now on Steam: Skyrim 1.8 update". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. November 1, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
- ^ "Now on Steam: Skyrim 1.9 update". Bethesda blog. ZeniMax Media. March 18, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ Unofficial Patch Project Team (November 7, 2015). "Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch at Skyrim Nexus - mods and community". nexusmods.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
[...]the goal of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch (aka USKP) is to eventually fix every bug with Skyrim not officially resolved by the developers [...]Hundreds of gameplay, quest, NPC, object, item, text and placement bugs fixed already
- ^ Sharkey, Mike (March 14, 2012). "Unofficial Skyrim Patch Fixes Myriad Skyrim Bugs - Fan created uber patch designed to fix Skyrim's many problems". gamespy.com. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
A group of modders tired of waiting for Bethesda to patch a number of Skyrim's most annoying bugs have taken it upon themselves to do the patching.
- ^ Hruska, Joel (April 17, 2012). "The Must-Have Mods of Skyrim - Unofficial Skyrim Patch". HotHardware. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
The Unofficial Skyrim Patch (USKP) is a collection of hundreds of bug fixes to virtually every aspect of the game. It adjusts item textures and meshes, fixes quest bugs, and cleans up errors in the game's skills, perks, and text.
- ^ Bayer, Thilo (September 3, 2012). "Skyrim Dawnguard: Inoffizieller Patch nimmt sich Quests und Bugs an" (in German). PC Games Hardware. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
Auch wenn Bethesda sich bei Skyrim Dawnguard mit Patches Mühe gegeben hat, sind immer noch einige Stellen nicht versorgt. Diesen Stellen hat sich nun ein Team aus der Community angenommen, die sich mittels des Unofficial Dawnguard Patch noch offenen Fehlern angenommen haben.
- ^ Cheong, Ian Miles (February 6, 2013). "Skyrim Dragonborn DLC Gets Unofficial Patch - An unofficial patch is now available for Dragonborn which fixes numerous bugs". Gameranx. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- ^ "Skyrim reaches nearly 250000 concurrent users". PC Gamer. November 11, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ Serrels, Mark (November 15, 2011). "Skyrim Sales Estimated At 3.4 Million In Two Days". Kotaku. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ Molina, Brett (November 16, 2011). "The Elder Scrolls V' shipments top 7 million". USAToday. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (November 16, 2011). "Bethesda Ships 7M Skyrim, Earns About $450M". Wired. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
- ^ a b "Valve: Skyrim fastest-selling game in Steam history • News • Eurogamer.net". Eurogamer. December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ "Skyrim is the fastest-selling Steam game ever, 10 million retail copies shipped". The Verge. December 16, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ "Steam shoots over 5 million concurrent users mark". EuroGamer. January 4, 2012.
- ^ Ding, Christopher (January 4, 2013). "Revealed: The UK's Top 20 bestselling games of 2012". Market for Home Computing and Video Games. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "E3 2013: ESO Arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One!". Bethesda Softworks. June 10, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- ^ "Apparently We Won't Hear About Fallout 4 For 'A While'". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. February 18, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- ^ Kollar, Philip (November 10, 2015). "Fallout 4 could be a bigger hit than Skyrim". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- ^ "'Skyrim' Creator Todd Howard Talks Switch, VR and Elder Scrolls Wait".
- ^ a b "PC Game of the Year — Best of 2011 – IGN".
- ^ a b c d "GameSpot Best PC Game". GameSpot. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d "2011 Spike VGA Complete Winners List". Retrieved December 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Best Role-Playing Game — Best of 2011 – IGN".
- ^ a b c d "X-Play's Best of 2011 Awards Results – 2011 Game of the Year and More!". G4. December 14, 2011. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ a b "GameSpot Editor's Choice 2011". GameSpot. p. 6. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "GameSpy's 2011 Videogame Awards: Day Four! RPG of the Year". GameSpy. December 28, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
- ^ a b Inside Gaming Awards 2011 - Game of the Year. Machinima.com. December 10, 2011. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ a b c "GameSpot Game of the Year 2011". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "1UP's Best of 2011 Awards: Editors' Picks: Our Favorite Game of 2011". 1UP.com. December 22, 2011. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Game of the Year 2011". Game Revolution. December 23, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
- ^ a b "GameSpy's 2011 Videogame Awards: Day Five! Game of the Year". GameSpy. December 30, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- ^ a b "Joystiq Top 10 of 2011: Skyrim". Joystiq. January 4, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ a b "Skyrim wins IAA Game of the Year". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Game of the Year 2011". Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ "Good Game top 100". Retrieved August 17, 2014.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest PC Games of All Time". PC Gamer. No. 243. Future plc. September 2013. p. 49.
(Chosen as #1)
- ^ Giant Bomb staff (December 25, 2017). "Game of the Year 2017 Day One: Old, Disappointing, Shopkeepers, and Looks". Giant Bomb. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- ^ Khan, Zubi (August 21, 2017). "Gamescom 2017 Award Nominees". CGM. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- ^ Whitney, Kayla (January 25, 2018). "Complete list of winners of the New York Game Awards 2018". AXS. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^ McNeill, Andrew (January 31, 2018). "Here Are Your 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Finalists!". SXSW. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
- ^ IGN Studios (March 17, 2018). "2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners Revealed". IGN. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
- ^ Gamasutra staff (January 5, 2018). "Breath of the Wild & Horizon Zero Dawn lead GDC 2018 Choice Awards nominees!". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (March 22, 2018). "Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Wins Another Game Of The Year Award". GameSpot. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- ^ "Nominee List for 2017". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- ^ "Horizon wins 7; Mario GOTY". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ Hoggins, Tom (September 24, 2018). "Golden Joysticks 2018 nominees announced, voting open now". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
External links
- 2011 video games
- Action role-playing video games
- AIAS Game of the Year winners
- Bethesda Game Studios games
- Dragons in video games
- Fantasy video games
- Games for Windows certified games
- Kinect games
- Open world video games
- PlayStation 3 games
- PlayStation 4 games
- PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games
- PlayStation VR games
- Role-playing video games
- Single-player video games
- Steam Workshop games
- Nintendo Switch eShop games
- Nintendo Switch games
- The Elder Scrolls
- Video game sequels
- Video games scored by Jeremy Soule
- Video games developed in the United States
- Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
- Video games with downloadable content
- Video games with expansion packs
- Video games that use Amiibo figurines
- Windows games
- Xbox 360 games
- Xbox One games
- Xbox One X enhanced games