If you’re the type of gamer that went googly-eyed over the recently revealed Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim world map and screenshots, boy do we have another treat for you. Hot on the heels of that reveal is a few screenshots of the game’s instruction manual. Yes, it’s not particularly revelatory stuff, but it does give gamers a good sense of the game.

Probably the most interesting tidbit that can be gleaned from the manual is the companion/follower controls. While most figured that after it worked so well in Fallout 3 that an advanced follower feature would be available in Skyrim, it’s great to see it confirmed.

On the other side of the spectrum, in the groan-worthy category, is the return of encumbrance in Skyrim. A long-standing annoyance of the Elder Scrolls and other Bethesda RPG genre, encumbrance essentially forces the player to decide what items are important and which must go the way of the drop. Why can’t we just keep it all?

Some of the other features and mechanics mentioned in the manual include the new skill trees which are actually mapped to the stars in Skyrim, as well as how to use the various spells and shouts in the game. Shouts are a powerful form of magic that comes from various walls found throughout the game and are unlocked with dragon souls as currency. Yes, it’s pretty epic stuff.

There’s also brief confirmation of those staples of the Skyrim universe like fast traveling and mapping your skills/abilities to various button faces. Not exactly riveting information, but important to the overall experience of the game.

Here's a brief taste of the manual including some of the aforementioned features, but for a complete look head to the Reddit page here.

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With so much to do in the world of Skyrim it’s hard to imagine what a comprehensive manual would look like, but this is a fine start. Players who are new to the world of Elder Scrolls (for shame, first of all) will find a perfect introduction to the core mechanics of the game as well as a brief explanation of the rich lore gamers have come to love seeing from Bethesda. We can’t wait to finally get our hands on the final product.

What do you think of the Skyrim instruction manual? Any surprises? Anything you curious to know more about and now finally do?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases November 11, 2011 for the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.

Source: Reddit