It may have been leaked in advance, but Bethesda nonetheless unmasked a current-gen remaster of one of the previous hardware generation’s hugest and most beloved RPG experiences, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, during their E3 conference tonight. Revealed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition provides huge updates to the visual rendering, lighting, environments, and other such elements of Skyrim’s world, while also packing in the game’s three major DLC expansions, Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn, free of charge!
If you’re a PC gamer that is lamenting having to buy the game again to enjoy the upgraded remaster, you’re actually in for some good news to boot. If you already own The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s original 2011 release for PC, and all three of its DLC expansions for PC as well, or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition (which compiles the game and the three expansions) for PC, then Bethesda will grant you the upgraded The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition for free when it releases later this year!
If you’re a console gamer that’s miffed at that incentive due to no apparent means to upgrade without paying for the remaster however, don’t fret, as Bethesda hasn’t completely left you out in the cold. As with Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition will support the use of PC mods in both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, and unlike Fallout 4, it looks like they’ll be available for both console versions at the same time, rather than being temporarily withheld from PlayStation 4, as Fallout 4’s console mods currently are for a short while longer. Considering that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim offers one of the most rich and diverse selection of mods in all of PC gaming (to the point where Valve and Bethesda nearly attempted a short-lived Steam marketplace where people would pay for them!), this is a huge incentive to upgrade to the remaster for console gamers!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition wasn’t the only Elder Scrolls-related announcement during Bethesda’s E3 keynote either. The Elder Scrolls Online will shortly be adopting an incentive called ‘One Tamriel’, which will completely remove party, exploration and questing restrictions for lower-leveled characters, allowing anyone to access any quest and area in Tamriel after completing the MMORPG’s tutorial! Only PVP areas will still enforce established Alliance rules, but beyond that, all content restrictions in the game are being removed for all players. Not only that, but card-based strategy spin-off, The Elder Scrolls: Legends was confirmed to be coming to iOS, Android and Mac as well as PC later this year, and will include both a single-player story campaign, as well as the expected online competitive card battle arena.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition arrives on October 28th of this year.
Keep questing to Eggplante for all major news and updates on The Elder Scrolls.