Winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features like remastered art and effects, volumetric god rays, dynamic depth of field, scree...
Winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features like remastered art and effects, volumetric god rays, dynamic depth of field, screen-space reflections, and more.
EPIC FANTASY REBORN
Skyrim reimagines and revolutionizes the open-world fantasy epic, bringing to life a complete virtual world open for you to explore any way you choose.
LIVE ANOTHER LIFE, IN ANOTHER WORLD
Play any type of character you can imagine, and do whatever you want; the legendary freedom of choice, storytelling, and adventure of The Elder Scrolls is realized like never before.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU PLAY
Choose from hundreds of weapons, spells, and abilities. The new character system allows you to play any way you want and define yourself through your actions.
BATTLE DRAGONS
Battle ancient dragons like you’ve never seen. As Dragonborn, learn their secrets and harness their power for yourself.
I was close to share a tear out of pure joy - planning to do a new start in Skyrim, screening all these fantastic mods that have been released / updated since my last visit - and then this announcement came ... Skyrim Anniversary Edition on GoG !!! No doubt, this was a must-buy and I and can highly recommend this game to everybody who would like to enjoy a pure Skyrim sensation. Unfortunately with all this changes made in the GoG version, compatibility to most mods is not given. Popular modlists will not work as well as (at least in my case) most SKSE depending mods.
So thumbs up for releasing this all-time-classic as a DRM free version - but Skyrim (at least the GoG Version) will have to wait until compatibility to mods are ensured.
Skyrim has been around for far too long and I have bought it way too many times than I should have, and yet I have enjoyed it over and over again regardless. For it to finally be here, DRM-free, is a momentous occasion that all gamers should rejoice for and take a part of. If you've never played this game, this is going to be the best way to do it. If you have then it's time to start a new play through. Cue fade in from black: "Hey you!... You're finally awake..."
My wife / then girlfriend bought me this on day 1 release on Steam, it's why I have a Steam account. It was a slightly belated birthday present, and to date, between the original, the special edition and the anniversary edition, I've got over 1600 hrs I imagine invested into a game that is almost 11 years old.
No matter how many times I have played it, with or without mods, it's always kept my attention. I can probably recite the spoken lines of the important NPCs and their quests by heart. I can feel Lydia's annoyance when she tells you "I am sworn to carry your burdens" before she even says it. The quests in the DLC to kill vampires, build your own home, and kill the First Dragonborn all still feel fun to me.
That is what makes a game great, despite the "Look, now we can get it on X platform edition" re-release. And this is why I bought it myself on Gog, because now it's the "I finally own it myself" edition.
Thank you for the early birthday present Gog, this is why I prefer you guys vs. other platforms.
While SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) works on this version, a lot of other mods don't work yet (such as RaceMenu, HDT physics, Fuz Ro D'oh, or SSE Engine Fixes).
That said, the game runs beautifully and I no longer have to unplug my Ethernet cable before starting the game to prevent steam from updating it and breaking everything.
I'm sure that the mods will come soon enough.
Here's a list of must-have mods that work:
* Skyrim 202X (A significant improvement in textures that is a must for those of us with 4k screens)
* Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (Required to get around the bugs in over half the game's quests)
* Fores New Idles (FNIS) (A framework that allows adding enhanced realism to movement, such as walking, combat, casting spells, moving, you name it)
* SkyUI (Huge improvement in the readability and intuitive layout of the menus; Skyrim doesn't even seem like Skyrim without it :))
Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM) (Increases the number of vertices in the polygon meshes inside objects, which helps give the game a newer, crisper feel)
* XP32 Maximum Skeleton Special Extended (Improves realism of movement by adding more bones in the simulated skeletons inside the character models)
* Caliente's Beautiful Body Enhancer (CBBE) (Greatly improves the appearance of the women in the game)
* Alternate Start - Live Another Live (LAL) (Lets face it, the opening sequence gets a bit old for those of us who have played the game a few times; this makes it a lot easier to start a new game)
In addition, almost all the aesthetic mods (which are largely a matter of preference), story mods (like the legendary Falskaar or Bruma SE), and even convenience mods (like Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers) should work seamlessly (I haven't personally tested all of them, but all I've tested have worked).
In summary, most mods work but some important ones don't.
Thanks GOG and Bethesda.
