
There are assassination plots to uncover (or perpetrate) and deep, dank crypts hiding ancient treasure. There are steep peaks and river gorges, hidden shrines and bandit keeps. There are tundra and forests, plains and swamps.

There are teeming towns filled with merchants, beggars, guards, thieves, craftsmen and kings. In Skyrim, developed by Bethesda Game Studios for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, you are set loose on a vast fantasy continent populated by thousands of software-controlled monsters and characters. Almost none deliver on that promise as thoroughly as Skyrim. Plenty of games promise to let you unleash your inner all-conquering hero (or antihero), endowed with the power to shape both your own epic destiny and the fate of the world. When it comes to offline single-player games, no recent title will draw players in for hundreds of hours as readily as Skyrim. As in, “Where did those six hours go?” As in, “I don’t really need to go shopping today.” As in, “Hello, Mr.

Want to get lost? Play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
