To mark Skyrim‘s tenth anniversary, Bethesda is re-releasing the game yet again in the form of Skyrim Anniversary Edition. The game will be a next-gen upgrade of Skyrim and is set to release on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles in November 2021. It’s more than just a graphical upgrade, though: a fact that helps to distinguish it from the last Skyrim rerelease, Skyrim Special Edition.
Skyrim Special Edition came out in late 2016 as a 64-bit version of Skyrim, running on an updated version of Bethesda Game Studios’ Creation Engine. The remaster featured high-resolution textures alongside other visual improvements such as new shaders, volumetric lighting, and a dynamic depth-of-field. It also included all three of the game’s official DLC: Hearthfire, Dragonborn, and Dawnguard. Players who owned both the base game and all add-ons could upgrade to Skyrim Special Edition for free.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition will be taking the same approach, allowing returning players to upgrade from existing versions of Skyrim when it releases this November. It will include all the visual improvements from Skyrim Special Edition, alongside the DLC and a few other new bonuses. Fishing will be introduced for the first time since the game came out almost ten years ago. Bethesda’s Creation Club will also be more fully implemented into Skyrim, as Anniversary Edition will feature over 500 Creation Club elements as part of its gameplay experience.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition Versus Skyrim Special Edition
Although it’s unclear for the time being what other graphical or framerate improvements Skyrim Anniversary Edition might have to set it apart on current-gen consoles, it’s already a significant step up from Skyrim Special Edition due to its Creation Club elements alone. New quests, bosses, and items will be fully implemented into the game thanks to the addition of Creation Club, potentially providing returning Skyrim players with hours of brand-new content.
The new fishing mechanic is also a major draw of Anniversary Edition. Although fish could technically be caught in previous versions of Skyrim, the Dragonborn would have to swim into rivers and catch them with their bare hands in order to utilize them for cooking or alchemy. Proper fishing instead adds a new layer of immersion, helping to turn Skyrim Anniversary Edition into more of a fleshed-out roleplaying experience. Players who skipped over Skyrim Special Edition will likely find it more worthwhile to pick up the Anniversary Edition instead, particularly given it holds many of the same upgrades underneath all the new gameplay content. It’s an innovative move on Bethesda’s part to help increase the replayability and longevity of Skyrim.
