On social media, some players of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim gathered together to share and debate their takes on which quests they believed to be the worst that the base game and expansions have to offer. While everyone's playthrough of Skyrim is never the same, thanks to the inclusion of mods, not every quest in the vast land of the Nords has been considered a winner.
Though the game itself is reaching 12 years on the market, discussions about Skyrim have remained a staple on social media. As each experience brings a different and controversial Skyrim hot take to the forefront, players have debated over which talents and which builds they prefer to play with, and which ones stand out above the rest. While some quests may not be everyone's cup of tea, some players banded together to talk over the most dubious quests in the game and explain why they thought that way.
On Reddit, a user named hecatetheguitarist brought up the question of which quests Skyrim players despise the most, and posted it on the r/skyrim subreddit. Within a day, over 1.3k upvotes and over 370 comments were posted on the thread, with some saying that the quests associated with the Soul Cairn were among the worst they experienced in Skyrim. However, other players had different takes, including some that refused to acknowledge the existence of the quest to kill Paarthurnax, the dragon atop the Throat of the World, and the leader of the Greybeards. Given Paarthurnax's position of power and the fact that he is one of the few dragons that has never been completely hostile to the Dragonborn during most of the main quests, players showed sympathy toward him in that regard.
However, some stealth-focused quests, such as "Diplomatic Immunity" in the base game, were also brought up as some of the worst challenges that Skyrim players have faced. Some players lamented the fact that they cannot go after the Thalmor directly at that point in the story. Though stealth and thievery builds have been a popular choice in The Elder Scrolls games for years, a handful of players on the r/skyrim thread chose to eschew it in favor of focusing on magic or melee combat. Other quests involving key collectibles such as Crimson Nirnroots and the 24 Stones of Barenziah, in addition to quests that require the Dragonborn to delve into dangerous Dwemer ruins, also earned dubious distinctions from Redditors across the thread.
While some Skyrim players will see how Starfield will hold up by comparison, the wait continues until more information about The Elder Scrolls 6 arrives. Only time will tell how both of those will pan out in the future.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.