Hands-on with ‘Skyrim’ for Nintendo Switch

Skyrim

It has been nearly 6 years since Bethesda Game Studios introduced the world to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This past year, however, it has received a current-gen remaster on PS4 and Xbox One along with a virtual reality port being released first on PSVR. On November 17, Nintendo will also be in on the fun with the game being ported over to its hybrid console-handheld system, the Switch.

I got some brief hands-on time with the game in handheld mode, being thrown in after the beginning prologue where players are introduced to the land of Skyrim. The main quest was there in its entirety, but like most Skyrim players, why on earth would you want to follow the main quest? So I went off the beaten path to explore and find some bandits or wolves to take down. The first thing I had to try was the motion controls, which I soon found out were not ideal to play in tabletop mode.

Though I missed trying out the bow, I used the right Joy-Con to swing my axe and the left Joy-Con to raise my shield. I didn’t use the motion controls for long because the gaping problem I had was that the controller could not tell the difference between a regular swing and a strong swing, the latter of which uses up stamina. Either I was not accustomed to the controls, or there was indeed something wrong with them. I certainly hope it was the former.

Thankfully, the motion controls aren’t the main selling point behind the Switch version of Skyrim. You get to play the main game with all the DLC included on a portable console. If that isn’t a selling point then I don’t know what is. The game runs just as well as its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts. I bring up the current-gen remaster because even though the Switch version isn’t explicitly titled the Special Edition, it bears a lot in common graphically with this version. From what I could notice on the 720p 6.2-inch screen, the only real drawback I noticed was that the anti-aliasing was a bit jaggedy, but it’s not like Skryim was that much of a graphics showcase even compared to most games in 2011.

Playing Skyrim on the Switch felt exactly like…playing Skyrim. Everything works the way it should, towns and villages remain the same, and most importantly, it runs EXTREMELY well on a handheld device. I seriously envy those who have not yet played Skyrim and own a Nintendo Switch, because they will have the novelty of playing a new game on their hardware AND experience one of the best RPGs for the first time. However, I never did beat the main quest and there is a lot I have not explored in the open world, so playing the game any free chance I get when I have my Switch with me should help me fill the voids I left in my time with the game.

I bought Skyrim twice: once on the Xbox 360 and another on my PC. Safe to say I will be buying the game at least one more time to play on my Nintendo Switch when it launches on November 17.