Is Skyrim Kid Friendly? (Rating Age & Parents Guide)
Navigating a world of video games can be difficult if you’re a kid, and even more difficult when you’re a parent. More and more games are incorporating extremely immersive experiences into the games that are not always suitable for children. Official ratings do exist but sometimes they don’t paint the whole picture as to what to expect from a certain game. Skyrim is a game set in a fictional world dealing with fictional characters and magical beings such as dragons. It was a bestselling game when it was released and it’s still one of the most popular RPGs. You can frequently find it on various game-related top lists. Having said all that, is Skyrim kid-friendly, and should you let your child play it?
What age is Skyrim recommended for?
Skyrim is recommended for 17+ years old mature audiences. This is per the official rating given to the game by ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). This rating is as official as it can get, and it’s on the box as well. The reasoning behind that rating is logical and straightforward. Skyrim is a game with lots of violence, blood, alcohol, and sexual themes.
Looking at it from a black-and-white perspective without playing the game, it sounds awful, it sounds like something not suitable for adults as well! But is it truly so? Is Skyrim really filled with such offensive and vulgar themes? Let’s analyze it.
Intense violence in Skyrim
It’s hard to think of a game similar to Skyrim and in the same genre as Skyrim that doesn’t contain at least a modicum of violence. There is combat in Skyrim yes, it’s one of the most important gameplay elements. But it’s pretty vanilla at least when compared to some other titles. The biggest offender when it comes to intense violence in this case might be the Dark Brotherhood storyline.
When playing as a Dark Brotherhood recruit you need to do some morally dubious things, such as bludgeoning a homeless person to death, killing a bride on her wedding day, and tearing the family apart by killing their last surviving daughter. It’s funny cause Dark Brotherhood was actually the reason why the rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had to be changed.
My point here is, don’t expect less violence (or more violence for that matter) than you would find in other games of a similar genre.
Blood and Gore
There’s blood in Skyrim and there’s gore in Skyrim. It’s not overly realistic, but it can be encountered. Especially during special kill-cam moves, and you can even run into beheaded bodies, heads stuck on pikes, burned bodies, etc., etc. But as I’ve said it’s not realistic and the blood and gore which you can encounter fit the setting and context.
If I turn up in a bandit camp I don’t expect to find plush toys around. My point here is that Skyrim does not throw blood and gore in your face, you simply happen to encounter them at a place where you would find them in real life. It’s nothing overly excessive. Again, I have to mention the Dark Brotherhood since it’s the only point in the game where blood and gore are used for decoration and serve no other purpose but that’s just about it.
Language
There’s swearing in Skyrim. It’s pretty minor but still, the words might offend some parents. We’re talking about “shit” “dammit” and the such. It’s nothing to be concerned about since your kid will probably hear worse things while walking the street.
Sexual themes
I’m not really sure to what extent can this be offensive since Skyrim is pretty tame regarding sexual themes. Outfits are not revealing (and keep in mind we’re talking about vanilla Skyrim here). There are some insinuations of sexual behavior in the game but it’s only that, insinuations. You have the ability to marry and adopt children in the game but that’s pretty much it.
It’s only one cutscene and you can never even see your character “kissing” your spouse. When it comes to nudity, the worst I can think of is that your character only wears underwear if you undress it. There is really nothing explicit shown. There are however implications of sexual assault in a few dialogues that can be disturbing to some players no matter the age.
Alcohol and drugs
There’s plenty of alcohol in Skyrim. You can purchase it from the merchants, from the innkeepers you can even brew your own booze! It perfectly fits the setting and it’s not thrown in your face. There is only one quest during which the game encourages you to actively drink alcohol and I’m talking about “A Night to Remember”, during which you participate in a drinking contest with Sam Guevenne (Sanguine).
The game makes it clear however that certain illegal substances also can be found in the world such as Skooma, a highly illegal type of drink. Now that we’ve covered all the elements of the rating, there’s one more thing to discuss… Skyrim mods.
How appropriate are Skyrim mods for children?
Skyrim mods are a minefield, and while they greatly enhance the experience both when it comes to visual, immersion, and gameplay elements if you happen to find yourself at the wrong place you can run into some serious depravity. Skyrim is no stranger to various sexual mods and it’s no secret. If you plan on letting your kid younger than 17 play the game, I encourage you to either bar him from modding the game or you should carefully review all the mods that are installed from time to time.
This is the biggest problem in my opinion when it comes to kids playing Skyrim since mods are wild west everything goes type of thing.
Conclusion
While Skyrim is recommended for mature audiences aged 17 and up, I personally see no problem in letting a 15-year-old kid play it. They are old enough to understand the context in which certain offensive themes appear and they can understand the nuances of such scenarios. There are far worse games out there that kids can be caught playing than Skyrim. The only thing that might be questionable is the Dark Brotherhood storyline, and I definitely recommend that you don’t let your child near Skyrim mods, at least not without supervision. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!