Relive your Skyrim gaming days with these movies
You’ve spent hundreds of hours completing all the main and side quests available in the game. You’ve joined every faction possible and also finished their specific missions. Still, you haven’t had enough.
Slouched in the couch, sifting each channel for noteworthy shows, you must be wondering, “Is there a Skyrim movie out there?” There are a number of movies and TV shows with great resemblance to the game and we’re here to present you with a list of movies like Skyrim.
10. Troy
“Smile Hector, pretend I’m not about to gut you” – Achilles to Hector.
Oh, Troy. It’s like they shot the film in Solstheim itself. Littered with ruins, the unkind sands expand into the horizon like an endless ocean – ideal for a battlefield.
But army battles aren’t the spectacle of this movie. It’s the one-on-one battles that make it qualify as a Skyrim movie. Watching Hector and Achilles stab each other to death, glorifies how spectacular melee combat in Skyrim is. Axe to axe, sword to sword, parry after parry – skill will determine who will triumph.
Later in the game, you can become as invulnerable as Achilles, with the only way to defeat you is via lethal backstabbing, like Paris’ sucker arrow strike.
Orlando Bloom as Paris. He’ll either shoot your heart like Cupid or strike your heel like he did with Achilles.
9. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
“If I press this button, will it undo the movie?” – Prince Dastan
The film revolves around Redguards, I mean Persians, the hero Dastan and their conquest of the kingdom of Alamut. You can’t deny they look like Redguards with their curved scimitars and light armor for swifter movements.
The Sands of Time powers the magical dagger to trigger its time rewinding ability, enabling you to alter history itself. You can prevent assassinations, see future enemy attacks, or even unbake a cake and unscramble an egg. It’s that awesome.
No time rewind for Skyrim, but there’s a time bending Thu’um that slows down anything that moves. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s the closest thing to that of the movie.
“Nothing beats a cold bath. It keeps my skin moisturized.” – Princess Tamina
8. Conan the Barbarian
Conan in Skyrim. Wearing only a little armor decreases the chances of surviving in Skyrim.
If you’re a let’s-get-down-to-business, no-talk-just-brawl type of player, then watching Conan the Barbarian will get your blood pumped up and your arm aching to punch someone in the face. Bulldozing his way even through an army, Conan is the epitome of a fearless barbarian. He’s physically superhuman with the physique of a Nord, the strength of an Orsimer, agility of a Khajiit, and combat ability of a Redguard.
Playing Skyrim as Conan though, could be the toughest character build to start with. Unarmored and unable to use any form of magic, dealing with mere guards in the early stages of the game is such a pain to the point of frustration.
Young Conan. At the age of 10, he’s formidable enough to kill a small band of weirdos.
Conan the Barbarian trailer.
7. 300: Rise of an empire
Fighting like a Grecian. Try wearing only a shield and a sword and see how long you’ll last.
Watching deathblows of Themistocles land with dramatic slow-motion effect on Persian enemies is very similar to Skyrim’s kill cam mode when connecting critical hits. The constant action of swords flailing bodies asunder, arrows piercing flesh like a doll, and spears digging into the bones of unlucky targets in the movie, spells out how brutal (and bloody funny) fight scenes in Skyrim can be.
The fierce, lethal, but sizzling hot Artemisia somehow reminds me of Aela, the Huntress (I made her my wife in the game back then). Their combat capabilities and beastly demeanor look like they can flatten any army by themselves.
Love gore? The bloody battles in this Skyrim movie can be replicated in the game by applying fan-made mods. They’ll add thicker blood sprites, allow players to mutilate limbs like slicing vegetables, and chop off heads like they’re baseballs walloped with a bat.
Artemisia. No need for that. You already have my heart. <3
6. Clash of the Titans
Radscorpion (from Fallout) cameo. This movie is the Bethesda games mash up fans would love to see.
There are no dragons in the movie but it has plenty of mythical creatures you’ll wish Bethesda should have included in Skyrim. No worries as there’s still chance when the next one comes.
The gods residing in Olympus are like Daedric Princes: they empower their immortality and cement their rule as gods thru the belief of their subjects. Doing the bidding for each Daedric Prince will allow the faithful to gain favors from them. Betrayal on the other hand, could lead to serious consequences, like when Zeus smote the blasphemous king with flesh-burning lightning.
Aside from that, Perseus’ armor likens to that of the Penitus Oculatus Armor worn by General Tulius of the Imperial Legion. Also the glowing, Olympian sword used by Perseus to kill Calibos is like the Dawnbreaker sword given by the Daedric Prince Meridia as a quest reward to her devoted servant. See the similarities?
Your soul is mine! Now go play Skyrim and be my slave.
Clash of the Titans trailer.
5. 300
“Our bodies are sizzling, we need more water!” - Spartans
Underdogs beating multitude of bullies is always a sight to see. Getting surrounded by a group of Forsworn or Draugr, and still beating the hell out of them gives the exhilarating rush of adrenaline and the overwhelming feeling of superiority. You can feel your inner voice shouting at your opponents, “That’s all you can do?!”
