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You can read this review in full in our print edition.
Our Christmas 2011 issue, which is on sale November 22, will include an look at crime and punishment in Skyrim - how its liberating lack of consequences makes it the freest RPG of all.
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There's long existed a covenant between Bethesda and those who play its games, handed down from one hardware generation to the next. The developer fashions worlds of unrivalled scope, rich in lore and history, filled with stories to unravel and secrets to find. Then, it offers players the freedom to explore these worlds at their own pace – dawdling for hours in a particularly lush patch of forest in order to hunt game, or rushing to defeat the dark forces threatening the land. In return, our side of the bargain is simple – we do all we can to ignore the rough edges that come, apparently, as the cost of such ambition.
Skyrim still takes place in a world where a woolly mammoth can suddenly levitate a hundred feet into the sky and stay there. It still takes place in a world where trying to aid the city watch in a battle against a rampaging dragon can see you arrested and taken to prison – before the battle's over, mind – for striking one of the soldiers with a glancing blow. It's still a world where a nobleman will try, repeatedly, to enter a tavern, having forgotten to climb off his horse first. It's a world of clunking animation, of reused voice actors, of bandits talking over their own death throes. It's a world that's entirely engaging one moment and an utter farce the next. But it's a world that, providing you offer up your suspension of disbelief, delivers more than most games even attempt.
Much remains unchanged since the release of Oblivion, but the most significant differences are felt in the landscape itself. Whereas Oblivion's Cyrodiil was a patchwork of varying terrains – its place at the heart of Bethesda's fictional Empire giving its artists a chance to experiment with the visual styles of each province – Skyrim as a country is much more strongly defined. Cold is the reigning motif here – and Skyrim offers up every interpretation of chilliness you can imagine. Alpine-style villages appear, as do rugged, blizzard- swept peaks. Leafy, autumnal forests give way to salt marshes, sparkling glaciers and bleak, empty tundra, which in turn merge back into snowy woods filled with evergreen pine. This is unapologetically a song of ice, not fire, but that doesn't make it samey. Skyrim's a country as varied as Cyrodiil, but one that also holds together convincingly as a place.
Mist rises off rivers in the early morning, and salmon struggle to leap upstream – but the incidental details, though welcome, aren't the real improvement. It's the sense, on both small and large scales, that a human eye has carefully crafted, tweaked and adjusted every sight you see. Settlements fit more naturally into their surrounding landscapes than the walled fortresses of Oblivion ever did, and rivers cut through mountain ranges before ending in wide-open basins. The mountain paths gently funnel you along planned routes, ensuring you'll always stumble across the next vista from the best vantage point. And this sense, that Skyrim has been authored rather than generated, extends to its interiors, too.
Comments
21Glowing review. Are you sure that's the correct score? ;-)
nvm
I've been umming and ahhing about which time-soak RPG to invest in come the New Year, but this sentence appears to settle it:
"After the smart, patient swordplay of Dark Souls, we can't help but crave combat that has a little more grace."
With the feel of combat so important to me in this type of game, I think I'll man-up and prepare my resolve for some brutal DS grind action come January.
Happy for the elder scrolls fans (of which there are many) that this title seems to have lived-up to the hype. Apparently not too glitchy either....
Having been a poor student/graduate for the past 5 years I've been resigned to the Wii. So having just got a PS3 I can't wait to get my teeth into something epic.
This is definitely it. And it's current! I'm two years behind on everything else. I'll have to put LBP on hold.
Don't worry about LBP mate... It's a charmer, but a side scrolling platformer none the less. And remember, you can probably get yourself Oblivion for a tenner if you try.
Obviously Zelda arrives next week as well so I'd keep the wii on standby. Good times!
Yeah, I'll be dusting of the Wii for Zelda alright. But I think I'll save that until Xmas.
I'm sure I'll be able to finish off LBP, Red Dead and Skyrim by then. It can be done!
Hmm...I think I'll have to stop sleeping and get rid of the missus.
I will probably buy this, get 25% through the story, stare at the pretty views for hours and never complete it....and still be happy.
Skyrim?
Bugger!
I'm still playing Oblivion!
And, for the record, Dark Souls hates me!
Don't take it personally.
It hates everyone.
Which format is it reviewed on?
@ciderman: dark souls hates everyone, thats what makes it so brilliant.
well among many other things.
itching to give this a try as theres not been anything like it for sometime,
(fallout titles and there bugs really dont count) just got to wait till midnight to do my shopping and pick this up while im there.
(gonna need as much food as i can muster and some pile cream i think ) ;)
So the same buggy game as Fallout 3 and NV but scores a [9] instead of a [7]
Don't get me wrong, I love Fallout, I just don't get the inconsistancy.
They gave Morrowind a [6].
I'm assuming that their editorial stance has changed somewhat over the years.
It could be because the game is, you know, better?
Though I consider both Skyrim and Oblivion to be Morrowind 'lite' with regard depth (from all I've seen of Skyrim) and sheer personality and soul, one of Oblivions greatest pleasures.........in fact in gaming..........was to come home from a stressful day, fire up the game and just leave my home in Anvil, head to the docks and watch the sunset, or rise.
I was one of those people that easily forgave Oblivion for its Radiant AI failings. Few actors, stilted Invasion of the Bodysnatchers conversations, poor book selection and levelling system, repetitive Oblivion gate sidequests, lack of levitation, etc and inability to allow me to become all powerful (unlike the God I became in Morrowind). I forgave because overall there was so much to do, see and discover. The scope was breathtaking and it gave me an escapism few games could.
I can't wait to buy this, ride a dragon, buy a home, rise the ranks and lose myself. The DLC will be more focused too. It will have to wait, however, because Skyward Sword takes full priority.
I'm trying to think of another year in gaming when there have been so many quality releases. I think this is the best 12 months for at least 15 years.
Nah, 2007 is where it's at.
Does anyone know where I can get the financial figures for Skyrim? :(
I just keep finding pages like these, I aint complaining about this, as well; they're great and such a good read!!
But for work I am doing I need to try find figures for the first days of the sale..
Help would be much appreciated! :}
I've been playing the game for nearly a week now, and it's been an amazing experience. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it comes damn close to being so. The combat is intense, the art is mesmerising, and the landscape is sprawling. It's absolutely one of the finest role-playing games ever.
http://rimming.urbanup.com/6245661
Come on EDGE, how long did you play this game before writing the review? I grant you Skyrim begins great. Really great. But push 20 hours and some pretty major flaws appear. I can forgive the bugs...oh the bugs! Tons of them. Quest-breaking bugs, some of them main faction quests at that. When I finally threw down my controller I had a collection of 12 quests that were now uncompletable due to bugs. But I can forgive that. What I can't forgive is the downright monotony of the gameplay after a while. The ultra boring combat (especially the dragons). The same dungeons, with the same tiny handful of enemies? Enemies that are totally harmless to my Sneak/Archer build, even on Master. Come on.
I reckon I spent 1/3 of the time I played this game fast travelling around merchants so I could sell my junk. Another 1/3 was wandering the much-touted open world, being attacked by the 1000th pack of wolves or bears that, again, could not even scratch me. I was a God without even trying (I avoided Smithing and Enchanting). This game offers no challenge. The other 1/3 of the time I actually crawled dungeons. Dungeons that were 99% linear and shockingly challenge-free. How this is a 9/10 game is simply baffling. Unless you reviewed it a mere 10 hours in while it still feels quite good. Or they payed you.
One glitch of physics that I absolutely love is when you shield charge either a charging bear or saber cat and they are launched in god knows what direction. Usually over your head, at which point they slide for an eternity. It's a damned riot I tell you.