What’s New in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim?

With the self-imposed objective of giving a rundown of all that is new in the upcoming highly-anticipated fifth main chapter in The Elder Scrolls franchise, Skyrim, GameSpy penned a two-pages preview/article piece. A lot of attention and emphasis is put on some, and at this point rather well-known, bullet points like the new engine and combat, but there’s space for more too:

The New Rogue: Poor sad, weak bow and arrow. The weapon of choice for ranged players was never very impressive in Oblivion, no matter how good one’s skill. But in Skyrim, the bow has become a formidable tool of assassination. Bethesda got the idea from playing an Oblivion mod where skillful players could take down foes with a single arrow. Yes, you too can now perform a one-hit kill with a bow and arrow in Skyrim (depending on the health of your foe and if your skill and equipment not to mention aim are good enough). Players will still zoom in to aim, but now, the longer a bow is drawn back, the more powerful the shot will be. And we hate to burst your bubble if you’re suddenly envisioning an arrow-filled inventory and a quick conquest of Skyrim, but Bethesda has made arrows expensive and rare in the game. Treat those babies like gold.

In addition, Bethesda has tweaked the stealth system, making it more difficult for enemies to become alerted to your presence, and skillful rogues can sneak up on enemies and pull off one-hit assassinations. Oh, and the rogue’s bread and butter, lock picking, has also been given an overhaul to mimic the mechanic found in Bethesda’s Fallout franchise.

(…)

The New Repair: Sick of hammering away on dented armor? No worries. In Skyrim, weapons and armor will not degrade and become weaker over time. You’ll still be able to create and improve weapons in a multitude of ways, you just won’t have to worry about maintaining them.

(…)

The New Guardian Stones: Travel through Skyrim, and you’ll eventually come upon stone obelisks gathered as shrines to the three Guardian birthsign constellations: the Warrior, the Thief, and the Mage. Pick your stone of choice and you’ll instantly begin increasing the rate at which your skills in that particular category improve.