A comprehensive bugfixing mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition. The goal of the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (aka USSEP) is to eventually fix every bug with Skyrim Special Edition not officially resolved by the developers to the limits of the Creation Kit and community-developed tools, in one easy-to-install package. Following Fallout 4's example, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Definitive Edition will also support mods on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Those who have purchased The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim complete with all DLC packs on PC will be happy to know that they will be able to get the Special Edition at no additional cost. According to Digital Foundry, the channel responsible for creating the comparison video, one of the most impressive things about the brand new Skyrim Anniversary Edition is the new load times on.
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Rigid and coarse, Ralof's hair looks like a piece of dust-caked banana Laffy Taffy I once found under my couch. It's the first thing I saw in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition as we rode in the cart toward our execution, and it didn't leave the best first impression. But soon after I'd spy rich foliage carpeting the floors of dark fir forests and light bouncing off choppy waters on Lake Ilinalta, and these sights would kindle a homesickness for this made-up world I explored for months five years ago, but the inconsistency of the graphics upgrade leaves Skyrim in a strange place. The Nordic homeland looks better here, no doubt, but never quite good enough to let it pass for a modern game, and it lacks any new content or behind-the-scenes features to make it feel fresh for a returning adventurer. Much as the prophets over at Bethesda Game Studios foretold, the Dragonborn has returned to us, but it's certainly not the second coming. Skyrim's Special Edition recaptures and beautifies the original game, but leaves a lot of room for an even-more-special edition down the road.
[Editor's note: This review covers the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. For the PC version, see our Skyrim Special Edition PC review.]
I spent the vast majority of my time with the PS4 version of Skyrim Special Edition, because who could forget how the PS3’s 2011 version suffered from muddy graphics, load times so long I could write and shoot off important emails before the next map appeared, and major frame rate issues that became worse as the size of your save increased? For any other PS3 owner who lived through that, this version is special indeed: load times while fast-traveling now breeze by in about the time it takes to recite the infamous line about taking an arrow to the knee, and for all my sourness over Ralof's taffy hair, it's never looked better on consoles. It's also complete, in that it includes the substantial Dawnguard, Heathfire, and Dragonborn DLC expansions.
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The Special Edition doesn't make sweeping character model and animation overhauls.
I struggled with this realization at first: in my memory, it always looked much like this, with the woods around Riften alive with detailed vegetation. (I've also spent almost all of my roughly 400 hours with Skyrim on PC, where naturally I stuffed it with graphical enhancements.) But a side-by-side comparison with the original version quickly unmasks the considerable differences. The Special Edition doesn't go for sweeping character model and animation overhauls like I and many other players had hoped, but it does enhance the world’s occasionally meaningful details. The star in this regard is the volumetric lighting, which managed to leave me in awe all these years later as I stalked through Falkreath forests where moonlight dropped in ghostly shafts through the trees. Then there are the new dynamic depth-of-field options, which add some subtle focus to conversations (and which the Special Edition introduces with over-the-top intensity in the opening dragon attack). Textures are improved as well, with generally sharper detail everywhere you look.
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I personally never had much of a problem with 2011 Skyrim's grim color palette — I found it well-suited to the northern setting and story — but I can't deny that I admire the way the improved color saturation adds a striking intensity to sunny days around Whiterun, which is further improved by greater draw distances. PC mods have allowed these kinds of things for years, of course, but the enhancements here deliver the version of Skyrim the PlayStation and Xbox always deserved. They're certainly not significant enough to warrant a second purchase for the graphics alone, but they're enough to elevate this into the best entry point for new console players.
What’s disappointing is that Bethesda chose to use to the power of the current consoles to make Skyrim look prettier at the expense of making it run better. Special Edition maintains a fairly smooth frame rate around the 30-per-second mark with occasional dips, but never approaches the 60 frames per second you’d hope for in a remastering of a previous-generation game.
Some of the simplest improvements bring the most convenience.
