Skyrim is a fantastic role-playing game from Bethesda, with hundreds of hours of adventure, magic and mayhem await you in this enormous game.
Before you can do any of that, you must first start the game and make a number of decisions on how all those hours will be spent. There are no major narrative spoilers in this section and while most of you are familiar with the events of Skyrim, there are still some individuals who haven't played. Let's get started.
1. Don't lower the difficulty
The game's complexity is set to "Advanced," which I think is about appropriate. In Skyrim, foes don't level according to your character, so you'll frequently run across areas that are out of your league in terms of difficulty, especially early on. Several of them occur on the way to key plot objectives. That's fine! The game is designed to be difficult, so you'll have to level up your character and develop your skills until you're ready to take on the challenge.
2. Don't stress over which ancestral stone you pick
You can choose from three ancestral stones towards the beginning of the game: Thief, Mage, or Warrior. Whichever option you select, abilities linked with that class increase more quickly than other skills. Keep in mind that there are 13 ancestral stones similar to these scattered across Skyrim, and while you can only have one active at a time, you can switch at any moment. They aren't meant to be permanent. Throughout the game, you'll have plenty of opportunities to select which style of play best suits you. You don't have to stress over the decision at first since you can always alter your mind.
3. Keep saving your progress
There is a quicksave button on the PC, but you'll have to remember to save your game frequently on the console. The game autosaves everytime you relax, sleep, or enter a new region through a door (essentially whenever the game displays a loading screen), but it never saves in between. It's possible to roam Skyrim for an hour, locate some interesting items, and then get slain by a mammoth, wiping out all of your work. That recalls me...
4. Travel with a companion
Horrible companions have been available in previous Bethesda games, but they feel more useful than ever in Skyrim. Take your first companion on challenging tasks when you receive her (presumably in Whiterun). It'll make things a lot simpler for you. You may have also noticed that she's become something of a meme in the five years after the game's release. Take pleasure in it.
5. Make use of a shield
One of the most appealing aspects of Skyrim is that you may play it in whatever way you want—magic, combat, ranged, or a combination of the three. Physical combat, on the other hand, is more exciting and deeper for me than ranged combat. I've always seen myself as a sly archer in Bethesda games, slipping into a room and utilising my stealth damage boost to give people the old one-hit-kill. However, in Skyrim, it becomes more frustrating. Veterans of the Bethesda series will recognise the traditional "backpedal and shoot arrows while getting your face eaten off" technique. Given Skyrim's better melee fighting, shield combat is worth a go. Shield-bashing is also a lot of fun.
6. Keep to first-person when fighting
When it boils down to it, Skyrim's 3rd Person is still greatest for exploring, assuming that's what it's good for. Stick with first-person fighting in conflict, partially for gameplay reasons and partly because the chaos of first-person makes the combat appear more dramatic and thrilling than it actually is in third-person.
7. Don't waste your gold on gear
You'll discover a number of sellers eager to sell you items right away. (Or, more accurately, they're willing to buy all of your spare sets of armour and swords.) Don't fall for it! Save your money since you'll discover enough of basic steel and iron weaponry, as well as enough arrows to construct a massive arrow-fort, lying about.
Instead, keep your money towards training, which will help you climb out of the low-level dregs faster while also significantly enhancing your fighting proficiency compared to a purchased weapon.
8. Purchase health potions in the early stages of the game
These are worth your money because, unlike the fussy healing spell you started with, health potions may be used instantly in combat. When you're in a jam and a particularly nasty troll is attacking you, you'll want to have four or five small healing potions on hand. They're not too pricey, so stock up on them whenever you can.
9. Level up your skills by using them
The levelling system in Skyrim differs from that of Fallout 4, for example. You get experience by completing tasks. If you battle with your sword, you'll improve your one-handed combat skills. You may level up lockpicking by picking a lock. That implies doing things even if you don't "need" to pays off. Do you see a lock? Choose it! You may also take advantage of this feature by repeatedly sneaking past people to level up your stealth.
10. Crafting and enchanting are not to be overlooked
You'll most likely begin by concentrating on obtaining more gold, better gear, and a harder character. However, don't forget about crafting and enchanting. Crafting is an excellent method to generate money since you can easily transform low-cost components into much more precious weapons, which you can then sell to the local blacksmith. Enchanting, especially higher level enchanting, is a quick way to make some of the game's most powerful weapons.
11. Carry out side quests
There are so many sidequests in Skyrim, and many of them are better than the main plot quest, in the classic tradition of Bethesda open-world games. If you're given a mission, complete it.
12. Make up your own tales
In reality, some of the finest Skyrim storylines are created by the player rather than the game's developers. Skyrim is a large sandbox simulation, and if you want to play the game in an unusual way, you should do so. Do you want to rob every single NPC in Windhelm? Do you want to be a trader who never gets involved in a brawl? Do you want to try something a little more unusual and creative? Take a chance. It's all about role-playing. Push it to the limit and see what the game will allow you to do.
13. Participate in all of the factions
Several guilds and factions may be found across Skyrim. Companions, Winterhold College, the Dark Brotherhood, and so on. At initially, you can join them all, but you'll soon have to pick between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials. However, for the most part, simply go ahead and join whichever organisations you like. They all provide you quests and assist you in the development of various talents. Specifically...
14. Complete the Dark Brotherhood quest
Given that this is an Elder Scrolls game, you can expect the Dark Brotherhood plotline to be the most interesting faction side quest. That is correct, so when you're ready, go find the Dark Brotherhood (they're in the forests near Falkreath) and slaughter some people.
15. Don't use fast travel
It's tempting to fast-travel throughout Skyrim as soon as you access the map in order to do tasks faster. If you can, resist the desire. Fast travel may make the game feel jumbled and disconnected, but strolling or riding from place to place adds to the open world's grandeur. When it boils down to it, that is essentially the goal of the game.
16. Add some mods to your game
Skyrim is a modder's dream come true. The vanilla PC version of contains so many modifications that it's difficult to keep track of them all. There are fewer modifications in the new remastered edition, but it'll only be a matter of time until the Skyrim Nexus is flooded with fresh versions of old favourites. If you're an Xbox One player, check out the best Skyrim mods you can try.
17. Explore!
Skyrim is a game about the desire to explore. It's all too easy to get caught up in the tale and end up jumping about the map looking for the next task checkpoint. If you've never played before, try not to let this happen. Instead, switch off your task notifications and go in a random path. See what you can come up with. Roaming for the sake of wandering is a good thing to do.
That moment when you're travelling down a route toward an objective and suddenly find another way off to the right encapsulates Skyrim. What will it lead to? To a cave, a shelter for bandits? Is it a miraculous stone or a long-lost artefact? Something a little more intriguing and perilous?
