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. tar73
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    A few years back a good game was launched named Skyrim. The game felt kind of empty with many limits, shortcomings and a short storyline but was still good. A few modders started to share their first creations and as the community grew, more and more mods and sub-communities saw the day. The work to improve and expand the game was well on its way. The community created tools and resourcesA few years back a good game was launched named Skyrim. The game felt kind of empty with many limits, shortcomings and a short storyline but was still good. A few modders started to share their first creations and as the community grew, more and more mods and sub-communities saw the day. The work to improve and expand the game was well on its way. The community created tools and resources that other modders used. Ideas was discussed and fantastic mods was created. Today more than 40000 mods is hosted on nexus and the workshop have more than 25000 mods. Countless numbers of videos, reviews, feedbacks and play testing have been produced. The game have expanded and improved in all aspects and the selection of mods,improvements and information is tremendous.

    The community surrounding Skyrim have become very large and the popularity of the game followed that growth. And much of this was built on the idea that everyone was free to use the mods and tools that was created by the community. All that changed when Bethesda made it possible to charge money for mods. This change in policy is moving Bethesda in a direction that is undermining the foundation for the popularity and interested around their games. This change in policy will split up the community, create conflicts and reduce number of new mods created. Many will feel betrayed and treated unfairly and those that made the resource and tools that made some of the best mods possible will never be paid.

    I'm not against that modders get paid for their work, I'm against the way it was introduced, that they introduced it in a well established community and the way it work on steam. By using Skyrim as the first game that have this "paying for mod" system it just feels like they are trying to suck out all the cash they can from this community that was built around free sharing and that already have thousand of mods available for sale. And in return they only give 25% to the modders, its easy to see that this was not act of being kind to the community.    … Expand
  2. dimitrii_ss2
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    After **** up The Elder Scrolls Online Bethesda had the incredible awesome idea to introduce paid mods for skyrim , not only that but they and steam take 75% of the profits.
  3. Ackz
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Designed to bleed as much money as possible. Best selling Bethesda title of all time, primarily thanks to modders. Wants to take profits from their work because they screwed up TESO: makes Skyrim a money making scheme off of other people's work. Game is ruined, stay clear.
  4. Hafas
    Apr 26, 2015
    4
    Vanilla-Skyrim: 6/10 (compared to other RPGs Skyrim is disgrace to the RPG-Genre)
    Modded-Skyrim: 12+/10
    Skyrim with paywalled Mods: seriously? Not that I don't endorse modders, but why should Bethesda get paid for other people's work? Why should I pay for mods, where I have no guarantee that it'll work even with other current or future mods? Why can't I just donate to the modders    Vanilla-Skyrim: 6/10 (compared to other RPGs Skyrim is disgrace to the RPG-Genre)
    Modded-Skyrim: 12+/10
    Skyrim with paywalled Mods: seriously?

    Not that I don't endorse modders, but why should Bethesda get paid for other people's work?
    Why should I pay for mods, where I have no guarantee that it'll work even with other current or future mods?
    Why can't I just donate to the modders directly if I'm satisfied with their work?
    Why do they even call it "mods"? These are obviously 3rd party DLCs.    … Expand
  5. Mr_Incredulous
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Skyrim was quite possibly the best game of this side of the century. Released on my birthday and my wife surprised me with it after work who then eagerly cheered me on as she sat beside me.

    Until the fire nation came... I mean Bethesda became greedy. "How greedy." you ask skeptically. - Stuck deal with Steam to allow the modding community to charge for mods. - Deal included Theft    Skyrim was quite possibly the best game of this side of the century. Released on my birthday and my wife surprised me with it after work who then eagerly cheered me on as she sat beside me.

    Until the fire nation came... I mean Bethesda became greedy.

    "How greedy." you ask skeptically.

    - Stuck deal with Steam to allow the modding community to charge for mods.
    - Deal included Theft of Wages from said modding community; Author only keeps 25% of income, the rest is split between Steam and Bethesda.
    - Damaging PC Gaming by taking a chapter from EA and pushing micro-transactions as a core part of the system.

