In an interview, Bruce Nesmith, former lead designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, recalled that the development team studied where players went after leaving the game's initial dungeon. According to him, about 30% of players did not follow the expected route to Riverwood but instead headed into the wilderness to explore on their own.
After escaping Helgen, players can see locations such as mountains, villages, and ruins, and can deviate from the main storyline early on. Nesmith believes that the fact that about 30% of players chose a different path confirms the team's design goal of giving players a sense of freedom.
Nesmith stated that to achieve this sense of freedom, developers couldn't just leave the roads open. Players might trigger quests or enter scenes at different times and in different orders, so the team had to ensure that quests and environments functioned properly under these circumstances. He mentioned that the team invested significant effort into making this sense of openness permeate the entire game.