10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Skyrim

Almost five years on from its initial release, the gargantuan, jaw-dropping Skyrim made waves of enjoyment we're still giddily surfing across. Its world remains one of the most detailed and laboriously hand-crafted in all of video games, its A.I. systems lend themselves to really making you believe the interconnected characters within are real people with real wants and needs - and the sensation of going on an adventure as the mighty Dovahkiin is one only rivalled by the finest works of Tolkien himself. Aye, 'tis truly a mighty development team that could first conceptualise a game with its own 'dragon language', much less execute some of the most fun hack n' slash combat around, bolster it with patches to give us extra moves to play with and it all up with an endless quest log that ensures you'll play for a days before realising you've been totally sucked in. In 2015, Bethesda are deep-diving into promoting Fallout 4, and that means no Skyrim II/Elder Scrolls VI news to speak of quite yet. However, that doesn't stop us looking back on what will always be one of the greatest games of all time; a title so vast and impressive in all aspects, its got quite a few stories to tell.

Eastern markets are noted for being incredible unreceptive to Western game design. It's why the Xbox never caught on, why shooters are a fledgling market over there - and why even though The Elder Scrolls games are stat-crunching RPGs, they can't hold a candle to Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter or Final Fantasy when it comes to sales.

Regardless of that, cultural differences simply couldn't deny Skyrim's impeccable stature, and as such the renowned Japanese magazine Famitsu awarded it a full 40/40, putting Skyrim up there with Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Dragon Quest IX, to name three more perfect scorers.