Elden Ring and Skyrim play a significant part in the Open World High Fantasy RPGs history. One can be considered the most successful and complete game ever released in the genre. The other is taking the market by storm with its insane graphics, incredible storyline, character development, and other things. 

Since they are two established and very successful RPG open-world games, it's impossible not to ask. After all, which of these two, the old and gold Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the new Elden Ring is the best game? So, we better prepare our armor, swords, and magic spells because we are about to start a journey into the Lands Between and to the northlands of Skyrim to discover the answer.

Elden Ring is an action and high fantasy RPG released in 2022 by the leading digital publisher Fromsoftware Games. Like all the other Fromsoftware’s games, Elden Ring follows the successful Deamon and Dark Souls series formula, present in other games already released, and that for sure will be used the same way in other future brands.

The Souls games formula generally brings insane graphics and story development but with a very high difficulty level. While playing, the console or pc gamer will face complicated combats and appellative bosses. The other similar souls games FromSoftware worked on are:

• Demon’s Souls
• Dark Souls I, II, and III
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Bloodborne

In Elden Ring, gamers create their character and begin a journey to repair the broken Elden Ring and become the New Elden Lord, facing all types of adversaries, from other knights to demigods. 

Elden Ring presents a third-person perspective and freedom for players to roam through the giant Elden Ring’s map. The combat style allows players to use several types of weapons and magic spells. Players also can fight while mounted. Other traditional RPG mechanics, such as crafting, are also available.

If you have ever tried Skyrim, it's impossible not to consider it one of your favorite games. We are talking about a game that’s been there for more than a decade. Its lore, characters, quests, exploration, monsters, challenges… Everything is as good as fans could imagine. Few games are like Skyrim, and even though the game may leave the mainstream due to its age, it will always stay in the hearts of RPG fans.

Skyrim is a high fantasy, action-adventure RPG developed by Bethesda in 2011 as the fifth game of the Elder Scrolls franchise. It happens 200 years after the events of Oblivion, its predecessor, released in 2006. Players will assume the position of the Dragonborn, the main character destined to face Alduin, the World-Eater, a mighty dragon prophesied to destroy the entire world. 

Skyrim was responsible for consolidating the main features all modern open-world RPGs seek to have.  The game brought a complete character creation system and gave importance to players' choices on this matter. Skyrim presents many secrets and has an awesome exploration. You can travel through the wilderness expenses, dungeons, caves, cities, towns, fortresses, and villages.

As two of the best RPGs released in a long time, Elden Ring and Skyrim have some similarities. Even though our major objective today is to establish the differences – they are what basically makes one game better than the other – let’s first check some features that the games have in common since they share related topics. You will see they share many other themes than the ones you already imagine. Then, we’ll move on to the differences.

A vital part of every RPG is the range of weapons, armor, and skills players and enemies can use during combat. These items and abilities help to upgrade your hero and make it stronger. A good armor or weapon eventually represents a massive advantage in battle, and having several of them helps to avoid the sensation of repetitiveness.

Besides that, the enemies are also impressively developed. A good enemy makes every game far better. Someone for you to compete against to make every moment worthwhile and hang you into the story, causing excitement.

These three factors are also significant. Side quests, just like many NPCs, give the sensation of being a part of a living world that happens apart from your journey. They are also essential for character development, as we use them to get XP, gold, better weapons, and many other things.

Every player also likes to explore the game world around him. Exploration is a great way to obtain income, experience, and items, making every character strong but finding special secret areas and other secrets the developers hide from us is great. 

Besides that, today’s video games have the power to correlate a unique gaming experience by presenting some of the most beautiful scenarios. Contemplating them is a very interesting pause in the insane action the gameplay brings and captivates the audience, creating a sense of belonging.

To finish off Skyrim and Elden Ring's resemblance, let’s discuss replayability. Skyrim never ends, so it's impossible to replay what you never ended. However, apart from these specific eternal quests, there are several other classes and possibilities in the character’s role creation that will change the gameplay so you feel like you could play it forever. 

Elden Ring also works similarly. But besides the many possibilities players have in terms of creation, the game brings the NG+ feature. If you want to keep using your full upgraded hero, the game becomes harder to still provide you with a challenge. You can also “import” items to start in a new playthrough.

Now that we have seen all the main features the games have in common, it is time to properly start comparing their main features to determine which is the best. Before we begin, the recommendation we have is for you to try the two games. Both are amazing and will give you countless hours of fun.

One of the most important thing in an RPG is the map and all the possibilities they offer. And FromSoftware and Bethesda seem to understand that as both Elden Ring and Skyrim have awesome maps for you to explore. 

Elden Ring opens the comparison with the lead as its map surpasses Skyrim considerably. Elden Ring brings not only a far bigger map but several more things to do and explore. The decade of difference between the games certainly has its impact since video games today have far more power to let developers create a bunch of fun adversaries and things to do in the lands of the game. Skyrim’s map won’t let you down either, even though Elden Ring is undoubtedly better.

