A few years ago I was browsing through Steam (An online seller of video games) and I came across one particularly well rated game. This game was called “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.” I was intrigued so I looked into the reviews, finding most of them to be positive and decided to purchase the game for myself. I have been playing this game for a few years now, and have found it to be a unique experience, and the only other games I can compare it to are made by the same company, but with a different style and setting, The Fallout Franchise. While many people have found the Elder Scrolls series to be very similar to the Fallout series, I have a different opinion. While the two series do have some clear similarities (play style, open world, similar combat systems, etc.) they have plenty of differences to set them apart from each other and make them entirely distinct from each other. 

The case for the Elder Scrolls 5’s originality comes from the stories that it tends to create. Skyrim has an amazing capacity to create such a strong fanbase, derivative from some amazing storytelling on the part of the designer. The game has outlasted any presumed shelf life, seeing as it has been re-releasing itself for the past several years, with a decent amount of success. The game has recently been re-released on the Nintendo Switch, garnering a decent amount of success, despite this being one of many re-releases. My personal theory as to why this game in particular is so long lasting is because of the community that surrounds it. Skyrim has retained an active modding community (a modding community is a group of people that custom create their own content for a game, then provide it to others.) This modding community has been around since the first version of the game launched, and has been creating new content and revitalizing the game for years, providing fans of the game with plenty of new material to try on a regular basis.

Beyond having a remarkable community surrounding the game, Skyrim has some excellent writing and lore as presented in the game. The main quest is an epic journey to destroy evil and stop an inevitable end of the universe. The main character accomplishes this by fighting varying enemies, including giant dragons, learning new powers to make themselves stronger, and gaining help and resources from the NPC (non player character) cast of the game. Skyrim also has some excellent DLC (downloadable content) packs that bring in a multitude of interesting quests, items, and lore into the game. One of these is the Dawnguard DLC, in which you fight vampires to stop a mythical prophecy from being fulfilled, or alternatively you can join the vampires and dominate the world. Another one of the DLCs is the Dragonborn DLC, in which you fight an ancient and powerful warrior, who is attempting to control an island off the coast of the main game area, using magic and powers that he gains from a powerful evil god.