The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Platform(s): Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Except for overgrown Fus Ro Dah and arrow to the knee memes, which make the entire gaming community sound like winded old men, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim righteously deserves all of our praise. The vast scale of its Nordic open world is at once breathtaking and invigorating, and yet almost every facet of the game is elegant, an adjective not normally associated with video games. No enemy is too powerful to overcome, no skill is too simple to develop, and no goal is too far beyond your reach. Skyrim rekindles that ancient spirit of adventure buried within us, to a time and place we wish we could remember at a moment's call.
It's easy, perhaps too easy, to wag a finger at the game's innumerous glitches, if not just the repetitive NPC dialogue, the lack of companion control, and the exceedingly high population of bandits and draugr. But gratuitous ruthlessness only shows how extreme we must become to pierce its armor. Perhaps if we were gods, or Daedric Princes, we could discard Skyrim into the muck of imperfections. But we are only Dragonborn, at worst a foolish legend and at best a loud-mouthed demi-god. (At least until those goddamn arrows…)
Runners Up:
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
- Portal 2
- Batman: Arkham City
- Dark Souls
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
