The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Contributed by Gary Boodhoo on Apr 13th, 2014. Artwork published in
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Game Menu
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The game’s typography supports and organizes player activities, goals and itemization. Futura Condensed’s Medium weight affords larger font sizes while maintaining information density onscreen.
Player Inventory screen
Character Skills screen
Quest Journal screen
Character Creation screen
15 Comments on “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”
What I want to know is what typeface is used in-game for the “handwritten font,” “skyrim books font.”
Hi David, can you point us to an image?
I would like to know what the font of the book Olaf and the dragon is.
(Please get back to me ASAP)
Hi Aharon, do you have (a link to) an image?
sooooo
what font is used in this image?
thanks
Hi djbro,
All typography shown in this post uses Futura Condensed, and most of it uses its Medium weight.
Are the numbers shown on the Character Skill screen Futura also?
Yes.
Salve, vorrei sapere quale è il font utilizzato nel logo del gioco, solo la scritta “Skyrim”.
[translated] Hi, I would like to know which font is used for the game logo, just the word “Skyrim”.
Hello Gabriel, I assume you are talking about this logo, yes? I’m afraid it’s custom, and not a readily available font. If the letterforms are based on a font, they were probably heavily modified.
There are various books in game for players to read. Are those also Futura don’t?
I don’t know. Do you have an image?
Here’s an image of a book page:
Per the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, A Dream of Sovngarde appears to use a font internally called SkyrimBooks_Gaelic and perhaps also called Cyrodiil. Other books use a font internally called SkyrimBooks_Handwritten_Bold which appears to be an alias of ITC Viner Hand.
Thanks, Mads!
My understanding is that Cyrodiil is a freebie made by Neale Davidson of Pixel Sagas in 2014 (and updated in 2015). According to the author, it is “based on the main text used within Bethesda Softwork’s later Elder Scrolls games”. The font used in the game from 2011 must hence be something else. The underlying design goes back to Rundgotisch, a typeface designed at Schelter & Giesecke around 1902. Tom Wallace did a digital revival in 2005. Maybe that was the basis for SkyrimBooks_Gaelic.
Mads, you’re an absolute legend, thank you so much!