The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 Switch
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 750 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 617 out of 750
  2. Mixed: 57 out of 750
  3. Negative: 76 out of 750
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  1. Phaidros
    Dec 4, 2017
    6
    It feels like the PS3 Version in the beginning. Many bugs, such as items floating in the air, being able to run only in 3rd person view, being unable to mine....etc.
    I was hoping, that the bugfixes for PS3 and PC would have any influence on the Switch Version, but it looks to me, that the developers startet from scratch. When I first got Skyrim for Ps3, it was so unplayable, that I put it    It feels like the PS3 Version in the beginning. Many bugs, such as items floating in the air, being able to run only in 3rd person view, being unable to mine....etc.
    I was hoping, that the bugfixes for PS3 and PC would have any influence on the Switch Version, but it looks to me, that the developers startet from scratch. When I first got Skyrim for Ps3, it was so unplayable, that I put it away for almost a year, until the worst issues had been patched. I am that close to do the same with the Switch version. Looking on an open pleateau gives you eye cancer, because you almost exclusively see low-res vegetation textures symetrically plastering the ground.
    Right now, I would suggest to play the PC Version, that way you get best graphic quality, performance, Mod support, and least amount of bugs. Skyrim on my Macbook Air is way more fun to play, and that says a lot, cause that thing is no game-graphic beast at all.

    I am disapointed. For being a full-priced game for 60 bucks, it is a slap in the face.    … Expand
  2. Whuling
    Mar 1, 2018
    6
    Playing this game for the first time on the Switch has been an interesting experience. I find myself constantly wondering why Skyrim has been released on so many systems and is held up in such high regard. The storytelling is pretty nice, and the art design achieves it's unambitious goal well. Those are the the best compliments I can give this game.
    I constantly find myself comparing    Playing this game for the first time on the Switch has been an interesting experience. I find myself constantly wondering why Skyrim has been released on so many systems and is held up in such high regard. The storytelling is pretty nice, and the art design achieves it's unambitious goal well. Those are the the best compliments I can give this game.
    I constantly find myself comparing this game to the old Might and Magic games (6, 7 and 8 in particular) and finding it to be inferior to those games in most ways. The story has taken a back seat to open world freedom to the point that it is hard to deem the story as anything more than a throw away. Controls are clunky, at best. Leveling follows the Final Fantasy 2 model, which was bad then and is still bad now, unless you love doing tons of repetitive tasks that don't advance the story or provide any meaningful advancement for your character. Inventory management is clunky, and selling off your spools from a dungeon crawl will require visiting 5-10 different vendors, often requiring traveling to multiple cities. Dungeons themselves are linear paths with no puzzles. The world is big, but is fairly empty and contains nothing particularly interesting to look at. The world is brown, white, and dark green...that's it. The art team seems to have been trying to emulate Nordic forests in winter, and has some how managed to build a big empty world that is less appealing than those forests in reality (and yes, I have been to Scandinavia and Russia in winter).
    If you are really interested in playing a western RPG on Switch, then this game is fine. If you are looking for a great game, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  3. Babutto
    Jul 17, 2019
    5
    Don't really understand all hype around Skyrim.

    I remember the times of Daggerfall, Morrowind. And when the Oblivion was released it was already a disaster and downfall. Skyrim is not an exception. There is a huge list of stupidity happening in this game: - you are FORCED to travel around different shop owners to sell your merchandise. If you do not do it, you will be always    Don't really understand all hype around Skyrim.

    I remember the times of Daggerfall, Morrowind. And when the Oblivion was released it was already a disaster and downfall. Skyrim is not an exception. There is a huge list of stupidity happening in this game:
    - you are FORCED to travel around different shop owners to sell your merchandise. If you do not do it, you will be always overweighted;
    - all the caves are almost the same. You follow the route, fight the zombies, come to the final boss, pull the lever and appear near the entrance. Taps are visible, money not a big deal there, also learn new words. Ok. Same BS as in Oblivion except for shouts;
    - physical issues. It's just a disaster. Objects fly around, sometimes you need NoClip cheat to fly through the door. Thousands of threads on forums about that issue and NOTHING done to fix it in patches;

    The story is boring. The game is just boring. Morrowind was the whole new world. In Oblivion you at least could upgrade your athletics and acrobatics. Here you can crawl mountains without training anything, here you are slow. You should be a werewolf to run faster. Falling almost never causes any damage.

    Just one huge waste of time. I didn't even finish. Deleted and watched the rest on youtube. Recommend you doing the same to save your time.    … Expand
  4. Frisbiek
    Mar 8, 2018
    7
    Yes... it's skyrim on a mobile platform. There's just something awesome about being able to play skyrim in the palm of your hands. Graphics look pretty good considering. Unfortunately, you're looking at a 30 FPS cap, and sometimes you can tell when panning around too quickly.

    There's no mods, so you're playing vanilla + all DLC. Kinda bummed there's no mod store. the idea that    Yes... it's skyrim on a mobile platform. There's just something awesome about being able to play skyrim in the palm of your hands. Graphics look pretty good considering. Unfortunately, you're looking at a 30 FPS cap, and sometimes you can tell when panning around too quickly.

    There's no mods, so you're playing vanilla + all DLC. Kinda bummed there's no mod store.

    the idea that this can be brought anywhere is neat, but something to keep in mind. If playing on battery, it'll probably only last a couple hours, if that. Skyrim dropped the battery fast. Also, there's quite a bit of glare on the screen, so dark areas are really hard to see. So you can crank up the screen brightness, but that of course drains the battery even faster. Otherwise, if you're just going to play with it plugged in all the time, you might as well play it on a laptop or nvidia shield.

