Though an inch of fatigue and diminished mod offerings weigh on me, this is a Skyrim more accessible, more colorful, and equally as lovable as the one I’ve known. I certainly have enjoyed retreading these paths for the dozenth time. That is either exceptionally exciting or a respectable pass, depending on how much Dhovakiin thirst the last five years has left you with. This Special Edition is nothing less and little more than Skyrim. In other words, remasters are difficult to score. And if you’ve never played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and don’t have a healthy aversion to adventure, it’s an unquestionable must-buy. Anyone who has been modding the game with vast changes and heftier graphical overhauls on the PC will be especially underwhelmed, but will also receive the remaster for free if they owned the title and its DLC already. Those ready to hang up their horned helmets won’t find significantly new experiences beyond modding. Look forward to this entry if you look forward to fire blasting your way through more trolls, sneaking through another abandoned ruin, and choosing yet another life in a grand world jammed with more quests than 100 hours could afford you. A fresh coat of paint and some variable mod support – even a bundle including all of the successful DLC so far – won’t satisfy if you’re not looking to jump back into that world for what it was.

That’s about as base an explanation as there is for this remaster: it brings Skyrim back. I was happy to see no crashes, freezes, or broken quests, and save for a few moments of NPCs seemingly having deep visions into space, no other issues plagued my time. An NPC just stone stared and moonwalked away from me after losing a brawl, and two separate quest-givers beckoned me to follow them, but only managed to take three or so steps between frequent stops to stare into the void. Throughout many hours of Draugr massacring I only encountered a couple of glitches. On the flip side, you’ll spend less time pausing during load times, which have been noticeably shortened, or during heartbreaking bugs (be free at last, Markarth). The improvements won’t come in a jaw-dropping explosion, but they will come in the background scenery of a conversation, or on the glow of moonlit fog on your path, and in those moments of pause. The reliced models and polygons haven’t gone anywhere, though, so there’s no reason to walk in expecting a visual revolution that’s rebuilt this 2011 title into a modern day affair.

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