Can you believe it’s been 14 years since Skyrim originally came out? The day Bethesda released it in 2011 was also the day the internet gained one of those moments where everybody was like, “Wait, how can this be?” Time is flying, and it is so hard to believe!
When Dexerto took it to Twitter to remind people of the anniversary, different comments were confused between nostalgia and disbelief and the only word was Oculus. One of the gamers simply replied: “Amazingly, 14 years ago. Wow!” – a summary of the whole atmosphere of the gaming community. Another said, “Life is too fast!” and the reality is that no game has become so much part of our lives that you have to literally stop and think how long it has been since it’s release.
Responses varied from nostalgic memories to the good old days of Skyrim jokes. Among the festival of memes and GIFs, one user sent a “happy anniversary” message, while the other poked fun at his passion: “I am a huge fan of gta and the elder scrolls is pain.” This is probably a reminder of the long waits between the releases of both series. But the most relatable remark came from a player who said: “14 years later and I still get distracted by a side quest before the main story 😭🔥” because let’s face it, is there anyone who manages to complete the main storyline in Skyrim without getting stuck to at least fifty other quests first?
The most re-released 14- year-old ever comment has been going around and it is not false at all. Games like Skyrim have been re-released to various platforms ranging from PlayStation 4, Nintendo switch to even Amazon Alexa (yes, really). And there is a version even for smart fridges although that is kind of stretching it. Bethesda really has taken good care of this title but we are talking about the majority of us who never stop buying it anyway.
Some players’ comments were more like sharing their experiences like the one who said ‘its been 14 years since I pirated this game. Good times’ –but we at HappyGamer do not support piracy. However, this discussion does highlight how popular and widespread Skyrim has become even among those who might not have ever purchased it, at least not at first. The game just had that cultural impact where eventually everyone was either playing, talking about, or watching someone else play it.
Imagine; all the different things that have happened since the day Skyrim was launched. We have seen multiple console generations, untold gaming trends have risen and fallen, yet, Skyrim is still very much alive. People are still modding it, still uncovering new secrets, and still complaining about those bothersome dragons breaking in at the wrong time. The game has acquired the rare status of being virtually everlasting – it is surely going to get re-released even when we are all playing via neural implants or whatever other future tech that might come along.
The 14th birthday cake reminds us of the time warp that many gamers went through during and after COVID. “time after the pandemic is on 2x” said one player, and to be honest? That really hits hard. Time perception was already a problem for everyone and then realizing that a game that still feels “new” to some players is actually “old enough to be in high school”? That’s painful.
It is quite interesting to see that the majority of the replies were about personal memories and not just the game itself. “Good old times! I should watch again” said one player but it is unclear whether they would play the game or just watch gameplay videos. Basically, another player called it “such an interesting stuff” – which might be the most charmingly laid-back description of the immensely vast open world and the intricate lore of Skyrim we’ve ever heard.
“Been so long” is another comment that at first seems simple but when you think about it, it carries weight. For many the gamers, Skyrim denotes a particular period in their gaming life – sometimes it is the first RPG, sometimes the game that they played at a particular time of their lives. Games have this strange quality of becoming personal history time capsules, and it seems, Skyrim has been the one for an entire generation of gamers.
Amazingly, there’s one person who said “Never seen it” – this is indeed the same feeling as meeting someone who has never tasted pizza. How can this be? The thing is, at the modern-day scenario, Skyrim equals to gaming culture 101. Titles like Super Mario Bros and Minecraft are akin to it since even non-gamers have probably heard about them. It’s a fact that the milestone reminds us about how powerful Skyrim was.