    I will never PAY for a mod. Ever. Donate after tremendous work, effort and long term commitment to their project? Absolutely, but I'll never PAY to use it because lets face it - Mod authors frequently abandon projects. What's stopping them from making/stealing a project, getting the cash and bailing out?

    Nothing. That's what's stopping them. There's plenty more on this subject, just look around for the threads.

    Bad form. Bad form all around.

    R.I.P. Skyrim
    November 11th, 2011
    to
    April 23rd, 2015

    "Gone too soon"    … Expand
  6. Auslander66
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Like most Bethesda games, Skyrim is only mediocre when played without mods. With mods, the cool factor rises a million times over. Mods let you change almost every element of the game, adding immeasurable fun, and replay value. With that said, this is going to be a negative review because Bethesda, and Valve, have enabled a system where modders can now sell their mods on Steam.

    This act    Like most Bethesda games, Skyrim is only mediocre when played without mods. With mods, the cool factor rises a million times over. Mods let you change almost every element of the game, adding immeasurable fun, and replay value. With that said, this is going to be a negative review because Bethesda, and Valve, have enabled a system where modders can now sell their mods on Steam.

    This act has already led to some modders pulling their mods from free sites like Nexus. Why is it a bad thing for modders to be paid for their work? Because that's not what modding is all about. I also mod, but I would never charge someone for something that is essentially done for fun, and with the notion of sharing with others. Modding has always been something done by the fans of a game, for other fans of the game.

    For companies like Steam, and Bethesda, to try to monetize that, is nothing more than greed. And get this, the modders only recieve 25% of what they charge for their mods. Guess who gets the other 75%. This move sets a really bad precedent for things to come. You may not play Skyrim, but what if Valve started doing this to all their games? Modders for all games could potentially start charging people, and then the whole modding community would just turn into a huge market that nets big money for greedy corporations.

    So, though I had fun with it in the past, I do not recommend Skyrim to anyone. It's your call to get it, but when the only thing that makes the game any good, is about to become paid DLC, that's when the game turns foul in my mind.
    Posted April 23.    … Expand
  7. Welder
    Apr 26, 2015
    8
    With the Elder Scrolls series becoming more streamlined it got more shallow with the focus on questing and less about exploring and immersing yourself into the gaming world.
    Combined with mediocre writing and loaded with bugs the series had one redeeming quality that made it a great game well deserving of the praise it got.
    The modding community. With the community torn apart the    With the Elder Scrolls series becoming more streamlined it got more shallow with the focus on questing and less about exploring and immersing yourself into the gaming world.
    Combined with mediocre writing and loaded with bugs the series had one redeeming quality that made it a great game well deserving of the praise it got.
    The modding community.
    With the community torn apart the lifespan of this product will be way shorter than it's predecessors Morrowind and Oblivion to which you can still add freshly made content up to this day.    … Expand
  8. vistachiri
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    This game has it's problems, and it's strong points.

    Bethesda tends to release expansive, games, brimming with potential, but their eyes also tend to be too big for their stomach so to speak. They end up releasing games brimming with bugs (Also in many of their games they seem incapable of actually making a normal humanoid head. Skyrim was the best so far at this). They've relied    This game has it's problems, and it's strong points.

    Bethesda tends to release expansive, games, brimming with potential, but their eyes also tend to be too big for their stomach so to speak. They end up releasing games brimming with bugs (Also in many of their games they seem incapable of actually making a normal humanoid head. Skyrim was the best so far at this). They've relied heavily on the mod community to fix these things after the beginnings of it in Daggerfall (where modding wasn't supported), with Morrowind, it was full on support for mods, and someone at Bethsoft should have rightfully gotten a huge pay raise. It helped make tons of loyal fans for the entire series, and if you think it didn't affect the success of the games? You are likely delusional.

    Here are my problems with it.

    Dumbed down. The removal of several systems that were present in previous iterations of the series were not an improvement. Skyrim often feels like it lacks customization.

    Magic kind of sucks. It's been kind of going downhill for the entire series though, but there are several seemingly confusing oversights. Such as the lack of mark and recall spells.

    Where are my vambraces? Sentence says it all.

