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. Mr_Mouse
    Dec 2, 2011
    0
    So called professional reviewers that rated this game highly never saw the PC version. So much is 100% clear. Either that, or they were blind. The looks beautiful enough, from a distance, but the character animation is crude, with too small number of polygons. Voice acting is still not enough, with voices for different characters soon starting to be familiar, heard one bartender, heardSo called professional reviewers that rated this game highly never saw the PC version. So much is 100% clear. Either that, or they were blind. The looks beautiful enough, from a distance, but the character animation is crude, with too small number of polygons. Voice acting is still not enough, with voices for different characters soon starting to be familiar, heard one bartender, heard them all. The user interface is written for consoles, it is terrible on the pc. But worst of all, and not to be missed by any reviewer, is the huge number of bugs, freezes, crashes to desktop, stuck quests, immortal beings, ,issues with the loader, and on and on and on. You have to let Steam check the integrity of the local files constantly to be able to start it up again and hope you'll be able to play. And then if you do, you may find the game locks up yet again at some location, with nothing else to do but power down the computer and reboot. It shows to me that game sites, and game reviewers have no clue whatsoever, and are being led by the nose by companies. That, and they lied if they were saying they reviewed the PC version.… Expand
  2. iloveFFC
    Nov 15, 2012
    0
    a horrible, horrible game, so unoriginal and utterly boring as hell. the graphics suck and so does the gameplay, never waste your money on this game, i wish i didn't make the mistake of buying this pile of crap
  3. theNILE
    Oct 7, 2013
    0
    Good game but from an RPG I expected more. Quests aren't particularly creative. NPC dialogues and are okay but could of been better. The other problem I have with this game is that there is so much space but so little in regards to what's actually in it. The level-up system was simplified to health, mana and stamina. Weight is problematic sadly, you can hold barely anything heavy and youGood game but from an RPG I expected more. Quests aren't particularly creative. NPC dialogues and are okay but could of been better. The other problem I have with this game is that there is so much space but so little in regards to what's actually in it. The level-up system was simplified to health, mana and stamina. Weight is problematic sadly, you can hold barely anything heavy and you cannot increase strength. It improves on some aspects which other Elder Scrolls games lacked but in return loses a bit here and there but I'd say overall it's a step up as a modernized version.… Expand
  4. richarmadrid
    Dec 11, 2011
    0
    This game don't deserve a 0, but not even a 10. The score must be a 7 so my 0 goes to lower it's score to where it must be if it wasn't for all the hype, fanboys and mindless reviewers.
    What can you find in Skyrim? Ok, it's a better game that oblivion but that's not too much considering oblivion was an absolutely piece of **** Anyway you can find the same crappy combat system (that is, a    This game don't deserve a 0, but not even a 10. The score must be a 7 so my 0 goes to lower it's score to where it must be if it wasn't for all the hype, fanboys and mindless reviewers.
    What can you find in Skyrim? Ok, it's a better game that oblivion but that's not too much considering oblivion was an absolutely piece of **** Anyway you can find the same crappy combat system (that is, a broken combat system where you can only smash your button waiting for some final movement to appear)
    You can find too the same linear quest as always, when someone says in a review that you have total freedom and that **** they don't tell you that no, you don't have any freedom to make quests. You have freedom to explore, freedom to make the quest at anytime but when you choose to make a quest it must be done in one way (lucky if you have two ways to do one quest). I would prefect to have 100 quest instead of 500 if that 1000 quest had diferent ways to solve them.
