Skyrim: Why You Should Start Over in 2025
Bethesda’s seminal classic Skyrim remains a titan of the genre even 14 years after its original release during the seventh console generation. It introduced a whole new era of gamers to Bethesda’s sweeping and expansive open worlds, and more importantly, it brought a legion of new fans to the magical and beloved fantasy world of Tamriel and The Elder Scrolls. And while the long wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 and the seemingly endless series of re-releases have become something of a meme in various gaming circles, there is no denying the earth-shattering impact it had on the industry in 2011. Like Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, it’s entered the canon of essential video games that almost everyone involved in the hobby has played at least once.
But it’s that same ubiquity that’s done a little damage to Skyrim‘s reputation in recent years. In the more than ten years since it came out, a lot of players are finding the title played out. And in some ways, they’re not wrong. There are no more dungeons to explore, no more shouts to learn, no more dragons to slay. The game’s many secrets have been discovered and documented to the point where they’re all almost common knowledge to most gamers. Despite all of this, there’s still quite a bit more adventure to be had in the homeland of the Nords and a few very good reasons to fire up the game one last time.
Ways to Keep Skyrim Interesting in 2025
Try a New Build Type
One of the easiest ways to revitalize the next playthrough of Skyrim is to try a whole new build unlike anything previously attempted. All too frequently do players start a new run with a plan in mind only to fall back into the same old play style they’ve been defaulting to for the past 14 years because it’s just their comfort zone. But there are so many different types of ways to tackle the dangers of Skyrim that most players probably haven’t tried them all in earnest.
Players can take up a challenge run and really commit to it, such as only using spells, no weapons, only engaging in combat in werewolf form as a sort of pseudo-Hulk character, or even start a pure unarmed build and throw hands with everyone from Nazeem to Alduin himself. The important thing is to stick to the challenge once the run starts, otherwise the run is just going to become another stealth archer character that’ll get boring within a week.
Play Through One Last Time as a Refresher for Elder Scrolls 6
Though the sixth entry in the long-running Elder Scrolls franchise still lacks an exact release date, there’s no better way to prepare for the impending release than going back and getting a refresher course on what happened in the main story of the last entry. It can be easy to forget, given most Skyrim players’ propensity for not paying too much attention to the main story in favor of side quests and miscellaneous exploration.
The events of Skyrim are sure to have repercussions for the future of the Elder Scrolls series, namely the return of the dragons to Tamriel and how they choose to assert themselves after the defeat of Alduin. Paarthunax, whose canon fate is still up for debate, promised to train those willing to reform in his ways of pacifism and peace. Though this is unlikely to be any significant proportion of their numbers, there will invariably be some dragons who will hear him out. Future games will be able to tell their stories, while also explaining what happened to those dragons unwilling or unable to change.
It’ll also be prudent to revisit the Civil War storyline, as the canon outcome of that conflict will ultimately be determined by future entries in the series. Fans have long gone back and forth on the merits of the Empire vs Stormcloak war (more like a series of skirmishes, given the reduced scale of the battles in the base game) but it might have been a minute since the average player has played through that questline with an attentive eye. Seeing it play out one last time before Bethesda finally gives a final resolution to it can provide some much-needed perspective on the conflict.
Mods Are Literal Game-Changers for Skyrim
For years, the PC community had exclusive dominion over the world of modding. The access they have to the games files and framework is a benefit console players generally never had until relatively recently, when Bethesda allowed select mods on consoles. This has given all players access to the ability to mod their games, no matter what platform they enjoy Skyrim on.
Mods offer an infinite level of replayability to the vanilla experience. Offering everything from simple graphic overhauls, to additional characters, to even new story content and quests. Bethesda games in general tend to have amazing modders that persist for years after a game’s release, and Skyrim might just have the largest modding community of all Bethesda’s titles and possibly even in gaming as a whole.
Fans have done an incredible amount of work modding and altering Skyrim to keep the experience alive and fresh. And with more than a decade’s worth of mods already out there, there’s sure to be one out there that will appeal to everyone. Much like Bethesda’s other flagship series Fallout, The Elder Scrolls games have thrived alongside the army of passionate modders and fans that keep up and maintain interest in the game with their community-created content. Mods essentially serve as an endless deluge of free DLC for the game, and with that much content out there, that’s more than enough reason to hop back in that wagon headed to Helgen.
