As you may know, the eleventh of November is the release date for the next instalment of the Elder Scrolls series. Number five, “Skyrim” has been eagerly awaited since Oblivion in 2006 and looks like it will be the most immersive one yet. But what has the team at Bethesda Softworks done to improve upon this legendary series?

First up there is an all new engine for the game. The “Creation” engine makes the game look incredibly beautiful with both micro detail like flowers and macro detail like cliffs and mountains, and of course dragons. The engine is a vast improvement to oblivion that enhances not only graphical detail, but also animations and AI. Another new addition to the game is the “radiant story” system. This allows the game to modify or create quests based on what the player has been doing. For example it may generate a hostage rescue quest, choose an NPC that likes your character to come and ask you to help them and choose a dungeon that you have not been to before as the location where the hostage is. It may even spawn a dragon if you have not fought one recently.

The levelling system has also been upgraded. The skills menu is shown by the character looking up to the heavens and seeing his or her skills in the constellations. There is also a gameplay change. Rather than force you to choose your class at the beginning, you level up by using your skills more. For example, the more you block the faster your block skill will go up. This is helpful to people who are new to RPGs as it means there is less commitment to a certain class at the start. However the game still allows plenty of space for specialization. Moving a skill from 40 to 41 will do a lot more towards pushing up your overall level than moving a skill from 11 to 12. There are a whole bunch of new skills like pickpocketing and smithing. Athletics and acrobatics have been scrapped though, so you can’t level up simply by bunny hopping everywhere. Skyrim’s area locations are similar to those in Fallout, where some regions are tougher than others. When entering a dungeon the game automatically picks enemies that are suited to your level. This levelling is permanent so the same low level critters will appear in the early dungeons even if you visit them again at a high level.

Bethesda is also introducing a perk system similar to the one in Fallout 3, which they released in 2008. As you increase a certain skill you can choose a perk from a perk tree which gives you a particular bonus. Perks in the one handed weapon skill will allow you to specialize in one type of weapon. Swords can do critical damage, axes can do bleeding damage and maces and clubs can ignore armour. As these perks are chosen, different stars in the constellation light up.

The weapon layout has had a substantial overhaul as well. Instead of selecting one weapon and possibly a shield and having a cast button for spells, you simply put whatever you want in either hand. That could be a sword and shield, a two handed battle-axe, a bow and arrow, a mace and a fireball spell or perhaps you want to dual wield two swords or two spells. This system is a much easier way of arming yourself than in Oblivion. Staffs have also been changed and can now be carried in one hand, allowing for some interesting combinations.

With so many weapons there need to be a good variety enemies to use them against. As mentioned earlier, different enemies at various levels will appear in different locations. These enemies have been given a Nordic makeover to feel at home in the mountains and tundra of Skyrim. There are different varieties of troll such as frost and woodland troll as well as Ghost-like enemies called ice wraiths. Not all these enemies are hostile though. Birds, rabbits and deer will run from the player and other animals hunting them. If a pack of wolves catches a deer they will not attack the player unless he comes too close to the kill. Bethesda has made tweaks like this to make the ecosystem more believable. Another example of this is giants and mammoths. Mammoths are herbivores and the giants act like shepherds herding them around. The giants in general are not hostile and can even be spoken to, but if you start attacking them or their livestock, they will fight back, and killing a giant is no easy feat!

Giants may be a hard slog to take down but they are nothing compared to Skyrim’s headline act, DRAGONS! Bethesda has described these fights to be similar to fights with big daddies in Bioshock and attack helicopters in half-life. Unlike fights with other animals, dragons have unique abilities to give them an edge and make them feel more powerful. One of these abilities is obviously flight, which allows them to chase you almost anywhere and traverse terrain extremely fast. This could be dangerous if you are caught in the middle of the tundra with no overhead cover. They also have dragon shouts, which allow them to perform arcane abilities like breathing fire or ice. The fact that they are unscripted and can appear anywhere at any time means that they can drastically change a situation. They can attack towns and even appear in groups.

All this would seem a bit overwhelming for one man to face, but have no fear for you are the prophesized Dovakiin “dragonborn” and that means you have the soul of a dragon and master the language of dragons to form shouts of your own to slay the beasts. Some shouts could be the basic fire breath but others could be much more powerful, like summoning a storm to strike your foes with lightning. This evens the odds a little and allows the player to enter epic shout battles with dragons.

Bethesda say the map size is about the same size as oblivion but there is more content in Skyrim than they have ever put into a previous game. From dragons to giants to sorcery to even picking flowers and fishing, there is so much to do that it will keep many of you busy for weeks or even months on end. With a unique release date of 11.11.11, it seems Christmas will have definitely come early for gamers this year. May the nine divines be with you!