Skyrim is the newest edition to the Elder Scrolls games.
Every one of the games usually ends up with the best title of the year. This one is the Sequel to Oblivion. Pretty much, its a huge open world you can just walk around and interact with everything you see. There are numerous towns/cities you can visit, and you pretty much do whatever you want. There are a shit ton of quests and brotherhoods you can join (Thieves guild: brotherhood for stealing shit etc). When I played Oblivion, I put in 100 hours before I even touched the main questline. That's because you literally have free reign over the whole world and have so many quests to choose from.
Its kind of like Fallout 3, but not apocalyptic and with more swords/wizard staffs. Its fucking sick.