A reader explains his love for Skyrim and how the mod scene around the PC version has been keeping it relevant for over a decade.
It might be pointless, since the main contenders usually have nothing in common with each other, but everyone likes to talk about what they think is the best games ever. Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Half-Life 2, Super Mario Galaxy, The Last Of Us… each one has an argument behind it and many of them are equally valid. For me though it’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Usually with these sorts of things I’m appalled to find out that a game is a lot older than I thought, but to me Skyrim being only 11 years old seems surprisingly recent. Perhaps that’s because, in its original form, its graphics were always behind the curve, or maybe it’s because I can now barely remember a time when Skyrim didn’t exist.
People love to point out how often the game is ported to other formats but that wouldn’t be happening if the game wasn’t still benefiting from it and people weren’t playing it. I have bought it a few times myself, the last time on Switch, but most of the time I play it on my PC and that’s for one simple reason: the mods.
Although Bethesda do make an effort to bring them to their console versions, mods are, for me, the main reason to have the PC as my lead format – even more than the more powerful graphics. You can get mods for almost any game you care to mention, some of which add pointless little cosmetic extras, some of which add new gameplay, and some improved graphics.