Hands-On with Skyrim: Stealing and Savagery

Skyrim. It has dragons. I didn’t see any.

For those who aren’t already aware, Skyrim is the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series. Notable for their open worlds and environmental storytelling, Bethesda Game Studios has been hard at work for the past few years on this followup (but not sequel) to 2006’s Oblivion.

So what does it offer? Well, fans have doubtless already seen the 20-minute gameplay video that was uploaded in September. Rather than spending my precious 20-minute allocation at the Eurogamer Expo replicating that experience, I opted to take a more subtle path. Thievery.

Well, okay. I also set fire to a fox and a couple of wolves. I had previously intended to play Skyrim on a controller but given the number of bushes and trees that I hit with my hapless fumblings, I think I’ll stick to the keyboard and mouse after all.

But I digress. Thievery! The Thieves’ Guild and the Dark Brotherhood quest lines were the highlights of Oblivion and a quick poke through the statistics screen at the demo confirmed that their shadowy presences are felt in the realm of Skyrim too. Also listed are: [minor spoilers] The Companions, College of Winterhold, a civil war and a Daedric quest line. There’s lots to do but it’s a real pity that the thieving mechanic in this pre-beta build was utterly, unforgivably broken.

Let me just pause to emphasise that. The code on display at Eurogamer Expo was pre-beta and likely at least 2 months old, so all my problems could have been fixed by now. I did contact Bethesda’s representatives for comment but no specifics were forthcoming.

There I was, running down hills and wading through rivers when I espied a town. “Hoo-rah!” thought I. “Free stuff! And perhaps the people of Skyrim are better-looking than those of Cyrodiil.” Alas, this little milling village was no less inbred than the population of The Imperial City. Free stuff, however, was in plentiful supply and I spent many happy minutes stealing the shopkeeper’s wine from under his nose and selling it back to him.

Yes. As a level nothing character, I flagrantly stole wine, weapon and song from the local shop. I got caught as well. “You thieving elf!” the shopkeep cried as he placed a bounty on my head. Being the canny village trader that he was, however, he wasn’t about to let a bargain slip away when said elf approached him with wine and weapons for a quick sale. Perhaps his outcry was a token gesture as part of some insurance fraud with the guards. Perhaps his willingness to trade was seated in racism and he truly could not tell one elf from another. Perhaps the stealing mechanic is just rubbish.

I’m opting for the last one. As well as the shopkeep failing to recognise wine I’d taken literally seconds before, some items that I had stolen seemed to just vanish into the ether. I couldn’t see them in my inventory and they were no longer available on the store’s shelves. “Ah well,” I sighed as I made my way outside to stick my trouble-making nose into other people’s love lives. “There’s more where that came from.”

Not everyone in the village was as racist as the shopkeep, while some were more blatantly so. In the village I met a young man intent on breaking up the union between a lovely young human lady and her elven lover. He gave me a poison pen letter to deliver to the woman and pretend it was from her partner. Obviously I agreed to help, because the best way to start a relationship with a woman is to make her miserable, right?

In keeping with Bethesda’s history of allowing choice in their RPGs, I was presented with a number of options to complete the quest. I could do as instructed and lie as I present the letter. I could rat out the devious man and watch the ensuing fireworks from a safe distance. Or, I could take the tried and tested option to cut their heads off with my stolen sword and loot the rewards from both parties. Wrapping up my twenty minute demo with a bit of senseless brutal savagery seemed like the best course of action.

Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim will be out for Xbox 360, PC and PS3 on 11th November 2011.

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