    You can find boring NPC too. Npc without any personality that seem more like a quest container than a real character.
    You can find a console menu too. Yes, a console menu in a PC game, with all the funny things of useless navigation and frustating mouse movement.
    You can find a total cliche of story where you are a chosen one because bla, bla, and bla. "chosen one of many" like the bard's tale song says.
    You can find shadows too. No, wait, you can't. Graphics are a joke. I don't care too much graphics in this kind of game but it is funny to read the suposed "good graphisc" of this game where you can light a torch that don't make any shadows or the general shadow of your character seems like a mess of pixels. Not good graphic for the system requirement it needs.
    In one word, it not a bad game, if you liked oblivion this will be the best game ever. But of course, this is not the GOTY.    … Expand
  5. Jrtlaktalk
    Apr 27, 2015
    0
    Skyrim, previously a decent yet somewhat soulless RPG game. Now a cash grab that brings you an industry first, paid mods. Are you kidding me? On top of this, the creators have to give more money to Bethesda than they actually get, and even now there are disputes and ugly competition growing in the modding community about this. Bethesda is ruining the modding community that kept theirSkyrim, previously a decent yet somewhat soulless RPG game. Now a cash grab that brings you an industry first, paid mods. Are you kidding me? On top of this, the creators have to give more money to Bethesda than they actually get, and even now there are disputes and ugly competition growing in the modding community about this. Bethesda is ruining the modding community that kept their games alive all these years. Good job.… Expand
  6. Xman490
    Jun 21, 2013
    0
    The game has this horribly persistent "Failed to initialize renderer" problem that keeps it from starting. No one really knows how to solve it. So much for actually playing it. It might actually be good.
  7. Tercerobootleg
    Dec 15, 2011
    0
    This game is a terrible console port, and each successive patch just breaks the game further. It handles PC hardware as poorly as possible. My PC, which can run Crysis and Crysis 2 both at consistently over 60fps, sometimes struggles with Skyrim at it's most basic settings. It is poorly engineered and the PC port of this game is a joke.
  8. grom358
    Dec 19, 2011
    0
    Giving this game a 0 to offset all the 10/10 reviews because it is way overhyped. Its a decent and average game. I quickly started to find this game dull. The combat is really lacking. No dodge, no parry, no positional attacks, etc. Its boring and dull. The map is large but for me it felt I would run for ages only coming across the occasional enemy to fight. There may be hours and hours ofGiving this game a 0 to offset all the 10/10 reviews because it is way overhyped. Its a decent and average game. I quickly started to find this game dull. The combat is really lacking. No dodge, no parry, no positional attacks, etc. Its boring and dull. The map is large but for me it felt I would run for ages only coming across the occasional enemy to fight. There may be hours and hours of quests but majority of them are outright boring and remind me of the quests from a grindfest MMO. On the positive the game has a nice amount of freedom and is open world environment. But for me personally it is all rather pointless and uninteresting. Also there a number of noticeable bugs with this game. And I have had the occasional crash to desktop.… Expand
  9. NickOrd
    Dec 26, 2011
    0
    Its still not working and no reply from the game producers. It is **** crap. This is going to the social networks now.
    And you can remove this as many times as you like. Yours is NOT the only plaform.
  10. BigJimmy1234
    Dec 28, 2011
    0
    So very poor for an Elder Scrolls Game.

