Journey of the Dovahkiin: my first foray into Skyrim

It's settled. Skyrim ranks as one of the most open RPGs to ever grace my hard drive.

My first step was to spend about 2 hours creating my character. I went for an Imperial and came up with a tanned dude with long black hair. He looked vaguely Edward James Olmos on the creation screen but somehow ends up like Kirk Douglas and Native American.

After making my way through some dank caves in the game's compulsory escape scene - following the not so brilliant lead of Hadvar into a cavern of spiders on the way - I made it out into the refreshing cold, northern air of Skyrim.

Air! Freezing cold air! Oh, the joy!

To test out how much of a sandbox this game can be, instead of heading for Riverwood like Hadvar suggested I wandered. Not sure where, but those woods look interesting. Any sane person would head for civilisation.

Before long and I was in trouble. I stumbled across a cosy looking campfire, complete with tents and rabbit meat roasting over flames. Like a less innocent version of the Goldilocks tale, I was greeted with arrows and a lot of shouting. I failed to make out the words, but it was probably something along the lines of "it's not your lucky day stranger" or "stay away from my teacosy".

The predictable end to bringing a bare chest to a sword fight

This would have been difficult for me if I had scrambled out of that cave with nothing but the shirt on my back. However this is an RPG, the perfect stomping ground for explorers/treasure hunters/kleptomaniacs and I already had a sword and shield in hand, plus the Roman-esque armour I would soon swap with those bandits.

Before long and I was in a bandit hideout. The Pinewood bandits, as they're known, live out in this seemingly innocent little cottage that actually hides this big underground cave. It was obvious they had a loving relationship with their leader, since he fixed notes with daggers to every door telling everyone to stay the hell away from his treasure. Damn, I'm glad my work life isn't like this.

I was struck by the sight of a table full of food. Cheese wheels! Salmon steaks! Was this the treasure he was on about? Err, not exactly. Besides, should I be this excited over game food?

I had my doubts about this game, but now...

No, turns out the treasure was the less edible but still lovely gold. Loads of it.