The Elder Scrolls V: Skirym Nintendo Switch Gameplay Video

A couple of IGN folks have managed to play some Skyrim on Nintendo Switch during this year’s PAX West. And since by now, re-releasing Skyrim has become a time-honored tradition for Bethesda, and they’ve gotten pretty good at it, the Switch version looks and plays quite decent, according to IGN. Check out 5 minutes of Skyrim gameplay on the Switch:

And the discussion that followed that gameplay session:

And here’s an excerpt from IGN’s article:

You see, I love Skyrim. Like, 300+ hours, multiple completions, different character classes on different systems, love it. And I love my Nintendo Switch, but since Skyrim was announced for Switch, I’ve been perplexed. How? How could I take this entire sprawling kingdom with me in my back pocket?

As it turns out, I can do it with relative ease. Skryim on Nintendo Switch is all the snowy mountain peaks and necromancer packed dungeons you’ve come to know and love, crammed into a tiny Switch cartridge.

My demo dropped me into the forests outside of Riverwood, just after the tutorial area. Rather than invest too much time into working my way through the initial main story quests, I decided to do what I do best in Skyrim and just wander.

Striking out across the river, I headed west, away from the mountains and into countryside. There, I encountered the following:

• A fortress with some bandits. Burnt them up.
• An old lady who said she was a “simple old woman” but was actually a sorceress. Chopped her pretty good.
• A cave full of murderous skeletons and an evil Ice Mage. Took an arrow or two to the knee, but eventually prevailed.

You know, Skyrim stuff.

I’m sure that saying that Skyrim on Switch feels just like Skyrim sounds like I’m being reductive, but it’s actually genuine praise. The game runs well, with a smooth framerate and generally crisp textures, and even the historically epic load times seemed shorter. But what’s more impressive is undocking the game and playing in handheld mode.

Skyrim really pops on the Switch’s screen, and the novelty of taking its massive world on the go is sort of incredible. When it first launched back in 2011, the idea of putting Skyrim on a portable device seemed laughable, but it makes a lot of sense on Switch.