The Special Edition doesn't go for sweeping character model and animation overhauls like I and many other players had hoped, but it does enhance the world’s occasionally meaningful details. (I've also spent almost all of my roughly 400 hours with Skyrim on PC, where naturally I stuffed it with graphical enhancements.) But a side-by-side comparison with the original version quickly unmasks the considerable differences. The Special Edition doesn't make sweeping character model and animation overhauls.I struggled with this realization at first: in my memory, it always looked much like this, with the woods around Riften alive with detailed vegetation. Skyrim's Special Edition recaptures and beautifies the original game, but leaves a lot of room for an even-more-special edition down the road. Much as the prophets over at Bethesda Game Studios foretold, the Dragonborn has returned to us, but it's certainly not the second coming.

The Nordic homeland looks better here, no doubt, but never quite good enough to let it pass for a modern game, and it lacks any new content or behind-the-scenes features to make it feel fresh for a returning adventurer. But soon after I'd spy rich foliage carpeting the floors of dark fir forests and light bouncing off choppy waters on Lake Ilinalta, and these sights would kindle a homesickness for this made-up world I explored for months five years ago, but the inconsistency of the graphics upgrade leaves Skyrim in a strange place. It's the first thing I saw in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition as we rode in the cart toward our execution, and it didn't leave the best first impression. Rigid and coarse, Ralof's hair looks like a piece of dust-caked banana Laffy Taffy I once found under my couch.

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