    It has almost no progression in terms of the game world or gameplay. Besides dual spells and weapons, the game has not improved at all over 5 years. -The world is still filled with static carts and stupid AI bleating garbage at you. The game world is as immersive as a town of Lego sadly. -The graphics are damn right ugly and terrible for current    So very poor for an Elder Scrolls Game.

    It has almost no progression in terms of the game world or gameplay. Besides dual spells and weapons, the game has not improved at all over 5 years.
    -The world is still filled with static carts and stupid AI bleating garbage at you. The game world is as immersive as a town of Lego sadly.
    -The graphics are damn right ugly and terrible for current PC's.
    -PC support is beyond a joke and why I gave this such a low score - the fps is cpu capped! Yes, seriously! How stupid and absurd could things be for a game?! The game is clearly not built for computers and is another cheap console port.
    -The memory usage is also capped at 1GB so I hope you don't like mods otherwise the game will crash to desktop every few minutes    … Expand
  11. Electro-Delic
    Mar 7, 2012
    0
    I am completely disappointed in this game (more than 200 hours played, lots of quest and other things done, seen, and tested). Its showing how gaming looks nowadays. Everything needs to be noobed. Consoles are taking over everything. The Elder Scrolls was PC series, but Skyrim is not PC anymore, its some damn console arcade crap port. Its has good graphic, and what else..? Why do peopleI am completely disappointed in this game (more than 200 hours played, lots of quest and other things done, seen, and tested). Its showing how gaming looks nowadays. Everything needs to be noobed. Consoles are taking over everything. The Elder Scrolls was PC series, but Skyrim is not PC anymore, its some damn console arcade crap port. Its has good graphic, and what else..? Why do people praise this game as masterpiece? Its a disaster! After fair Oblivion, I have been expecting more of a Morrowind game from another TES Titule. They got rid so many things from this game that 5000 character limit is not enough to write about all of them. The worst thing in Skyrim is that its console game, wich was released on PC just to get more money out of it. I cant stand the damn interface, fcking scrolling up/down/left/right, the one in Oblivion was perfect! Its just so simple now, there are no details, just like the game itself. Its empty. In oblivion for example, we could view everything in player menu - Guilds, factions, ranks, everything was there. What do we have in Skyrim? There is nothing. You join a guild, and thats all. You cant check your status in it, your rank, nothing. They made this game some action adventure now. With "instant" health and magicka regen + retarded perk selection. I hope that Bethesda will get nuked for releasing such thing. TES is dead. Im a PC player, and I demand PC game. Mouse + keyboard, I dont give a fck about consoles. There should be few type of this game. One for PC built especially for it, and others for consoles. Everyone would be happy. Dont tell me there are mods to change things, I know it, but if I buy a product I expect it to be the way I expect it to be.… Expand
  12. reanimatrix
    Feb 19, 2012
    0
    Everything that is wrong with fantasy and sandbox mmos-- no plot, bad voice acting, no character development. Bad combat, clunky and nearly impossible UI for PC. Biggest waste of $60. Don't listen to the hype, that was my mistake. I even tried playing it again recently to see if I had maybe misjudged it. Still boring and unrelateable.
  13. Ukrutor
    Feb 26, 2012
    0
    **** I don't want to review a game after 2 hours of playing it, but i don't have stomach to play this any longer. I can't understand how can any company make a game with 100+ hours of content, but totally fail at UI. Most of those 100 hours you spend searching for items in totally **** up inventory. Shortcuts and using spells is another tragedy. Never seen a worse console port. Some can**** I don't want to review a game after 2 hours of playing it, but i don't have stomach to play this any longer. I can't understand how can any company make a game with 100+ hours of content, but totally fail at UI. Most of those 100 hours you spend searching for items in totally **** up inventory. Shortcuts and using spells is another tragedy. Never seen a worse console port. Some can say there are mods now that fix this, but i don't want mods, i want complete game from the company, not modders. World is open, but there are hardly any interesting places at all. Dialogues feel like being made by a 12y child. No epicness, no intelligence, nothing at all. Your character is boring, you can't give a **** about him. The choice of race hardly matters to you or the environment. As long as ppl worship crappy games like these, there is no future for gaming.… Expand
  14. xenokroy
    Feb 28, 2012
    0
    At first I rather liked the game, but the more I played it the more I did not like it. After playing through the main story and doing a few side quests it hit my the game just got old fast. This game is like paying for and playing Oblivion again and the elements that were new, really did not matter much.

    Like the other elder scroll games you have a large world with a non-linear go do    At first I rather liked the game, but the more I played it the more I did not like it. After playing through the main story and doing a few side quests it hit my the game just got old fast. This game is like paying for and playing Oblivion again and the elements that were new, really did not matter much.

    Like the other elder scroll games you have a large world with a non-linear go do what you want feel. The problem with an entirely non-linear world is that you give up story development and character development to achieve a non-linear game. This makes it so that there is no re-playability to the game as all the world reacts identical to a character when they are single or when they are married with a wife who fights besides the hero all the time. You would think the characters would at least acknowledge the wife NPCs existence when you talk.

    The dragon story is good, I actually liked the Werewolf one better. The problem is both were to short and ultimately shallow in how the stories changed and interacted with the characters and the world. For example once you defeat the main story line and still do other things in the game no seems to recognize that you saved the world. Everyone talks to you as if you have not yet done it. Once your a werewolf the faction which hates werewolves does not get any more aggressive towards you, when you start to become part of a group the werewolf hating faction knows to be werewolves it does not change the lines they use when they see you.... in fact the lines used when things see you are identical between different groups you run into.

    Your characters and actions have very little to do with the way the world turns out as it does not really seem to change at all. Even when you cause changes in rulers the new ruler uses the same lines the old ruler did. Its almost like they developed a set of "Ruler" lines and use them for ever ruler in different voices.

    The open world is great, but I am not playing an MMO here, its a single player game that should by all current standards morph and change based on what has happened in the world. NPCs should have some different character but in this they all feel the same. That was OK when Morrowind came out, and even somewhat ok when you put out Oblivion but games come along way in character and story development since then and this game is just old.

    Specific to the PC version. Its a console port and no real changes were made. If you play a wizard you cant hot key spells onto the number keys of your keyboard you can only ready one spell in each hand. While this has nothing to do with the game unless on a PC it is very annoying on a PC so if you must play this game, get it on a console where it was made to be played rather than a PC as the lack of ability to assign keys will be frustrating.