The Special Edition’s best improvements, though, deal with the little things — mitigating the myriad annoyances that sometimes made the original a chore to play. You'll see those faster load times, for one, but there's also a handy new quicksave. These features combine to move the story and action along at a faster pace than we saw at the beginning of the decade. Plus, you no longer have to sift through each save file to figure out which one belongs to each character, as the Special Edition takes a welcome cue from Fallout 4 and sorts them by character. Some of the simplest improvements bring the most convenience, such as the ability to auto-run across the tundra with a single tap.
And yes, mods are great!
And yes, there are mods for consoles now. And yes, mods are great! They've helped keep the PC version high on Steam's most-played list for years now, whether through wacky ones that turn dragons into Randy Savage or others that cobble together entirely new areas and even new games based on Skyrim’s frame. You can get a fair taste of that bottomless pit of content with the Xbox One version – not all of it, by any means, but a fair smattering – but the PS4 is more limited. Sony finally allowed Bethesda to implement mods after long negotiations, but only on the condition that they take up minimal space and use only in-game assets, as opposed to doing things like replacing dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine (who, sadly, is not in the default game files). The end result of all this is that, at the time of this writing, the PS4 has a mere 103 mods compared to the 254 available for the Xbox One. They're also simpler, with some of the more exciting ones amounting to little more than streetlamps and additional signs along roads. At least some still let PS4 players partake in the grand modder's tradition of cheating if you wish, as in the case of a ring that grants almost unlimited carrying power or a chest stuffed with all the available crafting components.
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And underneath all of these improvements is a game that remains one of the finest RPGs ever made. (Go back in time and read our review of the original version of Skyrim here.) True, Skyrim's combat remains relatively simplistic and AI interactions are prone to unintentional comedy when NPCs end up making you listen to a cleaning lady sigh about her problems in one ear while gruff jarls shout out history-making pronouncements in the other. Some bugs remain (and likely always will) although many of them can produce bizarre and unexpected behavior that be dismissed as part of a Bethesda game's charm. The number of bugs of the actual game-breaking variety has been much diminished from what we first saw in 2011. To this day, few other RPGs so perfectly capture the experience of trotting out to the wilderness to carve out adventures with any approach you want to take. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may have better stories and better character models, but you're always Geralt. In Skyrim, it's myself I remember going into the forests and into crumbling keeps to forge my destiny.
(Now, where’s the Morrowind remaster?)
The Verdict
If you’ve never experienced Skyrim, the Special Edition is certainly an adventure you can’t afford to miss. It still includes many of the original version’s bugs, ugly character models, and weak combat animations, but the memorable world benefits hugely from improved lighting and effects. 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.
When I play a remastered version of a game I love, I expect it to be at least as good as the old one in every way. And unfortunately, with Skyrim Special Edition on PC, that expectation hasn’t been fully met. There's some good stuff under the hood here and it's great that Bethesda has made it free for anybody who owns the original and all its expansions, but it comes off as barely better than what we've already had on PC for years and temporarily turns back the clock on the available mods.
[Editor's Note: this review covers the PC version. For the console versions, read our Skyrim Special Edition PS4/Xbox One review.]
There are, in fact, some key differences. It's 64-bit now instead of the old 32-bit version, which means it technically should better handle stuffing Breezehome with thousands of sweet rolls than it could in the past. It also incorporates many of the other features made to Bethesda’s engine for Fallout 4, such as improved lighting and depth-of-field effects, plus some general beautification of the environments. This boost, unfortunately, also appears to mean it doesn't work as well on older graphics cards that could confidently handle the 2011 version. This is a bummer in of itself, but the jump to 64-bit also means many of the mountains of old mods won't work without an update from the modders themselves, thus crushing any dreams of switching immediately to this version with all the old mods blazing. Thus, any saves you have that used gameplay-altering mods won’t work with the new version. It's also a shame that there's literally no new content here, as even a couple of new shouts or a few surprise new enemy types would have served as agreeable lures for veterans. It looks nice, but not the nicest I've seen Skyrim look on PC.
