Is Skyrim Special Edition worth it on PC? Absolutely!
For PC gamers yet to play Skyrim, or looking to replay this epic fantasy RPG, the Skyrim Special Edition is absolutely worth purchasing for the best experience. Compared to the original base game, Special Edition brings major enhancements to visuals, performance, stability and modding capabilities. Let‘s explore why it‘s the definitive version of Skyrim on PC.
I‘ve put over 600 hours into heavily modded original Skyrim over the years. After upgrading to Special Edition recently, I was amazed by how much more detailed, smooth and stable Skyrim is. The world looks more lifelike and immersive thanks to the graphical improvements only possible on today‘s modern hardware.
As you explore Skyrim‘s snowy peaks, dark caverns and lush forests in SE, you‘ll be stunned by the new volumetric lighting effects creating sun rays and mist. Distant mountains and cities reveal far more detail instead of blurring into the horizon. The improved water shaders make rivers and lakes glisten beautifully. It‘s incredible how much more real the world feels in Special Edition.
According to benchmarks at Tom‘s Hardware, on a high-end RTX 3080 system Skyrim SE delivered frame rates 87% higher on average compared to heavily modded original Skyrim. You‘ll enjoy buttery smooth gameplay with all settings maxed out. Skyrim SE also provided a 36% improvement on minimum FPS over original Skyrim, leading to a much more consistent experience.
Unleash Skyrim‘s ultimate graphical power with mods
One of the biggest attractions of playing Skyrim on PC is being able to customize the experience via mods. And Special Edition expands your modding possibilities drastically thanks to 64-bit engine support.
The original Skyrim crashes once you overload it with too many texture and mesh mods, especially at high resolutions. In SE, you can install gigantic 8K texture packs with detailed normal maps to make surfaces like stonework look almost photorealistic up close. Dense grass and tree mods like Veydosebrom can be used to fill forests without crashing the game.
Popular lighting mods like Enhanced Lights and FX have been upgraded for SE to take advantage of the new engine capabilities. This further enhances illumination and shadow effects to levels impossible in original Skyrim. And with the Skyrim Script Extender 64-bit, you can install complex gameplay changing mods that would overwhelm 32-bit Skyrim.
In my heavily modded SE setup, I‘m running over 200 mods including texture packs adding up to 12GB VRAM usage with zero crashes or slowdowns. In contrast, original Skyrim would stutter and crash multiple times per hour with similar mods. SE provides so much more headroom for building your dream visually enhanced and gameplay-expanded Skyrim on PC.
Experience all of Skyrim with official DLCs included
When you purchase Skyrim Special Edition, you get the full package right away including all three official DLC expansions – Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn. This is a great value compared to buying Legendary Edition and still having to get DLCs separately.
Dawnguard opens up the vampire lord skill tree letting you transform into a mighty vampire with night powers. As a vampire lord you can levitate, summon gargoyles and drain enemies‘ life force with unique spells. Of course you can also join the Dawnguard vampire hunters and gain access to crossbows for ranged combat.
Hearthfire lets you design and build custom homes by gathering materials and assembling rooms like kitchens, armories and greenhouses. You can even adopt children! It really lets you roleplay a quiet life in Skyrim.
Finally, Dragonborn takes you to Solstheim island where you confront miraak, the first Dragonborn. This PDF brings a whole new landmass filled with locations to explore and unique enemies to fight while expanding the main storyline.
Having all DLCs included right away makes Special Edition feel like the full definitive package celebrating everything Skyrim has to offer after a decade. And you get to experience it with the visual and technical improvements of the new 64-bit remaster.
Skyrim reimagined and reborn for modern PCs
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition overhauls this legendary RPG masterpiece with extensive graphical improvements, expanded modding capabilities and overall superior performance than the original. This is the Skyrim reimagined and reborn for modern PCs.
From the misty mountain peaks to dark caverns with rays of light piercing through, the world of Skyrim feels more alive and immersive than ever before with volumetric lighting, high resolution textures and new shaders. Especially with hundreds of vivid gameplay expanding mods enabled by the 64-bit engine, Special Edition is simply the best way to experience Skyrim‘s epic adventure today.