    If you like the idea of playing skyrim in the palm of your hands but don't travel with it as often, I suggest one of Nvidias different shield options which mostly needs your wifi connection to play games via steam library, but you'll have your PC's horse power and all the bells and whistles.    … Expand
  5. DarkTheImmortal
    Jan 10, 2018
    6
    It is the exact same game, bugs included. I would have given it a higher rating if they were new bugs (and if I personally hadn't gotten a bug that forced me to make a new character if I wanted to finish Dawnguard), but people are experiencing bugs that have been known about since 2011, and yes I know I'm reviewing the Switch version. There were a few bugs with the switch only featuresIt is the exact same game, bugs included. I would have given it a higher rating if they were new bugs (and if I personally hadn't gotten a bug that forced me to make a new character if I wanted to finish Dawnguard), but people are experiencing bugs that have been known about since 2011, and yes I know I'm reviewing the Switch version. There were a few bugs with the switch only features that they fixed, but none of the old bugs. This is just Bethesda trying to get more in sales instead if fixing the great game they already had. I love the game and love having it on the go, but I won't fully recommend it until Bethesda does their job and fix the bugs people have been complaining about for 6 years. That one major bug I experienced ruined the entire game for me as I put at least 150 hours into that character.… Expand
  6. ssesses
    Oct 3, 2018
    5
    This game gives you plenty of interesting world to explore, but it starts to feel jumbled. The combat system feels outdated, even though the game still has great moments. Skyrim just feels dull in this day and age because of games like Breath of the Wild, that open up travel with climbing and gliding. The travel in Skyrim is a chore, but getting somewhere and completing a task is fun.This game gives you plenty of interesting world to explore, but it starts to feel jumbled. The combat system feels outdated, even though the game still has great moments. Skyrim just feels dull in this day and age because of games like Breath of the Wild, that open up travel with climbing and gliding. The travel in Skyrim is a chore, but getting somewhere and completing a task is fun. There is an overload of different ways to play, and Skyrim allows you to play the way you want (be a hero, a criminal, a stalker). The story of Skyrim is empty, and winning a big fight is underwhelming, but every once in a blue moon, the game can feel incredible.… Expand
  7. TheCrappyArtist
    Sep 28, 2020
    7
    Great port of a great game. Skyrim is one of the most played games for a reason. Its endlessly customizable and a blast. My issue with this port is that it still has many glitches from the original release. I thought maybe they would've patched out the more annoying ones. It has crashed twice on me.
  8. Ghazman2019
    Jun 6, 2019
    7
    This is a great game but sometimes doesn't run well on Switch. It's a Bethesda Studio game so it should be not surprising that it doesn't run the best on Switch. If you can if this game for a good price then I would recommend but at $60 I just don't recommend it.
  9. bingbang
    Jun 22, 2020
    6
    In a world of open world Links and Witchers, Skyrim hasn't aged very well. Great exploration, for a while. Combat can be fun if you're sneaking or dragon shouting. The worst thing about Skyrim though is how static the world is. The story is made up of pretty pieces but none of them move.
  10. bergcamp101
    Sep 14, 2020
    6
    I'm sorry, I played it only in 2020, but I really didn't like it. The whole game is just wandering in infinite lookalike auto-generated labyrinths..
  11. Layo9000
    Jan 26, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Skyrim is one of the most entertaining games I have played in a while and I have enjoyed it for over 130 hours now. It’s really worth playing and also has a high replay value thanks to all the different races with which you can roam the huge open world to collect the sheer endless amounts of weapons, armors, potions, spell books etc. But now comes the thing that ruined most of the game for me: the bugs. They reach from small annoying ones to some gamebreaking bugs that make some mayor quests like the thieves guild or the Dawnguard DLC‘s mainquest impossible to do.
    There are some fun little glitches and exploits that abuse the games design to the advantage of the player, but this doesn’t make up all of the bad moments I had because of the bad glitches. I think that Bethesda created one of the greatest games of all time, but to me the bugs and glitches ruined the magic feeling I had for the first hours of my playthrough.    … Expand
  12. omniface
    Mar 8, 2021
    5
    a decent game for older times

    pros
    good magic
    good graphics
    decent fighting system
    decent enemies

    cons
    poor pocket system
    graphics can be bad at times
    poor plot
    not user friendly
  13. MaddoxWhite
    Apr 25, 2021
    7
    If it wasn't for the bugs, this would be pretty good. I'm not much of an open world guy, but I'm trying to be fair to this game while setting my personal preferences aside.

Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Best Switch Game of 2017
11
#11 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
6
#6 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 63 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 63
  3. Negative: 0 out of 63
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 8, 2018
    85
    Anyone who dreamed of exploring Skyrim on the go or during prolonged toilet sessions, will instantly forgive a slight downgrade needed to ensure fluidity (the game almost always runs at 30 fps). Apart from some visual trade-offs and a bit of exclusive Nintendo content (e.g. Link’s outfit) it’s the same game you know and possibly love. [01/2018, p.50]
  2. games(TM)
    Jan 25, 2018
    80
    It's Skyrim, warts and all, in your pocket. [Issue#196, p.90]
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Jan 7, 2018
    90
    Whether it's your first Elder Scrolls experience or your fifth, Skyrim is still a worthy journey. [Issue #31 – January/February 2018, p. 25E]
See all critic reviews »