When their character levels, the player may choose to select a skill-specific ability called a perk, or store perks for later use. Previous Elder Scrolls games made use of a class system to determine which skills would contribute to the character's leveling, but its removal in Skyrim allows for a preferred play-style to be developed naturally. Training skills until the necessary required experience is met results in the player's character leveling-up.

There are eighteen skills divided evenly between the three schools of combat, magic and stealth. A perpetual objective for the player is to improve their character's skills, which are numerical representations of their ability in certain areas. At the beginning of the game, the player selects one of several human, elven, or zoomorphic human races, each of which has different natural abilities, and customizes their character's appearance. The inclusion of Dragons in Skyrim affords a major influence on both story and gameplay.Ĭharacter development is a primary element of Skyrim. Many wilderness monsters are immediately hostile towards the player and thus can be slain. When exploring the game world, the player may encounter wildlife. Alternatively, the economy may be harmed by forging business ledgers and robbing the safes of stores. The economy of cities and towns can be stimulated by completing jobs such as farming and mining, or spending large amounts of gold in the stores. Each of the factions has a headquarters, and they have their own quest paths which the player can progress through. The player may choose to join factions, which are organized groups of NPCs such as the Dark Brotherhood, a band of assassins. Some NPCs can become companions to the player to aid in combat.

In addition to scripted quests certain ones will be dynamically generated, providing a limitless number to the player. When not completing quests, the player can interact with NPCs through conversation, and they may request favors or training in skills from the player. The Radiant Story then further directs the player's interaction with the world by setting unexplored dungeons as quest locations. Quests are given to the player by non-player characters (NPCs) in the world, and through the Radiant Story system, the quests can be dynamically altered to accommodate for player actions which may influence the quest's characters and objectives. The player can explore the open world of Skyrim on foot or on horse, and fast-travel to cities, towns, and dungeons after they have been discovered. The nonlinear gameplay traditional in the Elder Scrolls series is incorporated in Skyrim.

Skyrim fantasy soundtrack project