The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Intense overall intensity
Highest flag: Substances — player uses or trades
AdventureFantasyRPG
🏆 D.I.C.E. Awards 2012 — Game of the Year

What's in it

Violence graphic & gore
High

Sword, bow, and spell combat against humanoids and creatures produces blood spray, with occasional slow-motion decapitation finishing moves.

Substances player uses or trades
High

The player brews, buys and drinks mead and wine, and can find, use, and trade skooma, a fictional addictive narcotic.

Crime & lawlessness rewarded for crime against innocents
High

Players can steal, pick pockets, and join an assassins' guild that pays them to murder targets, including non-hostile characters.

Occult & ritual player performs occult ritual
High

The player casts necromancy spells that reanimate corpses to fight for them, and completes quests that require performing rituals at Daedric altars — offering blood, flesh, or a sacrificed victim — to summon and serve dark lords in exchange for power.

Torture player commits it
High

In one Daedric quest the player bludgeons a bound, helpless captive to break his will.

Dark themes intense
Moderate

Questlines involve murder, necromancy, and a ritual in which the player eats human flesh.

Language moderate
Moderate

Occasional profanity and insults like 'damn' and 'bastard' in NPC dialogue.

Nudity revealing/suggestive attire
Low

Some characters wear revealing armor or tavern attire; no explicit nudity in the base content.

Horror & psychological spooky
Low

Dark crypts feature reanimated undead Draugr and vampires with a tense, spooky atmosphere.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Standard hunting and combat against wildlife such as deer, wolves, bears and mammoths for pelts, food or defense.

Sexual content suggestive
Low

Suggestive dialogue and bawdy in-game books; characters can be married but no sexual acts are shown.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

Skyrim Special Edition is a single-player open-world fantasy role-playing game in which you create a hero and freely explore a vast Nordic land, completing quests, developing combat, magic, and stealth skills, and battling dragons. Combat against humans and creatures is realistic and bloody, with occasional decapitation finishing moves. The world contains alcohol you can drink to the point of drunkenness and a fictional drug (skooma) you can use and sell, implied romance and marriage, revealing outfits, and undead-filled crypts. Optional paths let you steal, assassinate people for pay, worship dark Daedric gods through rituals, and in one quest beat a captive on command.

How it's framed

The game presents a morally open sandbox where the player chooses their own path, from heroic dragon-slayer to thief, assassin, or servant of dark gods, and rarely passes judgment. Darker acts like assassination, cannibalism, and Daedric rituals are framed as deliberate player choices tied to specific factions and quests rather than required, and consequences appear as in-world bounties and reactions.

Details

Developer
Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher
Bethesda Softworks
Released
Oct 27, 2016
Metacritic 74critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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