Skyrim is an action role-playing game developed by Bethesda and released in 2011. The game is set 200 years after the events of the previous game Oblivion and takes place in the northern province of Skyrim in Tamriel.

The main story focuses on the Dragonborn’s quest to defeat an ancient dragon, Alduin the world-eater. The player improves skills and completes various quests as they traverse the open world. Like the previous game, players are not obliged to follow the main quest line and are free to travel anywhere in the game world and ignore the main story completely.

It speaks volumes when I am enthusiastic to talk about a game that was released over ten years ago, but Skyrim was a benchmark in open-world fantasy games, combining first-person combat with a richly detailed fantasy world to explore.

First, let us get the negatives out of the way, The games’ industry has come a long way since 2011 and the first thing about Skyrim is it shows its age. The character facial meshes are laughable by today’s standards. The game is littered with glitches and bugs which cause it to crash and mess with your progress and inventory. Although most of the game-breaking bugs have long since been patched out, there remain many immersion-breaking and often hilarious graphical glitches that spawn objects and characters in strange places.

One thing that really put me off at the beginning when first playing the game was the melee combat. It’s Janky at best. You can block with your shield for defense and hack and slash with a melee weapon. Even when you compare this to similar games released around the same period, it’s a pitifully basic hack and slash. Dark souls, Witcher 2, Dragon’s Dogma, and Kingdoms of Amalur all had superior combat systems that were intuitive and fun to play. It’s a shame because it is an action-focused game, and you are going to battle against thousands of enemies during your play-through. You can’t lock on to an opponent as you can in the soul’s games, so you sort of just stand your ground while desperately thrashing your weapon of choice around with the grace and skill of a drunken pub brawler.

That being said, in a positive you can wield a multitude of weapons, swords, axes, and hammers, many imbued with magic that looks amazing. The melee combat did improve during my play-through as my skill with the weapon increased and fighting melee also triggers these cool kill animations which I loved. One thing that infuriated me when fighting melee encounters was the button on my controller for moving also was the same button for changing from a standing stance to crouch. This led to encounters where I would be in the middle of a life or death duel and my character would suddenly crouch down during the fight.

These minor faults fade into nothing when one takes a moment to stand back and truly appreciate the work that the army of developers, artists, and engineers have labored to produce a stunning media artifact with unparalleled craftsmanship.  The maps, textures, production design, Gameplay mechanics, Sound, music, and animations. The game’s budget was equal to a Hollywood summer blockbuster, with a production budget exceeding 100 million dollars. Make no mistake, this was a triple-A title back in 2011. It’s clear the developers were trying to create the ultimate open-world experience for players, and they more than deliver.

The ranged combat was much better-using bows or magic. It was a lot more fun fighting this way, as the spells you cast are amazing. From shooting flame, ice, and lighting from your fingers to landing a headshot from a bow with your marksmanship skills. I loved roaming the forests and grasslands hunting deer with my bow. Or incinerating enemies with my all-powerful magic of summoning familiars to fight alongside me.

The environments and skyboxes are stunning. Even for a ten-year-old game they still look great and depending on which version of the game you are playing the lighting and textures have been updated during subsequent re-releases and fan-made mods have continued to improve the game visually. The weather system and day-night cycle all add to the immersion as you encounter snow, rain, and mist as well as sunrise and sunset, with a night sky lit up with moons and stars. Some of the views in the game are quite simply breathtaking and inspire a sense of genuine awe when looking at them.

Skyrim is a high-fantasy sandbox where you can play as a warrior, mage, thief, mercenary, soldier, assassin, and spy as well as a number of other jobs such as farmer, hunter, miner, lumberjack, and apocathary. You can get married, adopt children, and buy property. Like other sandbox games, the world is full of activities you can undertake completely unrelated to the main story.  You can join factions, and become a werewolf or a vampire. You can solve crimes, mediate between disputes, or even join a rebellion.

The main story is pretty entertaining, You are a Dragonborn destined to fight the world-eater Alduin who is intent on destroying the world.  You complete quests that allow you to level up your dragon-slaying abilities. The main quest line is great fun and features some epic storytelling. The real fun with Skyrim lies outside the main quest as you wander around the world looking for adventures.

Heads-up with the seek your own adventure. Like most open-world games, Skyrim promises you the freedom to go anywhere you want, but be prepared to get your ass-kicked on a regular basis. Your character is pretty wimpy in the beginning, and you need to level up your basic skills and weapons before embarking on solo excursions. It is possible to stumble into enough side quests and level up that way, but some areas have a minimum level, although many of the dungeons and side quests are scaled equally to your level in many cases.  I followed the main quest for a few hours, working my way through the story until I got to grips with the game mechanics and found some decent weapons and armor. I also bought a horse to get around on.

Skyrim is huge and there is fast travel, but for a more immersive experience. You should forgo fast travel and just take the road back and forth between destinations. Trust me, you have a much better experience that way. So many fun and random events happen as you traverse the land. I had many unforgettable encounters playing this way.

I was exploring a dungeon, when I was confronted by a cult of magicians up to no good. I was out of my depth clearing the dungeon of enemies, and the final mage was overpowered for my level. Furthermore, I was trapped because my last save was just before the encounter. It was an epic fight, and I snatched victory from defeat by using the last items in my inventory. Four magic scrolls. The spells they unleashed allowed me to kill the arch mage, and I was rewarded for my efforts by a goddess who gave me a flame-imbued sword. The moment of triumph was so epic, and it was there this game clicked with me.

Every player can tell you of similar experiences playing the game. The community for this game is huge. There are thousands of mods you can add to the game to update visuals, new quest lines, characters, and ten years after launch people are still playing Skyrim.

The side quests storylines are fun. I love that this game is more sword and sorcery than the other games in the series. It’s heavily inspired by the fantasy pulps and Norse Mythology. The music is truly epic and immerses you in the story.

I have over sixty hours clocked, and I am nowhere near completing the main quest line or DLC. Part of me never wants to finish the main story because Skyrim is a staple of my life on lazy days, quiet weekends, and winter nights. It’s like a favorite book you just love to get lost in.

Today there are loads of similar open-world fantasy games with better visuals, gameplay, and equally good storytelling, but I still always go back to Skyrim, because it’s familiar and feels like a second home. Skyrim is a place where I can escape to wander and explore. A place where I can fight dragons, wield magic and ride horses. I really hope Elder Scrolls 6 lives up to its predecessor and offers a new generation of players the same immersive experience of exploration and unadulterated escapism.