Is there a game that has been re-released more times than Skyrim? The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is Bethesda “celebrating” the iconic game with a new release that adds in a bunch of Creation Club content to the game. You do need to have The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition in order to get this Anniversary Edition upgrade. Or you can buy both in a bundle.
How to Download The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
To download the game, click on the Download button located below this review. Check out also our reviews of previous Elder Scrolls games: Oblivion and Morrowind. You might also be interested in the MMO Elder Scrolls Online and the mobile game Elder Scrolls: Blades.
The Game Review
The first thing I have to say is that I am pretty mind blown that they feel this is good value for money! This is basically something that allows you to play official mods on Skyrim, but with a ton more restrictions and even more bugs! As I write this The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition has only been out a few days, but people are not happy!
So, what exactly does this add to your game of Skyrim Special Edition. The most notable thing if you ask me is being able to activate survival mode. Survival mode forces you to eat more food to maintain your stamina, lessens how much you can carry, and adds other more “realistic” gameplay elements.
The idea of survival mode is great and something I can fully get behind. However, the implementation is not good at all as it is very buggy and the restrictions placed on you do not feel realistic, they just feel unfair. I actually played a Skyrim mod that offered a survival mode a while back and it ran far better than this.
There is more added to this game than just that. As well as the survival mode, more quests, bosses, weapons, and more have also been added. They also added in a fishing mini-game which was the most fun thing I experienced. These additions are interesting and something that can give your 25th playthrough of Skyrim a little extra kick which I am sure hardcore fans will like
Actually, speaking of your 25th playthrough, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition forces you to play the tutorial section again!!! Come on, how many times have you had to watch that scene with your character getting taken into custody! This was a huge turn-off for me once the game started and I cannot believe there is not an option to skip it.
As far as other improvements go, there really are none. The graphics are exactly the same, the sound design is the same and the textures are exactly the same too. For something that is celebrating such an iconic game, this feels very barebones and like they just wanted to get something out as quickly as possible.
The strangest thing about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is that I am not sure who exactly this is for. Hardcore Skyrim fans have probably already played through the game and probably dabbled with mods as well. This is just a less fun and less expansive way of using mods with Skyrim. If this were a free update it would be one thing, but this is grossly overpriced for what it is.
