The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

With dragons to fight, weapons to craft, a home to make, and children to adopt, Skyrim: Special Edition represents the better gaming experiences I’ve had from Bethesda. Their fantasy games are more visually and narratively interesting to me instead of the the cynicism and nihilism that lives in the Fallout series. And because of its wintery locale, Skyrim is a really cozy game to play on a cold, rainy day. Unless you’re still playing it, picking up Skyrim: Special Edition is a good enough excuse to enjoy the video game equivalent of comfort food.

The graphical upgrade is impressive and you won't struggle to enjoy the view as you dive straight back into the game. A lot of the bugs and glitches that were experienced in the original are back, but with nothing game breaking here, can we forgive the expected problems from Bethesda? Possibly. Did Skyrim need a remaster? Probably not. Are we all going to buy it anyway? Probably.

Fundamentally, stepping back into Skyrim is like revisiting one of your favorite places as a child. Everything is like you remembered it, except it's been redecorated and modernized.

As far as remasters go, it’s not exactly the most impressive, but Skyrim itself is such an amazing game to begin with that anything done to enhance it is a welcome change, which is a testament to how well it was created originally.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is a terrific entry point for those who were unlucky enough to miss out on one of the last decade’s best open-world RPGs.

Skyrim Special Edition brings whatever you want in terms of duration and deeply enjoyable RPG experience, but it could be a much better remaster with more polish.

Quest, hunt, explore, get married, build a house, invest in property, slaughter entire villages – it’s up to you how you spend your time in the frozen north, and it’s absolutely worth a repeat visit.

It's both very easy and very difficult to review this Special Edition: if you've never played Skyrim, you should buy it as soon as possible, as this is one of the finest WRPG ever made. On the other hand, if you've already spent hundred of hours into it, this edition may not offer anything worthwhile. In any case, just be sure to prefer the Xbox One version over the PS4 one.

If you played Skyrim on Xbox 360 or PS3, rediscovering the game with better graphics and access to mods can be a much better experience than you imagined, particularly when the adventure still holds up this well.

If after Fallout 4 or The Witcher 3 you still have time and the need for another epic open world roleplaying game, then go ahead. This is still the great epic that it always was. But although it is visually enhanced sometimes the five year old engine foundation shines through while there are some new bugs to be found – mostly in connection with the Mods that are allowed on console.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition doesn't do anything groundbreaking or new with the original, but does give it a nice facelift and the treatment it deserved.

A valid remaster job, with good visual improvements and tons of new contents due to the added mods support. Owners of the original game are a bit let down due to the lack of a savegame import feature and high price point, but it's definitely recommended to anyone who never played the game so far.

Even if you’ve already spent hundreds of hours wandering Skyrim’s countryside, the mods available at launch provide new ways to play, new loot to acquire, new locations to explore, and much more. Skyrim Special Edition is the best version of one of the all-time great fantasy role-playing games, even if it has begun to show its age.

While all of these enhancements and additions are nice, I still don’t feel like it is worth it for a double dip. Skyrim is still a masterpiece of a video game, but for those that spent hundreds of hours already digging through, there really isn’t enough here to recommend jumping back in.

The updated graphics may not feel truly current-gen to Xbox One and PS4 players, but the quality and originality of the game’s mechanics and setting are still a step above the competition.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is a new opportunity to play one of the greatest RPG of all time. Maybe its a modest remastered version of this masterpiece, but it is totally worth it to check it out.

Skyrim Special Edition is a solid purchase for anyone introduced to the game through the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. PC players should give longer pause before playing, however, as they've probably already made their own "Special Edition" with the aid of mods – and some of those mods might not even work in the Special Edition. In the end, your decision should come down to how much you love Skyrim's ambition, how much you enjoy exploring its expansive world, and how tolerant you are towards its flaws.

Xbox One owners will be super pleased –– thanks to Bethesda’s ongoing mod support since the release of Fallout 4, you’ll get access to over 200 mods at the time of writing. PS4 players aren’t so fortunate, and will likely be disappointed by the paltry number choose from –– Sony’s 1GB limit on mod files means that the mods themselves are limited to more cosmetic changes that don’t nearly explore the vast potential that a community driven bank of content provides.

This is a fantastic remaster of what was already a great game, offering a thoroughly absorbing experience that could easily run into the hundreds of hours. Available for £35 or less, that’s a hell of a lot of fantasy adventuring in exchange for your coin.

There's also some appeal here if you've played before and want to relive Skyrim with the current generation systems, but you'll be best served by picking up the Xbox One version over the PS4 because of superior mod support. However, there’s no new content on the disc to entice you back if you’ve already played all the DLC, only a new coat of paint.

It’s showing its age and still suffers from the trademark Bethesda bugs, but The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is a good enough excuse to warrant a return trip or serve as an entry point to this massive game.

It's still impressively open, but once you actually reach your objective marker, it morphs into a shallow experience with shaky writing. Mod support will naturally help grease the wheels a bit, but make sure you stick to Xbox One if you're going the console route and stay on the beaten side path.