The kind of thing wouldn't sting so badly if the Special Edition version looked significantly better. There's definitely been some fresh texture work here, but it's uneven. I love that there's lusher foliage now in the woods around Riften and Falkreath, but on the whole it doesn't look terribly different from the high-resolution texture pack, and certainly doesn’t compare favorably to the mods I had installed. Sure, I admire the richer foliage, but then I see the wooden hair of someone like Aela and wonder why this update didn't get a bit more love.If you're not fond of the overly pink and orange sunsets that spring from the intense new color saturation, you might even find the Special Edition a bit of a step back from the original version. At its worst, it looks like Thomas Kinkade's vision of Tamriel. It's certainly not all bad, though, as I sometimes felt as though I could feel the northern sun while walking beneath the crisper blue skies surrounding Whiterun. There's more color in this world, and even though I think a drab palette is well suited to Skyrim and its story, that extra vibrancy is often enough to make me care a little more about saving it.
The smart money's on the horse.
Special Edition is an update that thrives on the details rather than the big picture.
Special Edition is an update that thrives on the details rather than the big picture. Some of the better effects have long been possible through mods that make almost every 'must-have' list, such as new shaders for water that add a degree of photorealism as the light bounces off the waters of Lake Ilinalta. Some are positively beautiful, such as the way water now flows around rocks in a brook. There's also a new dynamic depth-of-field effect — a subtle addition (usually), but one that brings a greater degree of focus to Skyrim's many conversations. And wonder of wonders, you can now easily alt-tab to the desktop, unlike in the original version.And while I may complain about NPC hair, I'm a big fan of the new volumetric 'god rays' which greatly enrich the sense of place when I’m stalking through the forests around Falkreath while shafts of ghostly moonlight shoot down on the undergrowth. In the mornings around Riften (once the pink has lifted), there's a near-religious ambience as the light plays on the mist and slices past the shadows.
The night forest shows the Special Edition at its best.
It's too bad Bethesda didn't give as much attention to ensuring it runs well. I have an Nvidia GTX 980, and if anything this version runs choppier on my PC than it does on my PS4 in the open world, although the framerates shoot up in town. Strangely, even the sound has been overly compressed in the Special Edition and is noticeably worse quality, which makes no sense. (Bethesda says a fix is in the works for this issue.)
Beyond that, unlike the console version, the PC version of the Special Edition doesn't even bring the wonder of all the little under-the-hood features like quicksaves and faster load times – the PC version has had those all along. (I’ve seen some people report that their save loads take longer, although I’ve had no such trouble.) There's one update that commands respect, at least: you no longer have to sift through each save file to figure out which ones belong to which hero you've made, as the Special Edition takes a welcome cue from Fallout 4 and sorts them by character.
In the short term SE will be more limited in terms of what mods you can play.
Mind you, most of my complaints come from the perspective of someone who's been playing Skyrim for years. If you've never had a chance to play, this is arguably the version you should jump into because even though most of the old mods won’t work right away, the important ones will likely be updated and most if not all future modding efforts will be built to work with the 64-bit Special Edition instead of the old 32-bit one that had cramped the modding community’s style for so long. On the other hand, in the short term it will be more limited in terms of what mods you can play until the community updates them to work with the 64-bit version, and therefore much less capable.Skyrim Definitive Edition Pc Download
Every good fight needs some mood lighting.
And remember, underneath all this is a game that remains one of the finest RPGs ever made. (Go back in time and read our review of the original version of Skyrim here.) True, Skyrim's combat remains relatively simplistic and AI interactions are prone to unintentional comedy when NPCs end up making you listen to a cleaning lady sigh about her problems in one ear while gruff jarls shout out history-making pronouncements in the other. Some bugs remain (and likely always will) although many of them can produce bizarre and unexpected behavior that be dismissed as part of a Bethesda game's charm. The number of bugs of the actual game-breaking variety has much diminished from what we first saw in 2011.
Yet to this day, few other RPGs so perfectly capture the experience of trotting out to the wilderness to carve out adventures with any approach you want to take. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may have better stories and better character models, but you're always Geralt. In Skyrim, it's myself I remember going into the forests and into crumbling keeps to forge my destiny. Skyrim's strengths lie in its freedom and open-endedness. Some people criticize the way your actions don't fully change the world, but I find I admire it, as one day it lets me be an assassin sneaking through castles and the next I can play as a hunter living off the land and selling my pelts. It lets you make of it what you want to and when you want to.