    The biggest downside now though: Paid mods. Yes the thing that skyrim relied on heavily since it's launch, and the thing Bethesda has been relying on for, idk a decade or so, is now open to purchase. Just like DLC, aren't you excited consumer? Oh and the creator of the content gets 25%, 45% going to bethsoft, and 30% going to Valve. So the person doing the work, gets a quarter on every dollar. Clearly a framework based on the outright exploitation of the work of others for financial gain. The legal issues alone are staggering, unlicensed student versions of 3dsmax, appropriation of the assets of others under a non-commercial license suddenly appearing in commercial mods, outright theft of mods, the fracturing of the modding community. It's a bad thing. They did this game in, but hopefully we can all stop it here. Paid mods? No more.    … Expand
  9. 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...
  10. Arokh1980
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    I like this game a lot, but paid only mods are going to divide the modding community and a damage can already been seen.
    I will never support this kind of practice, donations would be better option.
  11. Sumuqan
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Great game with mods. Cannot be recommended under paid mod model. Vanilla game is just not up to it and not Bethesda wants you to pay extra to finish their work. Don't support this model.
  12. screamshield
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    A horrible day.Paid modding is added now and is killing the modding community.Once an ok game with mods is now utter trash.

    Thank you Valve and Bethesda for ruining the modding community.
  13. poe1251
    Apr 26, 2015
    0
    Do not support Bethesda any more. They were always horrible, but they had some redeeming features which brought us back. Long have they released unfinished games for full price, and expected modders to fix them. But now they're reaping profits from these modders with paid mods, the developers of the mods are getting miniscule profits from THEIR OWN WORK and steam has been removing donateDo not support Bethesda any more. They were always horrible, but they had some redeeming features which brought us back. Long have they released unfinished games for full price, and expected modders to fix them. But now they're reaping profits from these modders with paid mods, the developers of the mods are getting miniscule profits from THEIR OWN WORK and steam has been removing donate links! The game itself is boring and needs to be modded to have any fun to begin with.… Expand
  14. 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 ***
  15. gabekillskids
    Apr 25, 2015
    0
    game has gone far above advertised price with the monetization of everything with little or none going to the content creators and there is no quality control on portions of the game being charged for.
  16. Shermans
    Apr 23, 2015
    1
    Now with 1,000,000% more paid DLC, first horse armor now this. Greedy company is, greedy. I wouldn't buy another game from them if they paid me to take it.
  17. dacritic82
    Apr 23, 2015
    10
    This is the best game I ever played. Perfectly accomplished in every single aspect. There's so much to do here that it would be practically impossible to list them all. It overshadows every other game in the genre and the level of detail demonstrate the level of commitment and effort that Bethesda put into the making of this game. I probably spent 500+ hours with a single character and I'mThis is the best game I ever played. Perfectly accomplished in every single aspect. There's so much to do here that it would be practically impossible to list them all. It overshadows every other game in the genre and the level of detail demonstrate the level of commitment and effort that Bethesda put into the making of this game. I probably spent 500+ hours with a single character and I'm still far from growing tired of it.… Expand
  18. JBJblaze
    Apr 22, 2015
    10
    Amazingly grand world upon a greatly captivating story and experience that will have you sucked in for hours upon days! *Bethesda's home to the Dragonborn screams for all 10 Fus-Ro-Dah's!*
  19. ADHGO
    Apr 22, 2015
    10
    This is the best first person game in history ever, amazing graphics and open world, you can reach anywhere, great story and environment, the most awesome programmable game ever, you can change texture animation grass, light,,,, any thing in the game,, i finished this game,
    I hope they release skyrim 2
  20. STKtaco
    Apr 12, 2015
    10
    10/10 this is my favorite game of all time everything about this game is perfect. The amazing combat feels perfect. The graphics may not be amazing but they are still very good. The story is great, all the DLC's are great, The game is super imersive and great for role players. Go buy this game and it's definitely worth you're money.
  21. Pharamo
    Apr 12, 2015
    9
    This game is filled with flaws. Yet, the time I've invested in it is unprecedented in my book, namely, over 200 hours. The fighting is diverse but chaotic, you either sneak and kill the opponent in 1 dagger hit thanks to the maxed 15x damage multiplier, you cast a bunch of spells and hide behind your follower or you just slash your way through. The dungeons and their enemies becomeThis game is filled with flaws. Yet, the time I've invested in it is unprecedented in my book, namely, over 200 hours. The fighting is diverse but chaotic, you either sneak and kill the opponent in 1 dagger hit thanks to the maxed 15x damage multiplier, you cast a bunch of spells and hide behind your follower or you just slash your way through. The dungeons and their enemies become redundant. You can crank up the difficulty any time you wish, but at one point you will simply be too strong, even against opponents who're well above your level and the the incredible amount of side-quests become quite tedious after a while. The thing is, you won't notice these things after quite a while and at the time you reach this point you will have got more than enough happiness out of this game than most RPG series will be able to grant you! The insane amount of detail loaded in this game is a milestone and you will surely be able to appreciate it through the amazing voice cast, the beautiful graphics and the mighty Nordic, dark and cold, art-design and soundtrack. As for the story, the trailer (if trailer reviews were a thing, I'd give it a 10) made it sound more epic than it was. It certainly wasn't bad by any means, but I wasn't that enthusiastic for it, luckily there are enough other smaller stories in the game you can dig (honestly, I thought The Dark Brotherhood quest-line was better than both the primary and secondary main quest-line). All in all, the amount of flaws in Skyrim are easily forgiven by the incredible scope of it which make faults inherent.… Expand
  22. Resuraz
    Apr 6, 2015
    9
    Only thing i didn't like is combat system and it didn't have custom magic system like oblivion. Maybe sidequest are can be better too.
    But it have amazing open-world game mechanics, map is huge, you can talk to many npc and interact with them. Spells are fun, Shouting is awesome. I liked civil war and you can found many items, secret things and have fun with it.
    You are Dragonborn and    Only thing i didn't like is combat system and it didn't have custom magic system like oblivion. Maybe sidequest are can be better too.
    But it have amazing open-world game mechanics, map is huge, you can talk to many npc and interact with them. Spells are fun, Shouting is awesome. I liked civil war and you can found many items, secret things and have fun with it.
    You are Dragonborn and feel different than others in the game, i think that's really important, you are feel like you are the dragonborn, it's not just a title.    … Expand
  23. KylesReviews234
    Apr 5, 2015
    10
    Even though it may not capture Oblivion's magic, Skyrim never ceases to amaze players who desire something to play hours on end. Bethesda Game Studios outdo themselves.
  24. prince24x7
    Mar 29, 2015
    10
    Keep Calm and Love Skyrim. That's all I wanted to say. But I must type a hundred and fifty characters so I will be typing this - Haters gonna hate but once I shout on them, they fly away. Enough?
  25. Smilingcookie
    Mar 26, 2015
    10
    This game is pure escapism. I'd rate this a 9.6/10. The reason is there are almost no other games that were more fun playing for that many hours (300 +). Graphics are amazing for such an open world. Art design is beautiful. There is no other game that offers better exploration in an interactive world. The engine and animations are a credible (a lot better than Morrowind).

