107 hours and 27 minutes. That's how long it took me to defeat the dragon Alduin and restore peace to the province of Skyrim. Along the way I became a vampire (whilst a member of the Dawnguard - a collection of soldiers devoted to destroying vampires), a werewolf, I became the leader of The Thieves Guild, a bard, took control of Winterhold College, destroyed numerous dragons and scored myself a good selection of >1% trophies.
I'm sure there's plenty more to do in Skyrim, and the game has the good grace to drop you back into the game after you "complete" it, to enable you to seek out and finish further quests. I don't think I will. I've had my fill, but I know some of you out there will want to go back and find every last piece of action you can, and head for the glory of 100% trophy completion.
I write this review as someone who dabbled with the game at its original release on PC in 2011. I had around 15 hours on that save, and didn't particularly enjoy it - leaving it behind for the faster-paced shooters I favoured at the time. I haven't had a gaming PC for a few years now, preferring to keep a PC for work and separate console for gaming. When the remastered Skyrim came to PS4 a month ago, I was in the UK and took advantage of the weak British Pound to pick it up for close to half price compared to paying Euros back on the mainland.
The initial impact of the graphics cannot be overstated - it is a beautiful world. Sometimes the colour palette can seem bland, a typical wash of browns so common in the last 15 years, but as you explore further you find such diversity in the landscape, from snow-capped mountains to lush forest, and fallen ruins. Heading underground into the many dungeons, you will find yet more variety, exploring stone sewers, natural caves, burrows lined with spider webs, and more. It always looks great, rarely betraying its age (things have improved in five years). Importantly, the land feels cohesive and there are no jarring changes as you cross into new areas, as you might experience in a typical MMO with its distinct zones.
The story and lore are deep and interesting. There will be repetition as you pass chatting soldiers, and your companions can grate after a while as they repeat the same remarks, but you can pick up a lot from overhearing NPCs in the world. There are books strewn throughout Skyrim, and you can read any of them. Some will upgrade your various skills, others serve to grant you insight into the lore that runs through the world. Whether or not you take the time to read them is up to you, there is no need, but if you are interested in a deeper understanding of what is going on, the books are short and only take a minute or two to read. Other books and, more importantly, journals left by NPCs can provide helpful hints to solving the puzzles that block progress through dungeons.
The dungeons themselves are often fun to go through, though they are always linear, and the scenery can get boring after a while. Enemies are varied enough, and some are deadly until you are able to level up sufficiently to face them. The aforementioned puzzles take the form of simple switches and traps, and are never terribly taxing. They reminded me of early Tomb Raider games at times - often sending you searching for a switch hidden behind a wall, or to find some clue of what three symbols must be activated to unlock a door.
As fun as the game is overall, there are a few problems. They tended to annoy me a lot at first, but once I accepted them as part of the experience they disrupted my enjoyment less. Graphical bugs are common, with trees and rocks floating in mid air - particularly on the side of mountains. People standing on steep slopes can slide away from you whilst talking, at one point a courier who was handing me a letter slid away then dropped through the floor to his doom. A different courier then ran towards me to start again, but luckily I'd jumped off the slope before he got to me. On one occasion I got into a fight with three Imperial Soldiers on the road (I don't know what I did to provoke them) and killed them all. As I looted their corpses, they vanished, and I heard them talking behind me, saying "When will we see some action out here?"
Another annoyance occurs when NPCs start a conversation while you are in combat - you will find yourself desperately trying to skip the conversation before you are bludgeoned to death, unable to fight back. One two occasions I was tasked with searching for an NPC, who chose not to spawn.
Besides these flaws, which in a game of this scope are expected and perhaps unavoidable, Skyrim Special Edition is a worthy addition to any collection. I can't see myself playing through the whole game ago (though I have played through Fallout 3 twice so who knows) but I'm sure in a couple of years I'll revisit it to seek out some more quests and associated trophies.
I enjoyed it, and whilst towards the end of my time I was starting to hope for it to end, it never really overstayed its welcome - even after more than one hundred hours.
The price is high for what is essentially just another remaster, but it will soon come down. Locally it is €35 down from €60 for the hideous evil that is Black Friday, and pre-owned it will soon be even cheaper, so you can always wait. It'll be worth it, if you have the time to play.
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