Skyrim is one of the most critically and commercially successful western RPGs of all time. Nearly ten years since its original release, Bethesda and fans are still finding new and creative ways to enjoy the game they fell in love with way back in 2011.
Skyrim has popped up in some very strange places. It has been launched on many new platforms since its initial retail release, including mainstream platforms like the Nintendo Switch, but also some that would take even the most open-minded Skyrim fans by surprise.
The Skyrim Re-Releases
Skyrim’s constant re-releases on new platforms has become something of a running joke over the last nine years. Many fans used the joke to poke good-hearted fun at Bethesda while also pointing out the lack of news about The Elder Scrolls 6 as the studio’s anticipated announcements were revealed time and again to be ports of The Elder Scrolls 5. Fans have teased that the next Bethesda release will be Skyrim for their toaster or microwave, a joke even referenced by Bethesda’s Senior VP of Marketing and Communications, Pete Hines.
Skyrim hasn’t just been ported to ever major mainstream console. Skyrim in VR has been a big success, and the game has been one of few mainstream titles that wasn’t originally designed for virtual reality to really take off in the format. There are far weirder places the game has showed up, however.
Bethesda made another reference to the joke with the Skyrim Very Special Edition trailer, which had Keegan-Michael Key giving his Thu’um commands to his Alexa. Though the trailer also joked about the game being released on Etch A Sketch, pagers, and Samsung fridges, the port for the Amazon Echo really does exist as a short choose-your-own-adventure style adaptation.
The Echo port is almost all a tongue-in-cheek nod to some common complaints about Bethesda, including its re-releases of Skyrim but also the bugs many of its games suffer from at launch. Alexa throws in some great comments like “that’s what you get for messing with the Dovahkiin” as well as including the Adoring Fan from Oblivion whose hugs the player has to avoid.
Where Next?
The stakes have been raised, however, by one fan, twitter user @Foone, who was able to get the introduction to Skyrim to play on the OLED display of a pregnancy test this week. The pregnancy test is only able to display the game’s introduction as a series of dots, but anyone who knows the iconic introduction will recognize the scene, and the game’s title comes through particularly clear.
Though it’s only a short clip, the game does appear to be reactive to the actual gameplay, with the player able to turn their head. This is likely because the test is being used just for the display, but it’s still one of the strangest places Skyrim has been played so far. The creator is working on running DOOM next.
With the next generation of consoles around the corner, fans can likely expect Skyrim to return on the Xbox Series X and PS5. The real fun, however, will come from the Skyrim community, who will likely continue to poke fun at Bethesda by running the game in more and more outrageous ways, at least until they’re finally satiated by new about The Elder Scrolls 6. With that release still a long way off, however, fans can likely look forward to players pushing the boundaries even further in the future.
Skyrim is out now on all major platforms.