    It's true    This game is pure escapism. I'd rate this a 9.6/10. The reason is there are almost no other games that were more fun playing for that many hours (300 +). Graphics are amazing for such an open world. Art design is beautiful. There is no other game that offers better exploration in an interactive world. The engine and animations are a credible (a lot better than Morrowind).

    It's true Skyrim has his shortcomings. Choices in game (i.e. guild membership) are not mutually exclusive. There's not enough variety in how to finish a quest. If you want to role play however, you can always define your character's personality, alignment and activities yourself and stick to them. You always have the freedom not to help someone or not to complete a given quest. In my opinion that's the best way of playing this game.

    On the level of pure enjoyment it's very difficult to beat Skyrim. In the end, for me that's what games are about.    … Expand
  26. Konflanz
    Mar 19, 2015
    10
    Deep, with a fascinating Lore, immense world to explore and amazing graphics for his era, it's not one of the best rpg games, but of all time. Go deep in Skyrim, you will not be regretful!
  27. dohgeh
    Mar 12, 2015
    9
    Skyrim is freaking awesome. It has a cool, interesting story with the old fashion, bizarre prisoner opening setting, tons of cool, slick, unique weapons and armor, tons of books to read filled with detailed lore, great skill tree, much improved UI over Oblivion, improved leveling, much faster paced combat, and much more.