    The Magic system also has much to be desired. While weapons and armor improve in both protection and offensive abilities the magic system does not allow the same progression. The perks for magic reduce costs of casting spells, something you can get with equipment. They should change the perks to cause spells to have longer duration and/or greater damage/effect so that it scales as you level. I like to play magic users and by 30th level even though I had specialized in magic and worked far more with my magic (destruction magic more specifically) I could do better fighting with a long sword and dagger. Magic is great at first but as you level it becomes obsolete by comparison to weapons.

    So to recap
    * Bad character development
    * Bad World Development
    * Bad NPC development
    * Really bad Magic System
    * Good non-linear play
    * Good no dialog death

    I am amazed this game has such good reviews because its not in the same galaxy as games like Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect (original) or Knight of the Old Republic which I would rather have kept my money and replayed one of these than wasted the time on this game.    … Expand
  15. NL-Woody
    Mar 4, 2012
    0
    This game is so boring! nothing to do.. walking around doing random thinks...
    Go play runescape! its free and of the same quality of this ****
    so overrated just like mario, cod, zelda, halo and ****
  16. CRIPLEDPRIEST
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    A complete snore fest after the first hour with dejavu around every corner for players of oblivion and morrowind at the uninspired quests the cookie cutter characters and the ugly textures and animations poor effort bethesda you showed you can do great things with your gamejam video why cant you make a game with all that variety instead next time?
  17. cenkkitapci
    Mar 20, 2012
    0
    I do not understand what is the meaning of huge open world in a single player game . If i want to walk long distances (without doing anything) in a game , there are many MMO around to do it . Graphics not so better then them ...
    Combat system 10 years old , may be more .One click to attack and one click to defend . Average story which you forget when walking around doing uninteresting    I do not understand what is the meaning of huge open world in a single player game . If i want to walk long distances (without doing anything) in a game , there are many MMO around to do it . Graphics not so better then them ...
    Combat system 10 years old , may be more .One click to attack and one click to defend . Average story which you forget when walking around doing uninteresting side quests .
    Selling same elder scrolls with some polish and new name . They just know that name will sell this game . I believe old gamers like me never will give more then 0 points to this game . They are making games more and more simple (but make them look like very complex) . Playing 10-15 years old RPGs and adventure games are much better and interesting then these ....    … Expand
  18. christianwins
    Mar 21, 2012
    0
    More like a buggy attempt at a simulation than anything. There is no fun to be had here. it's a disgrace how the press went nuts over this sack of garbage. If you do something as small as kill a chicken it can cause of chain of events that make you start your entire game over. Towns are magically notified that your an outlaw after you kill this chicken, house wives come out with fryingMore like a buggy attempt at a simulation than anything. There is no fun to be had here. it's a disgrace how the press went nuts over this sack of garbage. If you do something as small as kill a chicken it can cause of chain of events that make you start your entire game over. Towns are magically notified that your an outlaw after you kill this chicken, house wives come out with frying pans (which are somehow more powerful than your fire that should be cooking them). NCP's will camp your hiding spot for days, apparently they have nothing better to do then wait 36 hours for you to move out from behind a rock after you killed that chicken. Really fails short on every level. The combat is horrible too, so rigid and stiff.… Expand
  19. Gyro231995
    Mar 31, 2012
    0
    Didn't like it one bit. It's not that I hate Bethesda or RPGs in general, it's just that I hate this one. There is too much repetition, the console version sucks, you need a computer like NASA's to play on a good video settings, there is zero story, and the load times can be horrendous.
  20. VorticaLand
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Paid mod is the really bad idea. this completely destroy free mod community. i think donation button for supporting modder is a good method. Sorry for my English.
  21. Zero99i
    Aug 5, 2012
    0
    I don't like TES, i dont like Morrowind, I dont like Oblivion and I dont like Skyrim. I dont like the engine, the animations are awful, the german version has awful voice acting.
  22. SubNoize
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    A once loved game that now includes paid modding,encourages modders to steal from one another and threats consumers like cash cows.

    All that so Bethesda and Valve can take their 75% cut of the pie.

