Line #1 VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim


1	[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skyrim-002_2832.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:262:''And the fiercest foes rout when they hear triumph's shout...'']]
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4	%% Don't restore this to an Administrivia/AllBlueEntry. As the page on Administrivia/AllBlueEntry says, we should not make these.
5	%% That's Administrivia/Sinkhole encouragement.
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7	->''You should have acted. They're already here.''\
8	''Franchise/TheElderScrolls told of their return.''\
9	''Their defeat was merely a delay till the time after [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]] opened, when the sons of Skyrim would spill their own blood.''\
10	''But no one wanted to believe... Believe they even existed. And when the truth finally dawns... It dawns in fire!''\
11	''But... there is one they fear. In their tongue, he is '''"Dovahkiin": Dragonborn!'''''
12	-->-- '''Esbern''', ''Narration of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoXFk-0NrDI&ab_channel=BethesdaSoftworks teaser trailer.]]''
13
14	''Skyrim'' is the fifth entry in Creator/{{Bethesda}}'s ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' main series, released on November 11, 2011[[note]]Or, as the advertising put it, [[MeaningfulReleaseDate 11.11.11]][[/note]] across multiple platforms.
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16	It takes place in the year 201 of the Fourth Era, [[TimeSkip two centuries after the events of]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion the fourth game]], and is set in the eponymous Skyrim, one of the northernmost provinces of the continent of Tamriel and home to the [[HornyVikings Nords]]. The feared dragon [[BigBad Alduin the World Eater]] has returned after ages of absence with an army of dragons, fulfilling an ancient prophecy that heralds the end of the world. Alduin's appearance also exacerbates a bitter civil war over Skyrim's independence from the Empire of Tamriel, which is fought between the Imperial Legion under General Tullius, the appointed Military Governor of Skyrim, and the secessionist Stormcloaks under Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of the city of Windhelm. Into this time of crisis enters the Last Dragonborn, a person born with the soul of a dragon, who has the ability to absorb their souls of slain dragons to gain strength. Under the guidance of Delphine and Esbern of the exiled warrior order known as the Blades, and the monastic Greybeards of High Hrothgar, the Dragonborn must uncover the means to defeat Alduin and avert [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]].
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18	The game runs on a heavily modified Gamebryo engine called the ''Creation'' engine, complete with all the GoodBadBugs that Bethesda fans have come to know and love. The soundtrack is once again provided by Music/JeremySoule. The PC version was also the debut title for the Platform/{{Steam}} Workshop, an integrated way to browse and upload mods, which are subscribed to and downloaded automatically via the Steam client. This had never been attempted on such a large scale before.
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20	Three [=DLCs=] were produced for ''Skyrim'' (they were short-term timed exclusives for Platform/XBox360, but the Platform/{{PS3}} releases were delayed beyond that due to technical issues with the porting process):
21	* ''Dawnguard'', released on June 26, 2012 for Xbox 360, on August 3, 2012 for PC, and on February 26, 2013 for [=PS3=]. The Last Dragonborn is caught in a struggle between an ancient vampire clan and a newly-reformed order of vampire hunters.
22	* ''Hearthfire'', released on September 4, 2012 for Xbox 360, on October 4, 2012 for PC, and on February 19, 2013 for [=PS3=]. This add-on allows the player to buy plots of land and construct custom homesteads, as well as adopt children.
23	* ''Dragonborn'', released on December 4, 2012 for Xbox 360, on February 5, 2013 for PC, and on February 12, 2013 for [=PS3=]. The Last Dragonborn investigates the island of Solstheim (the setting of the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' expansion ''Bloodmoon'') and confronts the First Dragonborn, a servant of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora who is using Solstheim's inhabitants in a nefarious ritual to allow him to return to Tamriel.
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25	On April 15, 2013, [[http://www.bethblog.com/2013/04/15/moving-to-our-next-adventure/ Bethesda announced that no further DLC packs would be produced]] for ''Skyrim'' as the studio moved on to its [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} next project]], but technical support would continue.
26
27	''Skyrim'' had a series of re-releases over the following years, one of the factors that allowed it to enjoy a remarkable longevity for a strictly single-player title, well after many of its contemporaries had either been forgotten or set aside for sequels. These releases are:
28	* ''[[GameOfTheYearEdition Legendary Edition]]'', released on June 4, 2013 for Xbox 360, PC, and [=PS3=]. It was a bundle of ''Skyrim'' with all three official [=DLCs=]. A copy of ''Legendary Edition'' was included in a PC-exclusive bundle of all five main ''Elder Scrolls'' games released on September 10, 2013.
29	* ''Special Edition'', released on October 28, 2016 for Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, and PC. It was an UpdatedRerelease of ''Legendary Edition'' that used the version of the engine from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', and also added mod support for consoles. {{Platform/Steam}} owners of ''Skyrim'' and all of its [=DLCs=][[note]]through the ''[[GameOfTheYearEdition Legendary Edition]]'' or otherwise[[/note]] received a copy of ''Special Edition'' for free.
