Thirteen Games To Blow Your Mind Off In 2011

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)

Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series is nothing less than epic in its sheer scope. Over the years, this initially PC exclusive RPG series has grown to cover a world that rivals Tolkien’s Middle Earth in the richness of its history and mythology, and its intricacies and elaborate social relationships, all of which are laid at the player’s disposal in the games. The last entry in the series- Oblivion, which was released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC- was incredibly acclaimed, getting rave reviews left, right and center. It was also incredibly divisive, as fans lamented it not being as the last installment in the franchise, Morrowind, and as they cried foul at the plethora of bugs and glitches and graphical inadequacies that plagued the game.

A new Elder Scrolls game, however, was assured. It’s Bethesda biggest series, after all- some would say its only series, except for maybe Fallout. However, what players were mostly curious about was exactly what direction the story would take, from a narratove perspective, and from a gameplay perspective. From a narrative point of view, every Elder Scrolls game has historically been a new story, a new narrative, albeit one set in the same universe. However, the mammoth success of Oblivion led many to question- would Bethesda break the trend just this once? Would it make the next Elder Scrolls a direct sequel to Oblivion to cater to its newly expanded fanbase?

And then there was the question of the direction the game would follow from a gameplay standpoint. As great as Elder Scrolls IV, there can be no doubt that it was also so incredibly buggy and glitched that it’s a wonder that it ever made it past the QA tests. This would point either to an absolute overhaul of the gameplay engine, or to the development of a new one- which one of the two paths would Bethesda follow for Elder Scrolls V? Surely they wouldn’t opt for the dumb route, and keep the same development engine, as it was, from 2005?

Well, that’s a nice teaser. Whereas there isn’t much to see at all- by way of in game footage or even CGI- what we do have is a nice narration that seems to set up the story and narrative for Skyrim pretty well, and an incredibly great soundtrack in the background. We also have confirmation now, finally, that Elder Scrolls V will, in a departure from tradition, be a direct sequel to Elder Scrolls IV, as the trailer will attest to only too happily. What we don’t know, at least from the trailer itself, is if Elder Scrolls V will use a new gameplay engine.

About that, we needn’t worry, however. Bethesda has since gone on to confirm that Skyrim indeed uses a new engine built from the ground up, so we can probably kiss all the issues of the Gamebryo engine goodbye. However, in turn, we should also probably be ready to welcome a whole new set of issues that will be native to the new engine. And in any case, I think it’s reasonable to expect a few hundred bugs when one deals with a game world as expansive as the one found in the Elder Scroll games.

All said and done, this is one game that everybody should certainly keep an eye on net year. While there is no doubt that it will be excellent in every regard, I have the feeling that this one might just be better than any of us would even dare to expect- a world changing, paradigm shifting game that may just become at least one of the three highest rated games of all time. I don’t know why, I just get this feeling.