The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Nine Things to do First

After chugging through the Skyrim build that was available at PAX Prime, the editors over at OXM UK have taken it upon themselves to recommend nine things we should do first when we finally get our hands on the latest The Elder Scrolls installment. I’ll go with the first and last of their recommendations:

1. Explore Embershard Mine

On the winding path that leads from the Mystical Cave of Character Selection to the peaceful town of Riverwood, comes your first and earliest opportunity to step off the path and have a little explore. Off to the right is Embershard Mine, one of the hundreds* of dungeons scattered across Skyrim. For a basic, common-or-garden dungeon, it seems pretty nicely designed, with a lever-operated bridge, the corpse of a man who kept a really wordy diary, a chest containing a random enchanted weapon, and a number of easily subdued bandits. The dungeon’s said to be easy, which should be a relief – my enduring memory of Morrowind is getting my arse lopped off and handed to me by a skeleton, in the very first cave I wandered into.

*There are at least 150 dungeons, Bethesda’s Pete Hines has revealed. He hasn’t given the actual number, but seems to imply that if we knew it, we would weep with gratitude.

…

9. Fail to join the Dark Brotherhood

Up on a hillside is a building. The building has a door, and that door is marked with the emblem of the dark brotherhood. The door wouldn’t open, but it does ask you a riddle, which is pretty off-beat behaviour for a door. In Oblivion, you joined the Assassin’s Guild by killing an innocent and going to sleep. I suspect there’s something similar at work in Skyrim. Don’t sleep or you might wake up somebody’s brother.