The Elder Scrolls franchise is one of the most beloved mythos in the gaming industry. Set in an alternative medieval era universe, The Elder Scrolls have provided some of the most engrossing story driven game play since 1994. Following in the extremely successful footsteps of The Elder Scrolls : Oblivion, Skyrim brings back the same open world, free roaming type of game that millions have come to love.
Set two hundred years after Oblivion, Skyrim puts the player in the boots of an unnamed prisoner about to face execution for crossing the border of Skyrim. Like previous Elder Scrolls games, you slide your way out of the sticky situation you have seemed to find yourself in and make your way into the world. Little did the captors know that he was in fact a dragonborn, a human being born with the spirit of the soul. This gives the player an opportunity to learn certain phrases in the language of dragons, allowing him or her to posses special powers and even call these mighty beasts in to help you in battle.
Undoubtedly dragons are a big part of Skyrim and the player character will run into them every so often while roaming the lands. These wild dragons will attack both NPCs and the player, it is up to you to take down these giant foes to take their soul, an act which grants you greater powers and abilities.
Like Oblivion before it, Skyrim will give the player options to take various missions for various factions throughout the world, allowing them to build reputations with each that will unlock weapons, abilities or other unique equipment in the end. This could lead to possible scenario’s like ones we saw in Oblivion in which the player character was able to turn into a vampire and attack NPCs to gain strength but those details have yet to be released.
All in all Skyrim looks like more of the same with much improved graphics, a much more interesting story and more variations for combat such as the aforementioned intervention of dragons and the ability to duel wield certain weapons and combine spells. With a release date of November 11th 2011, or 11/11/11, Skyrim looks to be the biggest and most risky iteration of the series so far. Can this iteration of the franchise provide a one of a kind experience or will fans be left wanting?