Skyrim VR review

Reviewed on: PS VR

In November 2011 Bethesda released a new chapter of the Elder Scrolls saga, titled Skyrim. This new game brought a series of innovations for RPG lovers, plus the promise of a gigantic open world, with quests and challenges for every taste. Besides being billed as a game that would reinvent itself at every moment, with unexplored areas and giant dungeons.

The game was so well received by critics and the public that it won the 2011 GOTY, going head to head with great games such as Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, Uncharted 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. In other words, it was no small thing…

After 6 years of very positive repercussion and profitability, and seeing the size of the potential, Bethesda decided to port the game to Playstation VR in November 2017. And so we were tasked with reviewing this “oldie” (in 6 years a lot has changed in the tech world) from a different perspective… being part of the world of Skyrim!

The same Skyrim, only different

I remember that when I started playing on the PS3 – at launch – I was startled by the graphical power and the lack of a map to guide me. But what a challenge!! A gigantic world and nothing but a compass at the top of the screen and signs on the roads.

Today, playing again, I remain lost in the world, but no longer dazzled by the graphics. After 6 years and a few re-releases, apparently Bethesda only updated some graphical details and “added” the 360 view. Not that the game is badly ported to VR, or that it isn’t worth playing, it just doesn’t give you the sense of immersion that was expected from a game of this size. In fact, it only shows that YES, it is possible to make AAA games for VR.

When you begin playing you are still a prisoner who escaped a dragon attack in a remote village…, but sitting on your sofa, with the ability to look at everything happening around you. Don’t get me wrong, the game does look good, but not as polished as it could be. The characters are still rustic and blocky, and some textures remain odd, but the game’s fluidity is great.

VR and movement

Here I notice one of the game’s negative points. When using the PS Move you have control of the menus and camera, but in moments when you carry no weapon, both devices appear on screen, taking away some of the magic. It is very strange to be in an ancient world, full of dragons, skeletons and knights, and still have the two Moves in front of you at all times. Movement, meanwhile, is all by teleport – Sony, where is an extender for the analog sticks? It’s been more than a year of PSVR and you still haven’t noticed how much this changes the perspective? Could that leaked patent be real? It would be a sight for sore eyes – which sometimes makes you get a bit lost.

In the first minutes everything is a mess of buttons and commands, then the player gets used to it all, and the feeling of using a shield to parry an attack, or a bow and arrow, becomes too pleasurable to describe, and even makes you forget the teleports a bit.

The scares of bumping into an enemy in front of you and having to think fast about how to attack or defend, or staring at a rampart with your neck stretched, turning all the time looking for an enemy to hit, end up being one of the positive points of this immersion, however small. When playing with the DualShock the controls become the same as in the “normal” version and the immersion drops considerably, showing itself to be just a 360-degree game.

In short, Skyrim VR is a great game for RPG lovers and for those who want games bigger than the usual 8 hours per game in VR, and although it has aged well it still has several limitations, many of them from Bethesda’s lack of polish and also from limitations that still exist in PSVR.