The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing video game that was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is officially the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series but it isn't a direct sequel to the game that came before The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and was released worldwide (except in Japan) on November 11th 2011 on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Microsoft Windows. It was distributed online by Steam (Valve) and in retail by Bethesda Softworks.

The main story of Skyrim is set around the players efforts to stop Alduin, a black dragon who is trying to destroy the world. The game is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion in the fictional Tamrielian province of Skyrim. During the game, the player can complete quests including side quest and level up their character through skills trees which you can access anywhere but only use once you leveled up to the next level.

The game is created on a custom made Creation engine built especially for this game. The game, although not a direct sequel to the Elder Scrolls series, is considered to be a spiritual succesor to Oblivion and the 2008 game Fallout 3.

Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls allows you to play from either a first person or third person perspective. The can travel to anywhere within the world of Skyrim, consisting of forests, towns. dungeons and cities and is filled with NPC's as well as enemies to fight (both ones that will attack you if they see you and ones you can make by getting a bounty on your head). In the game you can befriend these NPC's, go on side quests for them and join a faction like the Stormcloaks, rebels from Windhelm under the leadership of Ulfric Stormcloak, the Imperial Legion, the faction that is led by General Tullius in a war against the Stormcloaks and the Dark Brotherhood, a band of assassins.

The game introduces a feature called dragon shouts which give the player an advantage in the world of Skyrim but can only be unlocked by absorbing a dragons soul (which will only happen when you kill a dragon) and reading dragon text. The first one you gain is called unrelenting force and is activated after you both obtain the spell and kill your first dragon nand the words you have to say to use this shout is "''Fus-Ro-Dah!". ''As you progress through the game you can obtain shouts that increase your speed dramatically and other known ones.

As you gain items in the game you need to watch the items wieght because if your not careful you could carry so much stuff that it makes running impossible until you drop or use items. There are a multitude of different weapons, armour pices and items that can be found throughout Skyrim and can also be crafted and upgraded to make them lighter or heavier and also making them better at defending from damage and also dealing it out to your enemies.

At the bottom of the screen there are three different stats for your player, red in the middle for your characters health, green to the right representing your characters stamina (how far the can run/ how long he can fight for before they have to rest) and blue for th amount magicka your character has left (magicka is what ballows you to cast the spells that you have learned). Each of these will deteriarate over time as you take damage, use spells, engage your enemies and run large distances. As well as these stats there is a compass at the top of the screen which tells you the direction you need to go to get to the nearest town city or places you have marked on the map, and along with the stats this makes up the players HUD (Heads Up Display).

Plot
Skyrim is set 200 years after the events of Oblivion, but is not a direct sequel to the game. The game takes place in the land of Skyrim in the middle of a civil war between the Stormcloaks led by Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak and the Imperial Legion led by General Tullius.

The game starts of with the imprisoned player waking up on a cart takinbg them to execution at the town of Helgen along with several other Stormcloak soldiers and the leader of the rebelllion, Ulfric Stormcloak. Your character is called up and asked nwho they are and this is when character creation appears and you can create your custom character. You are sent ot wait to be executed by the commander and when its your turn to be executed a dragon appears and destroys the town. Whilst escaping you can either choose to go with Rolf of the Stormcloaks or with Hama of the Imperial Legion. You then escape the town and head to Riverwood, whose residents are terrified of the dragon attacking at any moment, where you are asked to go to Whiterun and ask the Jarl for help to defend them against the threat. The Jarl Balgruuf the Greater accepts to the plea on the condition that you retrieve a dragon stone which reveals the location of Dragon burial sites.

Once the player returns with the dragonstone a dragon appears outside the city walls and you asked to help kill the dragon. Once you have slayed the dragon the dragons body will begin to disintergrate and you will absorb the soul of the dragon which allows you to peform a "Thu'um" or a Dragon Shout. The guards are amazed and tell the player that they might be the Dragonborn, a mortal who is born with the soul of a dragon after which the player returns to Whiterun to speak with the Jarl. When you reach the Jarl you will be told that you have been summoned by the Greybeards, monks that live alone at their temple of High Hrothgar which lies on the slopes of the mountain The Throat of the World, Skyrim's tallest mountain.

Once you reach the Greybeards you will be taught more powerful shouts in a course known as the "Way of the Voice" and also guiding the player on their role as the Dragonborn. Once your training is complete you learn that the civil war in Skyrim was the last of the prophesised events the were foretold by the Elder Scrolls which also predicted th return of the Dragon-god of destruction, Alduin who would destroy the races of Men and Mer (Elves) and then consume the world. The player is the newest "Dovahkiin" or Dragonborn, the body of a mortal which is fused with the soul of a Dragon and is meant to protect Tamriel from the threat that Anduin and the other dragons pose.

The player then is sent on a mission to retrieve the legendary Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. After journeying through the dungeons that lead to the Horn the player finds that the Horn has already been taken and the person who has taken it has left a note for the player telling them to meet them in the Riverwood inn. The thief is then revealed to be Delphine, the innkeeper of Riverwood  who is the last surviving member of the Blades - an order of soldiers who have sworn to protect the Imperial Emperor. She leads you to a Dragon burial site where you witness Alduin resurrect a dragon which you then have to fight and kill and absorb it soul. After this battle Delphine helps you to sneak into the Thalmor Embassy, which is just outside the city of Solitude, in order to see if her suspicions are right that the Thalmor are involved in the Dragon attacks. Whilst investigating you find out that the Thalmor are looking for a man named Esbern, an archivist for the Blades Order. You are then instructed by Delphine to find Esbern who usually is located in the sewers and ratways of the city of Riften.

after finding Esbern you accompany the Blades to find Alduins Wall which is located somewhere inside an old Blades fortress which is known as the Sky Haven Temple. While you leave the baldes set up you learn a new thu'um called "Dragonrend" which is the shout that was used to defeat Alduin by using mans hatred of dragons in one shout