    The reason I gave it a 9 is because the AI can be so poor that it    Skyrim is freaking awesome. It has a cool, interesting story with the old fashion, bizarre prisoner opening setting, tons of cool, slick, unique weapons and armor, tons of books to read filled with detailed lore, great skill tree, much improved UI over Oblivion, improved leveling, much faster paced combat, and much more.

    The reason I gave it a 9 is because the AI can be so poor that it could be hilarious or very frustrating. Their pretty stupid. They get lost, walk into walls, die all the time, ect.. You should also buy it on PC if you can run it, which you should be able to as recommend is a GTX 260 which is pretty low by todays standards. It's better on PC for mods and WAY, WAY faster loading screens. This game is an eight on consoles just because it has a pretty low framerate and super long loading screens.

    It's worth getting for any system, but I recommend on PC for the reasons I stated earlier. Skyrim isn't better than Morrowind, but it does lift a bar so high that no RPG has yet to raise further.    … Expand
  28. 8bitg33k
    Mar 1, 2015
    1
    After Oblivion, Skyrim pales in comparison. Streamlined and boring as hell. All the missions are repetitious and while the missions threads differ, the MO of each is identical and get's boring after the first two. TES dumbed down for Console gamers.
  29. batbaille
    Feb 28, 2015
    9
    Definitely one of the best RPG on the PC to date. Immersion depth, diversity , we want to do everything, explore, face anything . Will remain a reference time as RPG
  30. SenseyZ
    Feb 26, 2015
    10
    Are you bored of all those RPG's, that don't really live up to your expectations. Like RPG's that don't really have that much of depth, or ones that you won't even remember after playing for months.
    ________________________________________
    Then my friend, you're in the exact, right, spot! ________________________________________ Skyrim is a game that feels more like... another real    Are you bored of all those RPG's, that don't really live up to your expectations. Like RPG's that don't really have that much of depth, or ones that you won't even remember after playing for months.
    ________________________________________

    Then my friend, you're in the exact, right, spot!
    ________________________________________

    Skyrim is a game that feels more like... another real life. It's a game that you'll never forget, never hate, and might even cry if you remember your days in it.
    It has the soul and game-play and world of an RPG, It's what you will be talking about for years after playing it. The massive open world "that is expandable by expansions (DLC's)" With no Invisible walls whatsoever. The beautiful combat and game-play system. And the precise themes and soundtracks for the game. nearly endless quests, which are all very "AAIG" (Amazingly And Insanely Great) You will never be bored from this game.
    And you should as "Joe Vargas" said, get a portable toilet with a strap so you can attach it to your butt while playing. So you won't have to go for the miserable boring toilet seat. You will love all the things for you to do here, Ranging from Crafting to Enchanting to Exploring To Dungeon delving To Finding mysterious places or thing or people To Reading books To Creating your own "Dynamic quests" To Almost everything.
    _________________________________________

    The main quest line evolves from a dragon prophecy that states "The dragons will return" lid by an evil one who will bring the end of tamriel, while the civil wars rages throughout the holds. All of this at the same time will ensure a great time in this game. And don't forget that i said the quests are nearly endless, because they are "Literally" . The dragon and civil war thingy is just a fraction of how much quests there are in this game. I could talk about these quests but it would take a very long time to write them. Guys there is A great value for your money here, a great value for the expansions as well.
    Have i mentioned that this game will have A Greatly inevitable replay value? No i did not, because it does.
    If you have a PC, that's good enough for running games. Then buy Skyrim on it. Because of the mods there are for you to download into this game. Mods are "Custom modifications made by normal players like you".
    And these mods really Add to the value of your money, Since those mods never end "Literally said" You can see what these "mods" are by searching for them in youtube.
    _____________________________________________

    Now i want to end this Review and tell you to get some money, even if you have to kill for it "Figure of speech", And Buy this game right now, and install mods on, if you bought it on PC. And don't worry, this game is still as good on Consoles. Anyway, Skyrim is a world that will be carved in your memories FOREVER. see you in Skyrim fellow adventurer.    … Expand
Page:

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 »