Skyrim's Masterfully Designed World

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an absolute masterpiece when it comes to world design.  Not only does it further explore the realm of Tamriel, the main landmass in the Elder Scrolls universe, with all the lore and races present in previous Elder Scroll games, but it also creates its own stories using its own unique landmarks, cities, and scenery.

Cities

The cities of Skyrim are always bustling with life.  Whether it be guards stopping you from entrance to Whiterun in the very beginning of the game unless you state your business, or a murder occurring right as you walk through the doors of Markarth,  Skyrim's cities all contain their own culture and personality, and differ in the ways they react to specific actions taken by the player.  Befriend the Jarl of Whiterun, and you'll become Thane, a higher up in the city.  Want to learn magic?  Go to the College in Winterhold.  Want to become a better thief?  Join the Thieves Guild in the sewers of Riften.  Each city has a different story, which is exactly how Skyrim divides up most of the major quests, each pertaining to a respective city or area.

It goes without saying that even with its dated graphics, the providence of Skyrim is beautiful.  Many of its aging cities are built on some sort of rock formation with an emphasis of water, be it rivers, waterfalls, oceans, or lakes, present in most all cities.  Accompanied with the sounds of city dwellers, merchants chanting off items or sale, and guards making comments as you pass by, each city is populated, stunning, and alive.

Dungeons

Skyrim's beautiful rolling landscapes would be lacking if not contrasted by the dark and dingy dungeons of the world.  While these areas might be disgusting, damp, and cramped, they are designed exactly in that way in order to emulate a real, ancient dungeon.

Rubble is piled up in every corner, vines crawl over the floor and walls, and trickles of water drip from the ceiling.  Just like every other aspect of Skyrim's world, the atmosphere is amazing.  The use of shiny materials in dim light really gives the dungeons a feeling of moist, aged, molding cave, to the point where sometimes I feel as though I can almost smell it.  While the dungeons may not all be completely unique from one another, especially after having explored a lot of them in the game, they still stand as a true example of how lighting, sound, and materials alone can make a place feel so alive (or dead, in this case, but that's the entire point).

Hidden Wonders

One of the best parts of Skyrim actually lies outside of any major town or quest-line the game gives you.  It's something that is easy to skim over when playing through the game, though you'd definitely notice something missing if it wasn't there.  What I'm talking about are the little gems that are scattered throughout the map that really breath life into the game.  These can be as subtle as skeletons hidden with a stash of gold and a note detailing the moments leading up until their death (like the one guy hidden behind an arrangement of pipes in the underground Dwarven city) to as blatant as a pack of wolves attacking an unsuspecting goat in the wilderness.  Whatever the case, these small events add to the realism of the world, detailing it beyond the big picture and refining the image that the world tries to project onto the player.  While these events or small happenings may be small, they are significant in the fact that they show that the world continues to live and breath and fight and die right alongside the player, whether they are there to experience it happening in the present, or to experience the remains of the aftermath of some event.

Riverwood

One of my favorite areas in any game ever is the welcoming strip of houses in the small little village of Riverwood.  This village is the first you come across in the game (assuming you don't just wander aimlessly after leaving the cave in the tutorial), and for good reason too, as it completely packed with character and stories right from the get go.

Upon entering Riverwood, you see farm animals roaming the street, people going about their daily business in their shops or on their porches, an old lady screaming that she swore she saw a dragon and her son telling her that she is crazy and there is no such thing.  Riverwood is important not only in the aesthetic it brings to the game, but as well as the central hub that it provides the player with.  Players are encouraged to interact with the community in order to trade, craft potions, craft weapons and armor, as well as complete side quests for individuals that helps to build stories between certain characters, even if not a part of the main story line of the game.

This town serves as a perfect example of how both environment and story can set the pace of a game, drive it forward, and immerse the player forever more in the luscious world of Skyrim.