The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out in one day, and its reviews have already started trickling in, and it’s been getting some awesome scores. So here’s a review round up of all the reviews that have been published by notable publications till now. If we’ve missed any reviews, let us know in the comments.
Eurogamer- 10/10
“In weaving together the extraordinary craftsmanship evident in the music, storytelling, adventure and world design of Skyrim, Bethesda has created a very special game indeed – one that’s likely to remain in the affections of gamers for many years to come.”
Digital Chumps- 10/10
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is breathtaking, engrossing and deep. With gameplay and visual improvements, Bethesda set a new standard in The Elder Scrolls series with Skyrim, and with the action/RPG genre. This most certainly should be the game of the year.”
Atomic Gamer- 10/10
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim may not deliver on every hope, wish or fervent demand you’ve been formulating ever since you realized how many flaws Oblivion was carefully hiding with its immense charm, but it most certainly lives up to the name Elder Scrolls and will easily qualify for millions of gamers’ best-of-the-year lists.”
Official Xbox Magazine UK- 10/10
“Skyrim may frustrate you at times, but it will work its way inside your skin and replace the marrow of your bones. It never gives you an opportunity to neatly stop playing. Even if you manage to tear yourself away, the locations and the people will rattle around in your head. It’ll give you stories to tell your friends, (although you should remember that many people simply won’t be interested), and it’ll give you an entire region to bend, beautifully slowly, to your will.”
Destructoid- 10/10
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is every single reason to love a Western role-playing game, condensed into a single comprehensive experience with nothing lost in the conversion process.”
GameSpy- 10/10
“The world of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a vast expanse of sheer beauty, danger, and adventure — you can also terrorize townsfolk, get punched in the face by a giant, and fight a ton of dragons. Those are just a few of the reasons why we love this game so much.”
G4TV- 10/10
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is less a product of creativity than an act of creation. The accomplishment on display is without equal, but it’s the sublimation of those efforts into a deeply personal experience that is the lasting effect and elicits the compulsive desire to consume more and more of what it has to offer. Playing it, I could recall getting the first Nintendo system and sitting down with my brother to play Super Mario Brothers. Upon reaching the subterranean level 1-2, the dramatic aesthetic shift awakened us to the giddy thrill of realizing that we had no idea what the game had in store ahead, and our excitement became an uncontained rapturous exaltation. Eighty hours into Skyrim, I’m still feeling like that 11-year-old.”
The Guardian- 10/10
“So, with that in mind, may your boss believe you when you phone in claiming you have the plague, may your significant other be tolerant and understanding, and may your friends know you well enough not to make enquiries with the police if they don’t hear from you in over a month.”
Giant Bomb- 10/10
“No other game I know of operates with this many moving parts to create such an immense world filled with this much choice in how you engage its excellent, endless fiction. It’s one thing when a game offers dozens of hours of gameplay; it’s quite another when that gameplay is good enough you’ll want to live in its world for that long.”
Joystiq- 10/10
“This is the deepest, lovliest world ever created for a single player to explore, and one that no one should deny themselves. This is a game about following Emerson’s advice, leaving the trail and finding that the most powerful force on Earth or Tamriel isn’t fire or sword, but the ever-insistent desire to know what lies beyond.”
The Escapist- 10/10
“An absolutely first-rate roleplaying game that combines an abundance of content with an abundance of quality. The outdated design elements are unfortunate but not so distracting that it ruins the depth of the story, the openness of the setting, or the visceral joys of combat.”
Gamers’ Temple- 9.8/10
“So back to the big question at hand: is Skyrim too much like Oblivion to the point where it loses credibility? In a word, no. If Skyrim had the exact same game engine and mechanics of Oblivion it would most likely be a contender for game of the year. But by addressing every issue from the last game and improving everything else, Skyrim leaves little room for error for the next game in the series.”
TeamBox- 9.8/10
“This is easily one of the best RPGs to come out in this generation of consoles. You must own this game.”
XboxAddict- 9.7/10
“Every aspect of Skyrim is done to pinpoint perfection and has the makings of a game that will be played and enjoyed by millions for years to come.”
PlanetXbox360- 9.7/10
“Whether you’re wondering around the wilderness, enjoying the melodies from a bard in an inn, casually strutting about town, or going head to head with a dragon; the music and sound effects add to the immersion in the same way they do in a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars film.”
SpazioGames- 9.6/10
“One of the best action RPGs to date. Crazy depth, lots of quest and dragons: Skyrim is everything the RPG fans are looking for.”
CVG- 9.5/10
“A vast, open world overflowing with excitement, danger, mystery and humour. Truly, a generation-defining RPG.”
