The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Adventure Game Review - A Rich Adventure Awaits
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Adventure Game is well worth your time, learning curve and all.
Modiphius Entertainment and Bethesda have successfully brought the layered world of Skyrim to tabletop in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Adventure Game, and like the video game upon which it is based, storytelling and exploration are paramount. Skyrim The Adventure Game is a cooperative experience that features two main campaigns, a host of handy skills and abilities to learn, dungeons to conquer, and an impressive number of quests to discover along the way. The game encourages you to explore and pick up quests, but that is tempered at times by the rather steep learning curve for new players and the lack of resources and fighting prowess your character will likely start the game with. Those who weather that early storm however will find a captivating main story and a rewarding sense of adventure waiting for them.
Up to four players can join up and take on one of Skyrim's main campaigns, in which you will be traveling amongst famous locations and exploring caves and dungeons to complete quests and advance the main plot. There are a number of quests to take on as you make your way across the world, and along the way, you will be battling monsters, thieves, adversarial factions, and more. That all seems grand, and it absolutely is, but the reality facing you at the start of the game is less grand and more scraping by.
After you play a lengthy tutorial, you're ready to jump into the full game. That said, while the rulebook is full of information, it doesn't make the best impression. It feels like there are just mountains of text and symbols throughout the book, and it can be difficult to track down the one element you're looking to understand. While there are images that help break down certain mechanics, they don't quite go as far as they need to to break things down for new players, as more often than not I still had a lingering question or two that I had to seek further help on when I was first starting out.
Once you grasp the core mechanics and rhythm you start to discover the richness of the world and its characters. You'll start to meet people who call this world home as you take on quests of all kinds, and this leads us to one of the game's most brilliant mechanics. When you accept a quest, it will always have pass-and-fail branches. If you pass the skill test or complete the quest, you will be able to turn it in and gain whatever resources were rewarded. This means that if things just don't work out and you fail a quest, you still move forward in the overall quest, but in a different way than someone who passed it. As a result, players are encouraged to take on quests, even if they might be a bit out of their comfort zone or expertise because some of the fear of failure and penalties from that failure have been removed.
This also changes how other players interact with the game. If one player completes a quest or meets a character and fulfills that goal, someone else will likely never meet them. There's also the chance that someone fails a quest and never progresses further in that side story, meaning that part of it may never come to light.
The sheer amount of quests is quite impressive, and through these, you'll discover monsters to fight, followers to bring with you, and side stories that span the game board. This also allows you to add resources and money to your stockpile, which is a must if you hope to complete more quests than you fail. That does circle back a bit to starting out a little underpowered, and while that's normal in many roleplaying games, early on here it does feel a bit more challenging than most. It's easy to feel extremely underpowered in the first bit of the game, and going to markets and such doesn't feel worth it since you can't afford much of anything.
That changes dramatically however when that big break finally comes. When you are able to get your first piece of solid gear or a nasty piece of weaponry, you suddenly feel empowered to branch out. The story might be what draws you in, but soon combat becomes just as prominent during your turns, and when you actually gain a solid load out and a key skill or two, combat shifts into feeling actually rewarding rather than a grinding necessity. Tactics come into play in each and every encounter, as you'll need to choose whether or not you take an offensive, defensive, or special action. The armor-based combat system also favors a well-rounded character and party, as well as a set of skills that can accommodate most situations.
The skill system is split into Mighty, Shadow, and Sorcery. Mighty will enhance your weapon-based skills like One Handed, Archery, Heavy Amor, and more, giving you more dice to roll for skill tests and additional armor. Shadow features skills like Sneak, Lockpicking, and Speech, though frankly, I'd recommend gaining Sneak to just about anyone playing the game, regardless of load out. Then there's Sorcery, which has skills like Illusion, Conjuration, Restoration, and Enchanting. Again, Skyrim will present opportunities to utilize all of these throughout your adventure, rewarding the player who isn't afraid to dabble a bit across the board as opposed to a narrow skilled juggernaut. You can still succeed by doing so in the game, but I found it more beneficial to have an arsenal containing all three.
Enchanting and Upgrading is implemented brilliantly, as after paying the resource amount (which actually flows in at a steady rate as you continue further into the game) you choose a card from the deck and then it slides underneath the weapon or armor you're upgrading or enchanting. It's welcome too, as the game board is huge, taking up most of my table without accounting for the longer player boards and cards those contain.
After you've established yourself and gotten your feet under you, Skyrim The Adventure Game rewards you with a larger story that pulls you in and moments that make you feel like a conquering hero along the way. Combat takes a minute to feel satisfying, but eventually, you will find plenty to sink your teeth into, encouraging you to further explore the world and take advantage of its various systems. It's not the most new player-friendly, but if you push forward and embrace the learning curve you will discover a world that is well worth your time.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Published By: Modiphius Entertainment and Delta Vision Publishing
Designed By: Javier Angeriz-Caburrasi, Juan Echenique, Stefano Guerriero, Rob Harris
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game is in stores now.
Review copy provided by the publisher