30	** ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' for Platform/NintendoSwitch was released on November 17, 2017. Like ''Special Edition'', ''Skyrim'' on Switch includes all three add-ons, but it lacks mod support and uses a slightly scaled-back version of the engine to make it compatible with the Switch. Uniquely, this edition of the game boasts weapons and armor based on ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', support for Toys/{{amiibo}}, and motion controls.
31	** ''Skyrim [=VR=]'' released on November 17, 2017 for [=PS4=], and on April 3, 2018 for PC. This was a version of ''Special Edition'' designed for virtual reality headsets.
32	* ''Anniversary Edition'', released on November 11, 2021 for Xbox One, Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS, [=PS4=], Platform/PlayStation5, and PC, and on September 28, 2022 for Nintendo Switch. Prepared for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of ''Skyrim'', ''Anniversary Edition'' is essentially the ''Special Edition'' bundled with optimizations for the new generation of consoles plus a total of 74 "Creations", which were paid third-party mods curated by Bethesda through the "Creation Club" program and classified as canon content. ''Anniversary Edition'' was also available for purchase as a discounted upgrade for players who already owned a copy of ''Special Edition''.
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34	At E3 2018, Bethesda announced and launched the ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Bethesda-Game-Studios-Special-Edition/dp/B07D6STSX8 Very Special Edition]]'', an InteractiveFiction adaptation of the game exclusively for Amazon Alexa devices, as a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of the original game's multiple releases.
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36	Another factor contributing to ''Skyrim's'' long term popularity is its ''massive'' modding community. ''Skyrim'' is a strong contender for the title of Most Modded Game ever[[note]]{{VideoGame/Minecraft}} is another strong one, but determining exact numbers is pretty difficult[[/note]], and its community is still in full swing a decade after release. At the [[http://www.nexusmods.com Mod Nexus]], the original version of ''Skyrim'' holds the crown for most mods produced, with a total of nearly ''69,000'' mods, and if you add in the mods for ''Special Edition'' (which on its own is sitting pretty at ''second'' place), the total jumps to over 120,000, with more than ''four billion'' downloads between the two! For comparison, ''Fallout 4'' clocks in third place at just over a third of that. There are whole [=YouTube=] channels that have been extremely successful that are solely devoted to showcasing ''Skyrim'' mods. The release of the ''Special Edition'', particularly with it being in a far more stable 64 bit[[note]]The original PC release used 32 bit architecture, which limited the game to using only 4 gigabytes of RAM. This meant that a heavily modded game would eventually become unstable to an almost game breaking degree.[[/note]] gave the modding community a definite shot in the arm, allowing mods to become even more ambitious. A list of troper-recommended mods has been added [[JustForFun/SkyrimRecommendedMods here]].
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38	The following mods have their own pages:
39	* ''VideoGame/AmorousAdventures''
40	* ''VideoGame/BeyondReach''
41	* ''VideoGame/BeyondSkyrim''
42	* ''VideoGame/ConanHyborianAge''
43	* ''VideoGame/{{Enderal}}''
44	* ''VideoGame/{{Falskaar}}''
45	* ''VideoGame/TheForgottenCity''
46	* ''VideoGame/{{Frostfall}}''
47	* ''VideoGame/{{Inigo}}''
48	* ''VideoGame/InterestingNPCs''
49	* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheDragonborn''
50	* ''VideoGame/{{Lucien}}''
51	* ''VideoGame/OrdinatorPerksOfSkyrim''
52	* ''VideoGame/RelicsOfHyrule''
53	* ''VideoGame/RequiemTheRoleplayingOverhaul''
54	* ''VideoGame/{{Rigmor}}''
55	* ''VideoGame/{{Vigilant}}''
56
57	On September 28, 2017, the "Creation Club" debuted on the versions of ''Special Edition'' equipped with mod support. This was a program that permitted third-party mod creators who had been vetted by Bethesda to formally sell their mods, termed "Creations", through the game's newly-added microtransaction marketplace. Creation Club was replaced by the "Verified Creators" program on December 5, 2023, which continued to offer select third-party mods for purchase. The key difference between Creation Club content and Verified Creators content is that the former is officially considered to be canon, while the latter is not.
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59	!!Tropes:
60	[[index]]
61	* Skyrim/Tropes0ToC
62	* Skyrim/TropesDToG
63	* Skyrim/TropesHToM
64	* Skyrim/TropesNToT
65	* Skyrim/TropesUToZ
66	[[/index]]
67	----
68	->I used to be a troper like you... [[MemeticMutation then I took an arrow in the knee.]]
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Context VideoGame / TheElderScrollsVSkyrim