The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12985 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10,547 out of 12985
  2. Mixed: 1,375 out of 12985
  3. Negative: 1,063 out of 12985
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  1. Cmsn1991
    Apr 27, 2015
    9
    Very large world to explore with a rich enough world that I'm pretty sure I'm never actually going to bother completing the story from all the distractions.
  2. stocean
    Apr 27, 2015
    10
    Okay, now that the paid-mod is gone I can rate this game back up to 10.
    The base game alone would be 8~9/10 but with mods it's easily 10/10 or even 11/10.
  3. bigpappaflea
    Apr 26, 2015
    10
    I will not mince words. Skyrim became one of the best modern games because a community of amazing and talented people made post release modifications. These transformed an expansive game into a full and rich experience that could be enjoyed for hundreds of hours. THEN THEY BURNED IT TO THE GROUND. NO PAID MODS.
  4. game_over
    Apr 26, 2015
    8
    If Valve and Bethesda were truly concerned about modders getting their just due, would they be taking a 75% cut?

    Like other paid content, are Valve and Bethesda going to provide QA, oversight, and ensure continued support for mods? Why change the implicit agreement e.g., free mods, with gamers who have already purchased Skyrim? The answers to these questions demonstrate that the    If Valve and Bethesda were truly concerned about modders getting their just due, would they be taking a 75% cut?

    Like other paid content, are Valve and Bethesda going to provide QA, oversight, and ensure continued support for mods?

    Why change the implicit agreement e.g., free mods, with gamers who have already purchased Skyrim?

    The answers to these questions demonstrate that the actions of Valve and Bethesda are disingenuous at best.    … Expand
  5. FatGabeBadGabe
    Apr 27, 2015
    9
    after lifting the payed mods you can look it up on steam its over with they won't be doing this anymore.

    I now feel they can have a good score I'm giveing it a 9 out of 10 but really the game is kinda lame by its self the mods are what makes it good
  6. celt93
    Apr 27, 2015
    8
    Edit: Paid mods are gone but modgate will not be forgotten. We will stay vigilant, and we will be watching.

    Skyrim is worth playing once again, hopefully Fallout 4 ends up the same way.
  7. Nokturnalex
    Apr 26, 2015
    10
    I'll change my review if they get rid of putting mods behind a Paywall.

    Bethesda and Valve are encouraging modders to place their mods behind a Paywall in a pre-existing open source modding community. The problems with that should be obvious. (Extremely easy to steal other people's work or steal it and change it to be unrecognizable) Not only that, but they want to take 75% of the    I'll change my review if they get rid of putting mods behind a Paywall.

    Bethesda and Valve are encouraging modders to place their mods behind a Paywall in a pre-existing open source modding community. The problems with that should be obvious. (Extremely easy to steal
    other people's work or steal it and change it to be unrecognizable)

    Not only that, but they want to take 75% of the proceeds modders make and won't even give smaller modders anything until they make over $400, of that they only get $100.

    Nexus on the other hand. has a donation button pop-up. If you like the mod you can donate directly to the mod creator. 100% of the proceeds go to the author for doing all the work, instead of valve and Bethesda stealing 75% of the money for doing nothing.    … Expand
  8. Milkdew
    Apr 26, 2015
    10
    Very disappointed in the fact that this game now has paid mods. The vanilla game has a woeful poorly ported console UI, which is absolutely sub-par. If you wanted to fix this, you could, by using the free SkyUI mod, which makes it a great UI. If you now want to play the game with the great UI, you will have to pay extra for that...
  9. Vio
    Apr 29, 2015
    10
    I saw a guy with 11 000 hours of playtime for this game. My own is over 300, and I haven't even gotten a quarter of the way in. Just be wary of any hint of paid mod introduction.
  10. Dune_Jumper
    Apr 27, 2015
    9
    One of the RPGs ever made. It has so much content, it can keep you playing for weeks.
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  11. 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 soThis 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
  12. 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.
  13. 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    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 combat 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
  14. 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 yearSubtract 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
  15. 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,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
  16. 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 onSome 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
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. Neu-ro-man-cer
    Nov 20, 2011
    10
    Skyrim is a Grand Soul Gem of a game filled with a Grand Soul.
  20. 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!
  21. 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.
  22. 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 ofOkay, 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
  23. 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.
  24. Vigidis
    Nov 15, 2011
    10
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -> ~50â
  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 thingEven 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. 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    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 among 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
  27. 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 hundredsSkyrim 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
  28. 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    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
  29. 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    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
  30. 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
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2011
1
#1 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 32 Critic Reviews

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]
See all critic reviews »