You know what, readers? I was wrong. In the past, I've said some pretty harsh things about Skyrim, decrying it as the lesser brother to Oblivion. While I still think Oblivion is a more well-rounded and fleshed out game, Skyrim is pretty stellar too. There's something magical about just wandering through its rugged, foreboding landscapes, and stumbling upon bandits, Forsworn, monsters, or just a beautiful view. Yes, the writing is still shonky Bethesda at its be🌠st, and the story could do with a bit more meat on its bones, but the pure variety and intrigue of the world makes for a great experience regardless.
As you can imagine, the development of Skyrim took a long, long time. Essentially, as soon as Bethesda were finished with Oblivion, work got started on its successor. Over those years, the game gained and lost a ridiculous amount of features, ideas, and content until we eventually got to the game that we know and love. Some of this lost content is probably best left by the wayside, but some of it sounds utterly incredible. There was once going to be a bigger civil war, voice recognition, and a whole host of other quests. In this article, we're going to take a deep dive into the development of Skyrim. Whether you're only just starting to play this game for the first time or have been hooked ♉since its release, we're sure you'll learn something you never knew before in this list.
25 It Cos🍸t $100 Million
Let's start off with this eye-watering fact. The making of Skyrim cost $100 million to make, making it easily one of the most expensive games ever. While around $85 million of this figure was poured into development, $15 million went on marketing the game, and making it the rip-roaring commercial success it is today. While $100 million is far from chump change, it's still far from challenging for the title of most expensive video game. That honor goes to Modern Warfare 2, which cost $250 million!
24 The Level Design Owes M♌ore To Fallout 3 Than Oblivion
When you go back and play Oblivion these days, one thing that jumps out is how samey the dungeons are. Every ruin, however varied in looks, inevitably feels pretty close to the last. What changed in Skyrim? Well, with Fallout 3, Bethesda stopped using what were called "warehouse cells" in dungeon design, instead getting a whole new group of designers in, complete with better tools, that made the dungeons far more varied and interesting than they had been before. This trend carried over to Skyrim, making for the varied dungeons you exಌperience in the frozen north.
23 ඣ Dual-Wielding Was Added Late 🅠Into Development
When you think of iconic dual-wielding of weaponry in video games, what are the games that spring to mind? I've got two: Halo 2 and Skyrim. While the idea of dual-wielding weapons in first-person RPGs was pretty new when Skyrim pulle🌞d it off, it nearly didn't happenꦯ at all. According to designers, the feature wasn't in the game for much of development, and was only added after designers argued that it was an important aesthetic choice for the game. This was based on early character sketches, which were a guide to the world's flavor.
22 A VATS-Like System Called Cinekill Was Planned 👍
This is maybe the weirdest cut feature on the list. VATS works in Fallout, because the game evolved from a CRPG, and the combat isn't as up-close and fast paced as in TES🏅. However, having to pause mid-sword slash to target individual body parts would feel just plain odd. The f𝄹eature was cut somewhere in development, and we think that's probably for the best. Instead, we got the good old fashioned finisher-cam that we all know and love, which can still be plenty brutal depending on the player's skills.
21 ꦡ Mounts Wereღ Once Going To Play A Much Bigger Role
Beyond the couple of mounts you get for free over the course of Skyrim's quest lines, I pretty much never use them when I play. Steering your horse in Skyrim can often feel more like you've stuck a rudder onto an iceberg than Red Dead 2's reactive horses, so I am very glad indeed that this feature got cut. They were going to be used to carry more of the player's items, but how would that even have worked? Would we just have to take the essen𒁃tials into dungeons with us, while leaving most of our weapons and potions outside?
20 Certain Features 🍬Were Inspired By Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is not the first game that jumps to mind when I think of titles that inspired Skyrim, I'll be honest. Despite this, one important feature really was inspired by Altair/Ezio's shenanigans. This feature is the ability to just take a break from all the epic narratives and chill in a town. Todd Howard described his love of simply sitting on a bench in AC and watching the world go by. As a result, he wanted something similar in Skyrim, which gave bi⛎rth to the ability to chop wood, or go in an inn an🍎d relax.
19 The Dragon's Lඣangua♔ge Features All Kinds Of Grammatical Complexity
We've come a long way from pitch-shifting Wes Johnson into daedric voices. The language of the dragons was created originally to facilitate the theme song's ancient sound, but spiraled from there. Whenever something new had to be described, a new word was created. Naturally, with vocabulary, came grammar. While it is roughly similar to English grammar, it doesn't have apos꧒trophes, using word fragments to indicate possession. The language also places prepositions early in sentences, while pluralization uses repeating letters. Interestingly, the script appears to have been drawn from the ancient Babyloni🅷an language of cuneiform.
18 The Game Has Two Worlds Running Side-By-Side For Ease Of Programming 🦹
It's easy to look at Skyrim and think that what 🎐you see is what you get. Surely one expansive world is enough, right? Wrong! The AI needs to know how to navigate their way through the world, and as the resolution of the world is simply too high to be used in processing their decisions, a second, simpler world runs alongside it. The AI uses this simpler world for collision detection, allowing them to navigate their way through towns, dungeons, etc., relatively smoothly. I say relatively, becaus💎e nightmares such as companions wandering into traps do most definitely still happen.
17 Three Simple Rules Guided Developmentꦡ
When it comes to game design, the simplest solution is often the best if you want a slick game. To guide them as they develop blockbuster after blockbuster, Bethesda use just three rules to help them out. Firstly, the game's target experience needs to be defined: in Skyrim, this was to reward players for exploration. Secondly, keep it simple. Todd Howard said they knew they could "do anything," but they couldn't do everything. Finally, "great games are played, not♒ made," meani💃ng that every game put out needs to be vigorously tested and revised accordingly.
16 ꦬ The Game's World Is About The Same Size As Oblivion's
Now this is something of a dirty little secret of Skyrim's. The game world may feel way more expansive than Oblivion's, but it really isn't. Measuring in at just 14 square miles, it's no bigger at all. Why does it feel that much bigger? Well, in contrast to Oblivion's rolling Tolkienesque meadows, you have rocky crags and huge peaks that stop you simply walking as the crow flies. Compare it to other RPGs, and you get a feel for how tight Skyrim's world actually is. For example, The Witcher 3's world map is a massive 52 square miles in size.