

The class system traditional in role-playing games, which had been present in Oblivion, is removed to allow the player's play-style to develop naturally. The confirmed eighteen skills are Illusion, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration, Enchanting, Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block, Two-handed, One-handed, Archery, Light Armor, Sneak, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Speech, and Alchemy. Removed skills with no singularly defined skill replacement include Blade (shifted to other combat skills), Blunt (also shifted to other combat skills), Hand to Hand, Mysticism (spells shifted to other magic skills), Athletics, Acrobatics, and Mercantile (merged with another skill). The player can train in eighteen different skills, (instead of the twenty-one used in oblivion) and the player character is leveled up by raising skills. Each city or town has its own economy, which the player can either stimulate by completing jobs such as farming and mining, or harm by sabotaging industrial buildings. Within Skyrim lie five major cities and numerous smaller towns, and expanses of wilderness and mountain ranges. The player is free to roam the land of Skyrim at will, either on-foot or on horseback. See also: Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls series Skyrim retains the traditional open-world gameplay found in the Elder Scrolls series.