This kickass film is just like that: 300-strong, outnumbered warriors besting thousands of enemies of varying shapes, sizes, and proportions. With just a shield and spear (sadly, there are no spears in vanilla Skyrim), they managed to defeat giants, assassins, enormous beasts, bombs, and ‘magic’.
Skyrim even has an easter egg referring to this movie. If you head just south of the Shrine to Peryite, northeast of the Lover Stone, you will come across a skeleton (about halfway up the mountain). If you look just to the side of the skeleton you will see a sabre cat stuck between two rocks with a glass sword through its mouth and head. This refers to the scene in the movie where Leonidas leads a wolf to a narrow passage then stabs it through the mouth with a spear.
“Aaaaargghhh, that frigging hurts!” – Leonidas, arrow on his chest
4. Pathfinder
Viking armor, axe, a guy that looks Forsworn, and a dragon ship. Now tell me if this isn’t Skyrim.
The setting of the film takes place in the so-called “Vinland”, a land full of forests and mountains covered in thick layers of snow; it’s almost as if the film was shot in Skyrim. The natives in the game also call the Vikings, “Dragon People”. Skyrim is heavily influenced by Viking lore, so it’s safe to say that the Dragonborn belongs to the Dragon People referenced in this Skryim movie.
Littered with snow-covered mountains with narrow pathways around it, I was hoping it will feature a dragon sleeping upon a monumental stone on the mountain summit.
Aside from their posters being spitting images of each other, resemblances in the arctic and unfriendly nature, Nordic weapons and armors, and one-day-a-hero-will-be-born kind of prophesy make this one of the best movies like Skyrim.
Who needs armor? Ghost leading a pack of heavily armored “Dragon People”.
Pathfinder trailer.
3. Spartacus (TV series)
Looking for a fight? Spartacus and a thousand gladiators are up to the challenge.
The series revolves around Spartacus, a slave-turned-gladiator, and his exploits towards freedom.
Watching the opening scenes of the game and the series, you can’t help but notice the similarity of seeing the protagonist captured and awaiting execution. The Roman vs. gladiator plot of the series resembles Skyrim’s side story (though I personally feel it’s the main) of the Stormcloak’s and Imperial Legion’s war for territorial supremacy and governance in Skyrim.
With the exception of magic and dragons, the dark, tense environment set in gladiator days, grisly combat scenes ending in bloodbath, and battle-hungry warriors wielding weapons ready to fight for their belief, is exactly the same scenario presented all throughout Skyrim. Wait ‘til you reach the portion when the gladiators start rebelling and witness Stormcloak quest of liberating cities from Imperial control (or the other way around, depending on your choice) in action.
Andy Whitfield, the first actor who played Spartacus, looks like a real badass. If you want to look like him, there’s a fan-made mod demonstrating how to replicate the look and built of the charismatic hero.
Brutality wins. Beheading and buckets of blood are half of the show’s content.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Season 1 trailer.
2. Immortals
Theseus, the demigod. Even gods need a hero (and a hot priestess) to fight evil.
Aside from sharing a release date of 11.11.11, this Skyrim movie and the game itself have some commonalities between them. Firstly, our hero Theseus here looks like he’s wearing a Penitus Oculatus armor worn by the Imperial Legion.
Love bows? Watch Theseus skewer enemies with the Epirus Bow and you’ll love it even more. Combine it with the Slow Time Thu’um and you now wield the power of the gods. With proper timing and distance, it’s possible to shoot 3-4 arrows at the same time and see them hit targets almost simultaneously.
To complete your demigod outfit, there’s a mod to recreate the model of the Epirus Bow, complete with the glowing effect when stringed. You’ll still need to buy arrows though since it’s impossible to create them out of nowhere using the game’s mechanics.
Theseus and the Epirus Bow. Unlimited magical arrows anyone?
Immortals trailer.
1. The 13th Warrior
Steady guard. The flash of this sword will be the last thing you’ll see of this world.
Another Redguard character build makes appearance in this movie through the character of Ahmad ibn Fadlan, a court poet played by Antonio Banderas. Ahmad later joined a band of hard-bodied Nords to rescue a kingdom. A Redguard is already tough enough to handle, what more if you team him up with sturdy Nords – it’s like the dream team of Skyrim.
Skyrim is said to have borrowed some concepts from various movies. One of them is the model texture of the Forsworn in the game, highly-resembling the Wendol in this movie. Bethesda loved this movie so much that they hired Vladimir Kulich (Buliwyf in the movie) to voice Ulfric Stormcloak.
Although it did not gain much popularity, it has inspired a number of modders to recreate the casts, weapons, and some quests. It’s dark, Viking inspired characters, and Forsworn-ish enemies make this one of the most referenced – and possibly with the greatest resemblance – movies like Skyrim.
The Wendol. They look very Forsworn to me.
The 13th Warrior. Official trailer
Have you ever watched movies like Skyrim we forgot to include on our list? Share it with us by commenting below.
How about try playing games like Skyrim? Might as well check some of these posts:
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