The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR has jacked into PC

It's time to hang a pine-scented Little Tree air freshener from your cybergoggs because The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR last night launched on PC, following its console debut in November 2017. It's Skyrim but in VR, yeah? Put your feet in a foot spa while you sit by a river in the rain, hang an old sock over your nose when venturing into Blackreach, and punch yourself in the knee any time you drag up tired memes. Ow.

Skyrim VR is... it is Skyrim but in VR--for both good and bad--you know? Much like Fallout 4 VR. Some bunch of idiots at some website named Rock, Paper, Shotgun declared Skyrim their favourite game of 2011, which is of course nonsense given that the plot, quests, writing, combat, stealth, loot, movement, and crafting are all totes rubbo, but jacking into Skyrim VR surely delivers an experience closer to what Skyrim is good at: going for a nice walk inside a distant virtuaworld.

Well, it is also good for larking about (sometimes even dicking about) with mods, and regular Skyrim mods will work in Skyrim VR after a little fiddling. Though I'm not a gogghead myself, I do like the idea of slamming in mods to spread forests and reduce enemy spawns then going for a virtuastroll.

I'm telling you, Skyrim is a perfect demonstration of the anxiety at the heart of many big fancy open-world games: they want to be walking simulators but don't have the confidence so they're pumped full of shonky gamebits to justify wandering an unknown land looking at ruins and/or wildlife and occasionally making friends. But those fools at 'RPS' will tell you this bag of jank is great, so whatever.

Skyrim VR packs Skyrim's three expansions, Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn. It supports Vive, Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality cybergoggles for your face and a gamepad or motion controllers for your hands. It's out now for £40/€60/$60 on Steam. No, there is no discount for people who've already bought either version of Skyrim.

Here's an old trailer from the PSVR version: