5/5 ★ – hbarnes55's review of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Skyrim has to be the greatest game of all time with the most glaring issues. I will start with the positives. Skyrim was one of the first games I ever played on my own personal console and it has always been my “comfort game”. A game that you play the fuck out of, slowly get bored and stop playing, only to remember it two years later and get obsessed again. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve fully optimized my play throughs: no messing around, straight to stealth archer. The stealth archer mechanic in this game is maybe my favorite thing to play across any video game. It is just so satisfying sniping a bandit and watch him ragdoll to the floor, especially if you have a soul stealing enchantment; the crack of thunder after every kill hits me like crack. The game is perfectly optimized for this play style. On the flip side, that means every other form of combat is outright terrible. Using any melee weapon as your primary attack is doable but is incredibly boring. I only do this when the enemy is too close to use my bow or I don’t want to waste the arrow. Magic, forget about it; the magic system in this game is pathetic. Your options are incredibly limited and the spells you do have are very boring. Technically, if we include the shouts the magic system is greatly improved. The shouts are actually very useful in combat situations, I often find myself missing my fus ro dah when I play oblivion (if for no other reason than to watch an NPC ragdoll down a cliff). This review is long enough so I’ll briefly give my thoughts on other aspects of the game. I love collecting and crafting unique armors and weapons; I always prioritize creating an armory in my craftable homes. The story is…boring. The civil war plot had a lot of potential (evidenced by the debate that still rages to this day in the Skyrim community) but the way it plays out, especially the battles is disappointing. The map is really fun to explore and I love the world building that went into everything. I’m team Stormcloaks, Serena is the best companion, and I never kill Paarthurnax.