Ten Years of Skyrim: Bethesda's masterpiece is ageless

Ten Years of Skyrim

Today, ten years after its release, marks the anniversary of Skyrim. It all started with a rickety cart, the cold north wind and the friendly voice of a man with a long blond beard covered in snowflakes, sitting in front of us with his hands tied, thoughtful and tired yet proud to die for. his jarl, crouched and gagged a short distance away from him.

We discover shortly after that we are the Dovahkiin, the Dragonborn, heroes capable of using Thu'um, the words of power in the ancient language of the dragons, of which the ancient stories told for us by Bethesda speak.

The Anniversary Edition is the fourteenth version of the team's masterpiece, which also brings the work to next-generation consoles. Accustomed as we were to the other productions of the US team, which before Skyrim had proposed lush worlds such as Cyrodill, the novelties were noticed from the first moment, from the first ride to Whiterun, to the difficult climb to reach the Graybeards, one of the most epics of the entire title.

As the Greybeards uttered the first word of the Thu'um, we understood that we were faced with a title that captured the most successful elements of the fantasy genre, those for which it was worth pursuing , advancing into a story that offered more than a few moments to think about.

Watch on YouTube. We discovered a real world within reach of pad and keyboard, on which Bethesda had worked for five long years, launching it at a historically important moment for the video game landscape, a year so full of fantasy and sci-fi that it saw published in the meantime The Witcher 2, Dark Souls and Mass Effect, which however did not worry Todd Howard, game director of The Elder Scrolls.

There was no shortage of competition but Skyrim sold a lot in its first week. Steam set an unrivaled record, while Metacritic matched both the press and the players.

As predicted from its first cinematic trailer, Bethesda put creative ideas and inspirations on the table, creating no only an authentic and plausible world but remaining loyal to its previous iterations, reserving painstaking care and refinement for the fifth chapter of the series.

And we're not just talking about the story or the protagonists who were part of it, but also about the creation of a game world never conceived before. His greatest merit, in fact, was to recreate a convincing and exciting fantasy universe.

First or third person? Whatever our choice, what mattered was our equipment. The decade we have lived has been full of open world titles that followed in the footsteps of Skyrim inspired by its success, such as Red Dead Redemption II and The Witcher 3. We also include Far Cry 3, which some called a "Skyrim with guns. ".

As we said before, Skyrim's best asset is its world. The northernmost region of Tamriel, unlike the flat Cyrodill and the swampy Morrowind, is cold, covered with ice and streams, wooded areas and ancient Dwarven ruins, children of a glorious but forgotten past. Its streets are bumpy, little traveled and strewn with rotting corpses, although the horizon, as evocative as it is dangerous, is one of the many reasons that drives us Dragonborns to enter the darkest caverns.

And not. we're only talking about dungeons, because we're used to them. Unlike what we saw before 2011, the forests of Skyrim hide dark shadows, spirits of nature and beasts from the depths of the earth, such as the ruthless Falmer.

Combine these atmospheres with an avalanche of side missions , and you will understand that you cannot ask for better. And if you add the fight between the Storm Shrouds and the Empire to the recipe, everything becomes even more intriguing. By deciding to serve either faction, we define the fate of Skyrim as it happened in the Wasteland in Fallout 3. We are not only saviors but we can be whoever we want, learning more and more skills and even learning the arcane arts.

Even today Skyrim offers wonderful views of the setting. We couldn't help but immortalize a similar horizon ... Skyrim was supported by three DLCs, each of which offered a different and fulfilling experience. We are talking about Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Hearthfire, some truly unmissable additional content.

Well before Skyrim was released, the developers revealed information about its development, in which they considered it essential to break away from the Tolkien-inspired fantasy genre. It was important for them to differentiate themselves, as they wanted to propose a brutal world.

Bethesda's dream came true mainly thanks to her immense community, currently one of the most loyal and strongest on the web. It was powered by the modders, who created many improvements for the title by making us take up new weapons like Andùril from "The Lord of the Rings" and wear cloaks to customize the character to our liking.

But not only: they came mod proposals also to better define the textures and the sky, even modifying the effects of water. With twenty-eight thousand mods on Steam, not counting those on Skyrim Nexus, players had the opportunity to harness their creativity. A video game, if it harnesses such a spirit within it, is often considered a "masterpiece".

Dawnguard is our favorite add-on. Another mod, very different from the others we have listed, is the one that saw the creation of a new game: we are talking about The Forgotten City, which from mod has become a separate product, while taking inspiration from the work of Bethesda .

Due to the funniest bugs some players even tried to limit their presence with some unusual corrective mods. A noble floor, of course, but which has solved only a tiny part of the other cracks in the title, especially on the technical side.

When Nintendo Switch was launched, immediately after its dedicated event, Skyrim was one of the first titles to appear in the large list of the Japanese giant, where some developers of Zelda: Breath of the Wild complimented their American colleagues for creating a world like Skyrim. Released on November 17, 2017, a geological age ago, we once again pronounced the magical words of "Fus-Ro-Dah" in all portability.

The Legendary Edition was released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, this time with the mod included. Immediately following Microsoft's 2020 acquisition of Zenimax / Bethesda, the last three titles in The Elder Scrolls series were added to the GamePass catalog, allowing us to take on the role of the Dragonborn again.

Watch on YouTube. In all its versions, Skyrim has even experimented with a survival mode by increasing the realism of the gaming experience, guaranteeing one of the most pleasant and powerful experiences ever created, without giving up its epicity, an added value of the product thanks to its musical compositions.

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While Skyrim brought a breath of fresh air to the video game landscape, the downside is that many development studios tried to emulate its atmosphere, missions and political dramas within it.

Tolkien thought that the language of a people was its lifeblood. The words, for the English writer, had such a profound meaning as to be the glue that united two peoples in a deep friendship. While the developers tried to shake off his bulky shadow, they did not realize that they applied the teaching of the British professor, giving the various races present in Skyrim an originality never seen before, especially in the relationship between the Imperials and the Thalmor. of the eternal sworn enemies.

Ten years pass quickly but no title, apart from a few well-known names, can still boast of such a dear and affectionate community, of a plausible and loyal world in every facet. The fifth installment of the series will remain etched in the memories of many gamers.

As stimulating as it is to look back and remember the glories of the past, we have to admit it: perhaps it is time for Bethesda to take us to different places to let us discover other sensational adventures, without forgetting the ancient stories of the more than thirty thousand Dovahkiin present in the real world, ready to take up arms and the pad against Tamriel's enemies.