| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bethesda Game Studios[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Bethesda Softworks |
| Director(s) | Todd Howard |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Designer(s) |
|
| Programmer(s) | Guy Carver |
| Artist(s) | Matthew Carofano |
| Writer(s) | Emil Pagliarulo |
| Composer(s) | Jeremy Soule |
| Series | The Elder Scrolls |
| Engine | Creation Engine |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | November 11, 2011
|
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.
The game is set 200 years after the events of Oblivion and takes place in Skyrim, the northernmost province of Tamriel, a continent on the planet Nirn. Its main story focuses on the player character, the Dragonborn, on their quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon prophesied to destroy the world. Throughout the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel to discovered locations in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.
Skyrim was developed using the Creation Engine, which was rebuilt specifically for the game. The team opted for a unique and more diverse open world than Oblivion's Imperial Province of Cyrodiil, which game director and executive producer Todd Howard considered less interesting by comparison.
Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with praise for its character advancement, world design, visuals, and the ability to dual-wield in combat. Criticism targeted the melee combat, dragon battles, and numerous technical issues present at launch. The game shipped over seven million units within the first week of its release and had sold over 20 million units by June 2013. It is considered one of the greatest video games ever made.
Three downloadable content (DLC) add-ons were released: Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn, which were bundled along with the base game into the Legendary Edition, released in June 2013. A remastered version titled Special Edition, containing all three DLC add-ons along with a graphical upgrade, was released in October 2016; a port for the Nintendo Switch was released in November 2017, alongside a separate virtual reality-only version titled Skyrim VR. In addition, a compilation titled Anniversary Edition, consisting of the remastered version and additional Creation Club content, was released in 2021–22. A sequel, The Elder Scrolls VI, is currently in development.
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