Skyrim Like You’ve Never Seen It Before
Technically the full title is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game. But… look, I’m not gonna write that whole thing out every time and neither will you. The Skyrim Board Game’s crowdfunding page describes the product in detail – and I gotta say, it’s a strong pitch. The game has already beaten its crowdfunding goal four times over, and shows no signs of slowing.
“Before the Dragonborn came to Skyrim… You are surviving members of the Blades, a legendary group who long protected the Empire of Tamriel! Abandoned by the empire, you must work together to thwart a plot which threatens the whole of Skyrim.”
The Skyrim Board Game features unpainted miniatures for each of its playable races: You can play as a Nord, Imperial, Dunmer, Altmer, Orismer, or a Khajiit in the base game – with more miniatures (including an Argonian option) available in the game’s expansions.
Designed to feel like the Skyrim experience you’re familiar with, the game will see the players exploring the province of Skyrim, doing quests, gathering gear, and following story objectives. The whole game will take place over multiple sessions, with an individual session lasting about “90-120 minutes”. The specifics of the game’s story campaigns aren’t yet known, but the “Campaigns, plural” seems accurate.
On top of players being able to store their cards into an individual “save file”, the game world has its own file that’s modified through play. Polygon reports a specific example: “The deck becomes a record of your personal history with the game. Decisions you make early on will have consequences for the length of the campaign. Kill the jarl of Whiterun, for instance, and he stays dead the next time you play.” However, the game “Does not require the destruction of any original components. The entire experience can easily be reset by adding cards that were removed back into the game.”
Given the game’s story premise, this is likely the closest we’ll get to a true prequel experience to Skyrim’s original story. Any players looking to dive into the game’s past can expect a retail release sometime after the preorder bonuses arrive in players’ hands in August 2022.