With its decade anniversary looming on the horizon, Skyrim is once again entering the spotlight. The world will soon see Skyrim: Anniversary Edition land on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, being the definitive version of the game after countless ports. Fans are using the opportunity to create some incredible work of art, though one recent one does it in a peculiar way, combining the PS1, Skyrim, and Metal Gear Solid in one package.
A video uploaded to YouTube by Anders Lundbjörk shows a PS1 demake of Skyrim, and while that’s impressive enough on its own, the video is also an extended reference to Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. For those unfamiliar, Psycho Mantis was able to read the player’s memory card in Metal Gear Solid, pulling from save data to make references to games that the player had previously played.
The encounter with Psycho Mantis has lived on as one of the most iconic moments in games, and certainly one of Kojima’s defining ones. The Skyrim demake video takes that concept and runs with it, using Jarl Balgruuf as a stand-in for Psycho Mantis. Instead of reading the Dragonborn’s memory card, Balgruuf instead goes through their past, characterizing them as a strong warrior and making fun of them for “taking an arrow… to the heart” in regards to the Dragonborn’s relationship with Serana from the Dawnguard expansion.
Balgruff then has the player put down their controller before stabbing them in the back, capping off the video. The voice lines seem to have been cobbled together from various bits of Skyrim dialogue, but it manages to capture the look and feel of a PS1 game nonetheless. It’s an interesting crossover, and certainly not an expected one.
This isn’t the first time that Anders Lundbjörk has uploaded such a video, either. The creator also did a PS1 demake of The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and plenty of other games. In fact, the channel also has a brief tutorial outlining the process for those that want to create their own PS1 demake content, though it doesn’t seem to be for the faint of heart.
The Elder Scrolls franchise didn’t miss the early 3D era of games entirely, but the closest game in the series to what’s been created here is a bit obscure. The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard is a PC game released in 1998 that boasts a similar art style, though it’s a mostly forgotten entry.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition will release on November 11, 2021, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
