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Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Combat Detailed

 In the game you will make use of a basic two-handed combat system which will allow you to equip any weapon or spell to either of your character’s hands, or if you prefer a large two-handed weapon. There will also be a quick-select menue to swap between loadouts you’ve preconfigured.

According to game director Todd Howard, who was speaking to Game Informer, weapons will include swords, shields, maces, axes or two-handed weapons, and you’ll also be able to specialise in each to improve them or receive specific perks.

As far as spells go, Bethesda will include over 85 across the five schools of magic - destruction, restoration, illusion, alteration and conjuration. It’s even possible that you may be able to combine spells, although it’s not confirmed, "we’d like to," was Howard’s take on that, "It’d be awesome."

Stealth gameplay is to remain pretty much unchanged, except enemies now go into an alert state when they think they see or hear something, this means players with a higher sneak skill have a little time to hide and if you have a powerful dagger you’ll even to be able to take them out.

"Now when you sneak up behind guys, the dagger does something like 10x damage. I don’t know if we’re going to keep that, but you feel like you should be killing the guy if you’ve gotten that close and you have a dagger," Howard explained.

You’ll also be able to use dragon shouts during battle allowing you to slow down time or summoning a dragon to assist.

Finally the defensive side of the game will see you use your block and strike, with timing now being very important.

We can’t wait Skyrim, which is due out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 11 and is powered by Bethesda’s new Creation Engine, which the company has confirmed will also be used for all future Bethesda games.