PlayStation Universe- 9.5/10
“Skyrim is not perfect, but the flaws don’t keep it from being an excellent game. If you measure enjoyment on sure obsession and addiction, Skyrim is easily one of the greatest games of the generation, perhaps of all time. Open-world RPG fans have every reason to be excited; Bethesda truly delivered an extraordinary game.”
Play UK- 9.5/10
“Building upon everything that made Oblivion such a joy, Skyrim has easily secured the crown as the biggest game this gen and also as one of the best. Even if you don’t ordinarily like ye olde fantasy RPGs, this is brilliant.”
Strategy Informer- 9.5/10
“But, assuming you’re fine with that, then Skyrim is, in a word, amazing. Sure, it has its problems, it’s oddities, and again some of these are just down to how the game is made and others just need some extra patching or work done to it. There is always a danger with games like these that you’ll get bored, or you’ll lose your drive – Bethesda have done a wonderful job of staving off that feeling in this game.”
IGN- 9.5/10
“It’s difficult to ever feel completely satisfied with a play session of Skyrim. There’s always one more pressing quest, one more unexplored tract of land, one more skill to increase, one more butterfly to catch. It’s a mesmerizing game that draws you into an finely crafted fictional space packed with content that consistently surprises. The changes made since Oblivion are many, and result in a more focused and sensible style of play, where the effects of every decision are easily seen. Featuring the same kind of thrilling freedom of choice The Elder Scrolls series is known for along with beautiful visuals and a stirring soundtrack, playing Skyrim is a rare kind of intensely personal, deeply rewarding experience, and one of the best role-playing games yet produced.”
Game Informer- 9.5/10
“It’s one of the biggest, most content rich games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing.”
PC Gamer- 9.4/10
“A vast and gorgeous world of exciting possibilities, fascinating places, engrossing adventures and flying lizards.”
Game Trailers- 9.3/10
“The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is extremely ambitious, and at its core, extremely successful. While overreaches in certain areas, it has much to offer in terms of freedom and volume of content. When you look back on the experience, it’s not the rough spots that’ll stand out, but the broad, heroic feeling of being the powerful and change-affecting center of a richly constructed world.”
Gaming Nexus- 9.1/10
“There is a substantial amount of content in Skyrim and while it’s easy to nitpick on all the flaws present, Bethesda has still delivered a product that even a jaded gamer like myself can still be awestruck by.”
1UP- 9.1/10
“I’ve dabbled in Elder Scrolls games before, but they always seemed to be the wrong combination of intimidatingly huge and mechanically clunky (not to mention kind of ugly). Skyrim is the chapter that’s finally pulled me in, and suddenly I find myself smitten with the series. Not just the games, but the lore, and the insane level of thought that’s been invested in the world of Tamriel.”
Edge Magazine- 9/10
“These moments are why you play Skyrim, because in the instance of breathless excitement, triumph or discovery, you invest completely in its world.”
Worth Playing- 9/10
“In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the snow-capped peaks of the Nords relentlessly beckon me back to pry loose one more artifact, dungeon or secret. Skyrim’s lavish world is tailor-made for adventurers who are eager to satisfy their curiosity of what is beyond the next bend in the road, not those who want to know which attribute scores play into which skill. There’s little question that this is a gorgeous epic, but it’s also a stark reminder of what it leaves behind.”
IncGamers- 9/10
“The bottom line is that, most of the time, Skyrim is a genuinely amazing game.”
RPG Gamer- 9/10
“Skyrim is one of the finest embodiments of an open world RPG, as there is never a dearth of places to go or quests to complete. What Skyrim lacks in tough role-playing choices, it more than compensates for with interesting things to do.”
Cheat Code Central- 9/10
“In the end, Skyrim will be hailed as both the best and worst title of the year depending on whom you ask. RPG gamers who look for subtle storytelling and endless replay value are going to love every minute. But gamers that have even a slight problem with impatience will quickly become frustrated. However, even the most devoted naysayer has to admit that Skyrim is at the top of its genre, and that’s no small feat.”
Video Gamer- 9/10
“In the light of the game’s impressive strengths, however, all of this criticism feels like unnecessary nitpicking. Skyrim is easily one of the strongest and best examples of the Western RPG, and it further establishes Bethesda’s reputation as one of the most talented and creative forces in the gaming industry. Moreover, it offers players a world so vast they could easily become lost in it, and so beautiful they may never wish to return from it.’
GameSpot- 9/10
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the big, bold, and beautiful sequel you hoped for and is sure to bewitch you for countless hours.”
METACRITIC SCORE- Xbox 360: 95 (with 26 reviews) | PS3: 92 (with 7 reviews) | PC: Not enough reviews
We’ll keep updating this page as more reviews hit the net. Keep checking back, and if we’ve missed any reviews, let us know in your comments. Our own review of Elder Scrolls 5 will be up soon, so keep checking back to read that as well. Stay tuned.
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