By: Ashton Newton Entertainment Editor
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” is a five year-old game that has remained very popular with a huge fan base behind it. Fans have been asking for years for “Skyrim” to come to modern consoles, Bethesda responded by releasing the “Skyrim: Special Edition”, which brings the original game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with revamped graphics, mods and add-on content.
“Skyrim” is a massive role playing game where players take control of the Dragonborn, the only person who can truly kill a dragon. As Dragonborn, players venture off into the province of Skyrim, doing quests, fighting monsters, slaying dragons and collecting weapons and armor.
The world of “Skyrim” feels very much alive. Walking through villages, there are blacksmiths working at their forges, children playing, bards singing and so much more that just makes you feel like there’s a living world around you. It’s easy to get completely immersed.
Part of playing in a world as alive as “Skyrim” is that there are consequences for your actions. Strangers will have conversations about things your character has done. If you wrong someone, they might send mercenaries to teach you a lesson. No wrong deed in “Skyrim” goes unpunished.
In the special edition, the graphics are stunning. A lot of “Skyrim” is wilderness, so players spend the majority of their time in caves, forests and tundra’s. With the graphical revamp, these landscapes are brought to life more than they ever were before. As you wander through the picture perfect world, every still is worth a screenshot as you wander through a picture perfect world.
Mods in “Skyrim” have been around on the PC for a long time, but just got put onto consoles with the special edition. Mods are user-made and can range anywhere from improving effects to adding new characters and buildings. Mods can sometimes give players an unfair advantage, so trophies are disabled while using them. Since modders have been hard at work for years creating content, the mods added onto the PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game give players a lot of new things to try out.
The special edition includes add-on content that costs money in the original version. There are two add-ons that give new quests and content, “Dawnguard” and “Dragonborn” and one called “Hearthfire” that allows players to adopt children and build a house. Each of these packs adds hundreds of hours of new content, but requires players to be a higher level to start, so players just starting out won’t see it for a while.
Some may not like the game’s immersion, requiring lots of walking and reading dialogue. It’s definitely not a “pick up and jump into action” game, so it’s for more of a role-playing experience and less of a casual one. For players looking to get lost in a game though, “Skyrim: Special Edition” is one of the best games out right now to do that. I’ve had hours of fun and I’ve barely scratched the surface.
“Skyrim: Special Edition” is a fantastic game. One of the most beloved and immersive games in the last five years, “Skyrim” is back as one of the richest and most beautiful games out on modern consoles.
Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu
