It’s been almost 13 years sinceThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimcame out and seemingly changed the RPG landscape. Even now, it remains an immensely popular game and maintains a steady playercount. Back in 2011, it was a time-consuming masterpiece that quickly became a part of the cultural zeitgeist. It felt like everyone was playingSkyrim.
There’s no denyingSkyrimhas been a massively successful and seminal RPG.For years, it was the open-world game that nearly all other open-world games were compared to (a spot that now seemingly stillbelongs toBreath of the Wild). The amount of remasters and re-releasesSkyrimhas gotten has become a sort of joke in the gaming sphere. Since 2011, it’s gotten a half-dozen versions, with an Anniversary Edition launching back in 2021. Approaching its 13-year anniversary, it seems like the longevity ofSkyrimmay be eternal.
How Skyrim Got So Popular
And Why It Remains Popular To This Day
Skyrimwas arguably always going to be a successful game. Thanks to previous hits likeMorrowindandOblivion, theElder Scrollsseries had a large (and growing) fanbase already.Skyrimalso had something else going for it that those games didn’t - dragons. It was a big selling point at the time, and the marketing strategy seemed to have worked. Since its release,Skyrimhas sold over 60 million copiesand become one of thebest-selling video games of all time.
There’s no denying it’s a fun game, but part of its longevity is definitely due to the modding community. Fromcharacter creation modsto home-building mods and more, the past decade has seen countless amounts of custom content being added intoSkyrim. AndwhileSkyrimcertainly isn’t the only game to benefit from modders, it’s absolutely part of the reason a lot of people are still playing the game today.
10 Best Skyrim Mods To Completely Change The Game (2023)
Skyrim mod support continues to be spectacular, and there are plenty of mods that can still shake up the game in 2023 like never before.
There’s also various DLCs, which have added in new story content, new areas to explore, more home customization, and even dragon riding. All of that has guaranteeda large portion ofSkyrimplayers have returned to the game to see what new content the DLCs have to offer. Just another facet of what’s keptSkyrimgoing for all these years.
There’s So Much To Do In Skyrim
Outside The Main Story, There’s 100s Of Hours Of Content
Even without DLC and the modding community, there’s a ton of stuff to do in the base game ofSkyrim. Besides the two main storylines involving the dragons and the civil war, there are countless side quests, dungeons to explore, treasures to find, and secrets to discover.Skyrimis a game that encourages and rewards exploration. It’s part of the reason I fell in love with it in the first place.
When it first released, I was quick to try to unlock factions like the Theives Guild and Dark Brotherhood. I sank a ton of time into the College of Winterhold and then used the tower as my own personal home for a chunk of the game. I tried tocollect all the Dragon Priest Masks. At some point, I decided to Platinum the game and didn’t really rest until I had done it. I spent hours just running around cities and the wilderness and trying to find weird, fun stuff.
There were also those water cooler moments where I’d show up to work or class the next day and my friends would be sharing what they’d find. Stuff like “Hey, did you get the Whirlwind Sprint Shout yet?” or “Have you found a way out of Blackreach yet?” Countless conversations were spent discussingfinding good weapons, stumbling into eccentric questlines, discovering a new marriage option, and trying to collect all the Daedric Artifacts.
Long before any DLC had arrived, I had sunk over 100 hours into the game. Mostly, this was from a desire to see everythingSkyrimhad to offer. I’d risen to the top of the ranks of every faction you may, I’d settled into several different homes, I’d collected all the Dragon Priest Masks and was working on getting all those Daedric Artifacts beyond the ones required for trophies. My Dragonborn felt over-leveled and powerful. It was great.
Long before any DLC had arrived, I had sunk over 100 hours into the game. Mostly, this was from a desire to see everythingSkyrimhad to offer.
Why I Can’t Replay Skyrim Again
Redoing All Those Tasks Seems Far Too Daunting
It may seem silly that I can’t replaySkyrimafter talking about how much I loved it. The truth is,there’s just so much to do in the game. After collecting so many items, completing so many quests, and discovering so many locations, it just feels too daunting. I’ve sank 100s of hours into the game after completing all the DLC, and that makes it even more difficult to go back and start from nothing again.
It’s an issue that’s not wholly unique toSkyrim- I feel the same way about myBreath of the WildandFallout 3saves, and even my mainFFXIVaccount. Even games likePokémon Alpha Sapphire, where I sank in hundreds of hours to complete the National Dex, feel like they’re not worth starting over again. To a certain degree, it’s because I had so much fun with these games that I don’t want to ever start them again.
Skyrimis an excellent RPG, and it’s been genre-defining in many ways. I love pretty much everything about it. Over the years, part of me has wanted to go back and start fresh, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it.Redoing everything is just too daunting, and that’s why, despite loving the game and spending so much time with it, I’ll probably never playSkyrimagain.