Leaving the map behind, we follow in-depth lore. And, on this matter, years of experience and previous games help a lot, considering that some are consolidated titles such as Morrowind and Oblivion. With that, Skyrim ties the match. 

Elden Ring has a complex and extremely developed lore. For those who want to dive deep, there is plenty to learn and discover. But some things remain unclear or need a better explanation. This single issue is also expected of a recently released game, where players still progressing.

Skyrim comes with a previous well-developed storyline for us to figure out. As the Dragonborn, we will find books and other sources of information from trusted partners older than the time itself to present us with the facts of the past.

A determining factor for success is the presence and development of two things. First is the Multiplayer mode. Second and at least indirectly related to it, the community Mods. And when it comes to Multiplayer, Elden Rings turn the tides in its favor again.

Multiplayer

The game allows you to summon your friends to join your battle. Considering how hard and complex the game is, everybody understands the need to play with some extra hands. And they will probably not change the fact that you will die a lot but can make the tough experience far more fun by making you laugh at your failure against a boss.

On the other hand, you can’t play Skyrim online, at least through official ways. You need to download a Mod to have fun with your friends. The Skyrim Together Reborn is one of these. But we can’t compare a multiplayer option fully developed by the community with the full support given by the game developer itself. Point for Elden Ring.

Mods

There are several mods supported in Skyrim that work like DLC, giving a new breath of life and a special charm to any game. Even though many of them have some flaws, they uncover an eventual lack of content and things to do inside the game.

It will take a long time for you to run out of things to do inside Skyrim, but having each mod present a new path for players is great. Installing mods in Elden Ring is easy as well, but since most players are still advancing in the game, you will see that mods aren’t the priority. More than ten years alive matters in this case, so we have a tie.

What would be an action RPG without a complex, well-developed, fluid, and animated combat mechanic? And when it comes to fighting, Elden Ring takes the lead. The title presents some table RPG mechanics, allowing players to use attributes such as strength and dexterity for any weapon, creating a new model full of options and possibilities. 

The arcane and AoE abilities used even by the most melee of characters are also incredible. Besides that, all the animation and graphic capability of the title make everything far more accurate and beautiful. 

Combat in Skyrim is great, but it doesn't impress much if you have played other RPGs these last ten years. Finishing the topic, not even the latest remastered version of Skyrim has Elden Ring's graphical quality.

Following the comparison, we get to the characters' design, and, at this point, Elden Ring increases the advantage. The conceptual designs for every character are close to perfection in many ways. We can talk about one of the big bosses who will smash us or one of the several game NPCs.

To clarify everything, let’s make a dragon comparison. Elden Ring has several changes in the design of its dragons. From size, the number of heads and wings, to special conditions like rooting, for example. Skyrim's design changes are far from being as drastic as these.

Both games have incredible character creation possibilities, letting you develop your ideas to the limit. Still, we have to remember that Skyrim allowed to do so more than ten years before. However, what truly puts Skyrim ahead is that the character you create interferes with how the world and some NPCs will react to you. 

These changes allow a special dialogue option, which is another point in favor of Skyrim that gives you far more freedom to interact with any NPC. A good example is the supposed betrayal you’re accused of if you play as a Nord man and side with the imperials.

And our last topic of the comparison is the atmosphere. Far more than just graphics, the atmosphere is a complex mix of great scenarios, soundtrack, and other important factors. It determines how much players will immerse into the game and how they will feel the emotions developers tried to pass with each situation.

Skyrim does it very well, and it's impossible not to praise its atmosphere, but Elden Ring takes things to a whole new level. The care of FromSoftware towards the game is impressive. It's impossible not to admire that giant floating fortress, surrounded by giant rocks and tornados, without thinking that something huge is about to come.

You can purchase both Elden Ring and Skyrim from RoyalCDKeys at the best prices instead of going for those obvious and traditional stores. 

We offer you good, safe, and working Skyrim CD key and Elden Ring CD key as well as an wide range of other titles. You don’t have to spend a fortune to play your favorite game. Just create an account and get the games you’ve always wanted to try!

As you could see in our comparison, both Skyrim and Elden Ring and incredible games full of outstanding features that will give you countless hours of fun. Even though Skyrim is the most classic of them all and will be forever in our hearts, the job done with Elden Ring was impeccable. Not to mention the eleven years separating both games, which made the difference. Well, victory goes for Elden Ring, even though, personally, no game is capable of bringing Skyrim down.

What we can say for sure is that both games marked generations of gamers and will be forever used as inspirations for many other titles still to come. Go for Skyrim or Elden Ring, fun is granted, and go for RoyalCDKeys for the best price on both!