The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition

When Bethesda announced a remaster of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in June 2016 for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC, it was instantly a massive source of excitement for fans of the original game on previous generation consoles. Now, the fans are torn. On one hand, the game is just like the original only with better graphics and much faster performance, but on the other hand the games bugs and glitches have not been patched and are still a burden on the game as a whole. In this review I shall go in depth into my opinions on the game, what needs improvement and what is great about the remaster. I played this game as a digital copy on PS4.

The Pros:

• The game, as I've said, is just like the original. I think what Bethesda did was re-skinned everything or rendered the skins to a higher quality, so that the game looks immaculate. Which it does. The landscapes, weaponry and characters look beautiful and it's very easy to immerse yourself within the world.
• Talking about the game as a whole, the interactions that are made between either NPCs or between yourself and an NPC are unrivaled unless you were to compare it to another of Bethesda's hits, such as the Fallout franchise. This makes the cities and villages feel so authentic and real, and this is a strong point of the game, for me. Immense detail has been put into the dialogue which is what also helps to immerse the player into the experience.
• The freedom that the game grants you is also a strong point. By the time I completed the final main story quest, I was level 40 with the best armor and weaponry in the game, simply because I was allowed the freedom to do countless side quests and explore the hundreds of caves or fortresses, before even thinking about continuing the main story. There is no time limit for the main quest, which makes the game very addictive, as the more caves and villages you discover on your way to the main quest, the more you want to find every piece of available gold to take or hostile enemy to be killed, leading to hours and hours of enjoyable game play. Sometimes I lose track of time whilst playing this game and if it can make me do that, I class my time on the game as enjoyable.

• The easy access to mods also leads to an enhanced gaming experience, although it doesn't let you gain trophies or gamerscore whilst they are active. Personally, I didn't download any mods which aided leveling speed or gave me "god mode", but rather mods to improve the already amazing character AI and dialogue, and added blood and gore, just for entertainment value. These mods only improve the game, making testing weapons or armor easier and overall making the game more fun, depending on what mods you might choose to install.
• The critical attacks look awesome and are extremely satisfying.
• The rag-doll physics are a great laugh and always supply entertainment, whether it be using the Unrelenting Force shout on a Bandit off a cliff or using the Ice Spike destruction spell on someone etc. I love a good game with rag-doll physics and this game does it perfectly.

The Cons:

• The glitches are still prevalent in the remaster. The infamous Skyforge glitch in Whiterun is a favourite of the Skyrim community, and to be honest I was shocked to find out that the exploit was still executable in the remaster. Along with a number of other merchant chests, the characters can sometimes just disappear, no-where to be seen unless a previous save is loaded. Personally, I had to restart the game because Miraak, the other Dragonborn, disappeared mid combat. If that isn't a punch in the face after all that hard work and effort to get to him, I don't know what is.
• Using bows can be a nightmare. For example, I managed to KILL LYDIA while she was down by shooting a bow literally a metre above her head at a bear, but I still somehow managed to hit her. The dreaded archer's sidestep glitch is still in the game, making moving side to side and hitting a target with a bow nearly impossible, as the arrow goes on an unprecedented path to the direction in which you are moving, ignoring all laws of physics in the process.

• Guards still attack you if you accidentally swing at them instead of a mutual foe during combat, which is annoying.
• Overall, the glitches and bugs are just lazy programming on Bethesda's part and could have been patched a year and a half ago when the game was released on PS4 and Xbone as a remaster.

In Summary:

I love Skyrim on PS4. It is highly enjoyable and the freedom is totally engrossing. However the glitches and bugs still get on my nerves. On Bethesda's part, it could have been an homage to the previous gen game where the glitches were used freely and on a regular basis to gain money and supplies early on. Perhaps they left them in for more experienced players to get a head start because of their knowledge of the games exploits and tricks. Personally, I believe it is sheer laziness from Bethesda to release a remaster with all of the glitches still in the game, un-patched.

Other than that, I would highly recommend you go out and buy this game if you have a next gen console or a PC with high computing power. It truly is and always will be one of the greatest games I have ever played.

Thanks for reading Steemians, I hope you liked my review. Please drop me a follow or an up-vote if you enjoyed :)