Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 489 sampled Steam reviews (232 positive / 257 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing11% mention it
- Bugs & crashes9% mention it
- World & exploration8% mention it
- Music & audio5% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Bugs & crashes16% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
63%
16 reviews
5-15h
72%
43 reviews
15-40h
69%
55 reviews
40-100h
51%
97 reviews
100h+
37%
278 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | 84 | 6 |
| Creator reviews (1 tracked) | – | 75 | 0 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 92% | 86 | 1575 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 87 | 76 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 82% | 76 | 3000 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (Aug 20, 2026) · 300 reviews sampled · 3211 total reviews in window · weighted 179.6 up / 67.4 down · computed 3h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (63)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 75
“Skyrim is still a blast to play, and while I appreciate many have gone off it, or weren’t on it to begin with, there’s still an arresting quality to the world Bethesda built, a world full of individual places that feel like home.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Switch isn’t short of games that have already taken a bow, or several, on other hardware, but Skyrim might be the one that most deserves another look from both hardy Elder Scrolls adventurers and absolute beginners alike. Despite its age showing, the countless little cracks in its already fractured façade, it still delivers a palpable sense of space, and the player’s niche-carving progress through it, that few games before or since have managed. May its dancing northern lights never dim. ”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Bethesda has managed to port its enormous and captivating world into what's basically a tablet, and has done so almost flawlessly.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is yet another great port on the hybrid Nintendo platform that includes all the content released since its debut 6 years ago. The joy of playing Skyrim remains just as we remember with an added portability bonus, built around quality, that is a fundamental key to recommend it.”
read full review ↗ - 95
“I’m overjoyed that Bethesda has been able to bring Skyrim to the Switch without any compromises to the quality of the original game.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“There aren’t many negatives to the entire Skyrim experience on Switch. While it doesn’t offer the recent mod support the other versions got, it still offers tons of content to experience and enjoy. The motion controls are a bit of a mixed bag, but not required at all. The game looks and runs great, and while animations are starting to show their age, there is still plenty of beauty to be found in Skyrim. As a fan of the Elder Scrolls franchise, if someone told me 6 years ago this game would go portable and with no loss to the original vision, I’d have a hard time believing it, yet here we are. If Skyrim has grown stale or doesn’t hold interest to certain players anymore, the Switch version most likely won’t do anything to win players back. Though for newcomers and fans that want to return, Skyrim is here, as a great as remembered, and grand scale adventure now in the palm of your hands.”
read full review ↗ - 84
“The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is an addictive game, but it shows its age in several ways. It's the full Skyrim experience, and all three additional DLC packs are unlocked from the beginning. It's a game-changer that players can play a game as time-consuming as Skyrim while they're out and about. However, you have to ask yourself if a solid port of a six-year-old game, portable or not, is worth the $60 price tag.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“A nice conversion that squeezes the hardware to get a smooth graphics and good performances both docked and handheld.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“The original version of Skyrim is still an immense, engrossing RPG, and the quality, number, and variety of its quests makes it as easy to become lost in its world as ever. With the addition of Zelda-themed gear that's actually useful--and the fact that you can play anywhere--the Switch version of Skyrim is a great excuse to revisit a much-loved RPG.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch brings everything that made this such a grandiose game and adds the additional portable quality of Nintendo's system as well as some new elements to the game's plot. Thanks to its immense content and open world, it's possible to spend over one hundred hours exploring Skyrim's incredibly vast lands and while the game starts displaying its age, this is without any doubt a highly recommended title for adventurers and those wishing to explore a massive fantasy world.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Even without any new content the portability is enough of a draw to enthral veteran players all over again, while anyone new to the series will wonder how they ever did without it.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Taken as a whole, Skyrim: Switch Edition is a mighty impressive achievement. There are some minor cutbacks that needed to be made to make it run well on the hardware, but it doesn’t detract from the experience in any significant way. It’s Skyrim on the go, and that alone is a monumental milestone in my book.”
read full review ↗
The Jimquisition
Nintendo Life
Cubed3
LevelUp
NintendoWorldReport
ZTGD
Worth Playing
Eurogamer
GameSpot
FNintendo
Metro GameCentral
We Got This Covered…and 51 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition - Update 1.7.99 (Updated Aug 27)Aug 20, 2026significant · resets scoring window
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition - Update 1.6.640Sep 20, 2022significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.5.16 UpdateNov 7, 2017
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.5.16 UpdateNov 7, 2017
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.4 UpdateJan 31, 2017significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.4 UpdateJan 31, 2017
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.3 UpdateNov 21, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.3 UpdateNov 21, 2016
- Skyrim 1.2 Update - Live on SteamNov 11, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim 1.2 Update - Live on SteamNov 11, 2016
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.2 Update - Steam BetaNov 9, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.1 Update Live on SteamNov 7, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.1.51 Steam BetaNov 3, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Skyrim Special Edition 1.1.51 Steam BetaNov 3, 2016