    Do not support this anti-consumer ***
  23. upi
    Dec 24, 2013
    0
    This is not really a "review", more like a warning label. Please regard it as such.
    For anyone downloading this game and expecting to play: don't. I did, and was rewarded by having to sit on a carriage for 14 minutes listening to an infodump-style exposition with name after name after name. I was unable to move. Then I was treated to watching an execution. Then I was told to climb some    This is not really a "review", more like a warning label. Please regard it as such.
    For anyone downloading this game and expecting to play: don't. I did, and was rewarded by having to sit on a carriage for 14 minutes listening to an infodump-style exposition with name after name after name. I was unable to move. Then I was treated to watching an execution. Then I was told to climb some stairs and found that my character could not do that.
    I'm sure there are those who say that this was a rewarding experience, or that I should wait to earn actually playing. Good for you. For those who are like me and want a game that one can actually play from the start: forget Skyrim. Score ZERO.    … Expand
  24. kellyi
    Jun 7, 2012
    0
    Sorry I didn't rate the game previously as I was so pissed with it. New to Metacritic and didn't notice the rating bar in so big a hurry to vent my spleen. Here's my score.
  25. sifis172
    Jun 11, 2012
    0
    I wish i could be more lenient about skyrim, but there isn't room to do so. It's a great game,
    with a stunning world to explore, and it's lore is magnificent. I'm an old morrowind player,
    and oblivion. With over 600 hours on morrowind plus all the expansions. But after seing the fallout, and fallout:Vegas i knew i had to let the developers fix the game and free it form the crashes and    I wish i could be more lenient about skyrim, but there isn't room to do so. It's a great game,
    with a stunning world to explore, and it's lore is magnificent. I'm an old morrowind player,
    and oblivion. With over 600 hours on morrowind plus all the expansions. But after seing
    the fallout, and fallout:Vegas i knew i had to let the developers fix the game and free it form the
    crashes and feezes.It's my first review on metacritic, and i wouldn't even think to post a review if iwasn't
    so enfuriated.I bought it the first week it was released, and didn't touch it since the previous two weeks.
    The game is simply unplayable, i have a fairly new computer with no problem in other games. After three
    oor four days the unthinkable happened the game freezed. And all this after the game reached v.1.6.Tried every available fix i found on the internet, spending hours and hours of searching. The freezes persisted, then i applied as beta-tester to the last patch.It was my last hope, but it was in vain.
    That's the last time i'll ever buy a game from bethesda.    … Expand
  26. Lontra
    Jun 13, 2012
    0
    Obviously made for the XBox and ported to PS3 and PC the graphics on this game are sub par at best, PC controls are nearly unplayable, Filled with bugs, and offers virtually no challenge to a seasoned gamer. All Bethesda seems to do with these game is pile as many little side quests in it as possible so you can feel like you are getting a lot from your money. The truth is you're gettingObviously made for the XBox and ported to PS3 and PC the graphics on this game are sub par at best, PC controls are nearly unplayable, Filled with bugs, and offers virtually no challenge to a seasoned gamer. All Bethesda seems to do with these game is pile as many little side quests in it as possible so you can feel like you are getting a lot from your money. The truth is you're getting an over rated, under developed game instead.… Expand
  27. Wicked069
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    As a paying customer I am enittled to my opinion on and will cry fowl when something is wrong

    from my point of view.Paying for 3rd party mods / dlc / micro-transaction is a bad idea and should never have been allowed to be add to the steam work shop. This will only make game devs more lazy and release even more broken games, so the free labor of modders can fix it and then    As a paying customer I am enittled to my opinion on and will cry fowl when something is wrong

    from my point of view.Paying for 3rd party mods / dlc / micro-transaction is a bad idea and

    should never have been allowed to be add to the steam work shop. This will only make game

    devs more lazy and release even more broken games, so the free labor of modders can fix it

    and then charge the customer for it, and the devs get to keep most of the profits. The only

    thing that made this game great ( for the most part ) was the free support from the people

    making mods, and working with other modders to make the game even better. Now the devs want

    it to be an extra fee for people to pay so they can make even more money off its customers

    for work they had nothing to do with other then release "free" software ( that by buying the

    game we really paided for ) that helps make it possible.    … Expand
  28. zahpp
    Jul 7, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i don`t like this game ,it is just fallout in medieval time,it have allot of bugs and the graphics is not that good (age of conan have much better graphics and that is an mmorpg) overall it is annoying to play with all the static npc messing the same ting over and over… Expand
  29. Dagus
    Apr 27, 2015
    0
    Free the mods. **** you. RIP modding. I will avoid Valve and Bethesda in the future and i will never spend any money on a mod. Greedy ****s. Cant spell ValvEA without EA
  30. Mike_Morhaime
    Jul 30, 2012
    0
    I simply cannot understand all the Hype with this game and Oblivion and similar games like Mass effect 1+2.. The story is so boring and there are so many side stuff that u simply get lost past the 4-5 hours of playing it.

    It's games like this that i really wanna play when i see the trailers, and then get terribly disappointed, Thank god for piratebay! Heavily Overrated boring Game
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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

All reviews »
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 »