I had the pleasure of watching a 15 minute demo of the new Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. I can pretty much sum it up as such: if you have played any of the Elder Scrolls titles
, or fancy yourself any kind of fan of first/third person RPGs, then you will want to buy Skyrim. Pretty simple really. With a new engine to help render and script the game, Skyrim looks better than ever.
The most visually striking thing I first noticed during the demo was just the general atmosphere. Trees, grass and fauna just blowing in the icy wind showcased the dynamic weather system. Then rivers that are more alive than I’ve ever seen in a game – rolling white water rapids with fish jumping, heading up stream. Throw in some amazing magical combat and swordplay and you’ve got an environment truly worthy of the hundreds of hours I anticipate spending in the Skyrim universe.
Each hand of your player character can equip any kind of item: sword, axe, dagger, shield, staff, magic or whatever. This gives you a very high combination of playing styles. Dual wield any one handed sword or axe for some steel carnage. Sword and magic in each hand lets you get a taste of both worlds but if you fancy yourself a true wizard, you can put spells in both hands. Equipping the same spell in each hand lets you magnify the effects of that particular spell. Combining two different kinds of spells yields similar results where the spells interact with each other. The magic in this game is more intriguing too. The frost bite spell for example literally shoots a stream of frost from your fingertips. Gone are the days of a cheesy blue ball floating through the air at your target. Fireball and similar spells react the same way – you see flames ripping off your hands and engulfing opponents.
Now, keeping in mind you have two hands to attack with, either steel or magic, that’s not where the fun stops. Being a dragonborn gives you additional special powers. Called “shouts” these abilities are unlocked through the story. Each shout has three words to it, and each word makes it gradually more powerful. These shouts can be used in conjunction with your regular swords and magic to give you a third option in battle. A couple examples of some of the shout abilities included: slowing time, a force push back of sorts, a stun and my personal favorite from the demo – storm call. I’ll get to that one in a bit.
