The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR brings the vast open world of the beloved fantasy RPG into virtual reality, while preserving most of the content of the original game, including the main and side story lines, crafting, magic, and both melee and ranged combat. The player can travel across Skyrim, watch dragons flying over the mountains, or make their way through dark dungeons with a sense of scale and depth that is substantially more intense in VR than on a flat screen, and looking at the landscape from a mountaintop feels especially impressive.

The conversion to VR controls lets you physically draw a bow, swing a sword, or cast spells with hand movements, giving combat a different, more physical character compared to the original keyboard-and-mouse or gamepad controls. Technically, it is the same world as in the original 2011 game, adapted for stereoscopic display, which brought increased hardware requirements but also allowed players to re-experience a well-known world in a new way. The atmosphere of the Nordic landscape, the music, and the sounds of wind in the mountains gain a new, stronger dimension in VR.

Skyrim VR was received with great interest after release as one of the first conversions of a truly vast, long-form RPG into virtual reality, and many players described it as one of the longest and most content-rich VR experiences available on PC. Thanks to support for community modifications, which expanded the VR version with further improvements and fixes, the game kept an active player base for several years after release, with many mods focusing directly on improving VR controls and interaction with objects. The view from towers, castles, or from the top of the Throat of the World over the vast landscape below is among the moments players most often cite as proof of how dramatically VR can change the experience of an otherwise well-known world. The chance to re-experience dozens of hours of well-known content, but with a new sense of spatial depth when viewing the landscape or dungeons, made Skyrim VR one of the most frequently recommended choices for players who want a long and content-rich VR experience.

Why play it: For fans of expansive RPGs who want to experience Skyrim's well-known world anew – the view from castle towers or from a mountaintop over the vast landscape is among the most frequently mentioned VR moments of all.