The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing game, playable from either a first or third-person perspective. The player may freely roam over the land of Skyrim which is an open world environment consisting of wilderness expanses, dungeons, caves, cities, towns, fortresses, and villages.[1] Players
may navigate the game world more quickly by riding horses, paying for a
ride from a city's stable or by utilizing a fast-travel system which
allows them to warp to previously discovered locations.[2] The
game's main quest can be completed or ignored at the player's
preference after the first stage of the quest is finished. However, some
quests rely on the main storyline being at least partially completed.
Non-player characters (NPCs)
populate the world and can be interacted with in a number of ways: the
player may engage them in conversation, marry certain NPCs (irrespective
of gender), kill them or engage them in a nonlethal "brawl". As in
previous The Elder Scrolls games, killing certain NPCs can make
some quests or items unobtainable. Some NPCs cannot be killed due to
their importance in later storylines. If witnessed, crimes like murder
and theft accrue the player a bounty which is tracked independently in
each of Skyrim's nine holds. Should the player be stopped by a guard,
they may wipe their bounty with gold or jail time or may resist arrest
which will trigger an aggressive pursuit. It is also possible to bribe a
guard, or convince him to forget the crime, if it is a minor offense.
NPCs may offer the player additional side-quests and some side-quests
have parameters adjusted based on nearby dungeons which the player has
yet to explore.[3][4] Some NPCs who are befriended or hired by the player may act as companions who will accompany the player and aid them in combat.[5] The
player may choose to join factions which are organized groups of NPCs —
for example, the Dark Brotherhood, a band of assassins.[6] Each
of the factions has an associated quest path to progress through. Each
city and town in the game world has jobs that the player can engage in,
such as farming