SKYRIM SPECIAL EDITION: THE MOUNTAIN THAT NEVER CLOSES

8.5 of 10 bananas. Fifteen years on, still the biggest open door in the RPG canopy, with old bones you can feel.

By the Alpha. PS4 Anniversary Edition listing. Updated Oct 14 2026.

Honest note: This is not a fresh hands-on playtest. I built this verdict from launch reviews, critic consensus, patch history, and what is known about the game today. If I put real hours in on stream, I will update the score and say so.

Platforms: Read this before you click. The Amazon button is Skyrim Anniversary Edition for PS4 (Bethesda, US rated M), which is the Special Edition plus a large pack of extra Creations. The box art notes a PS5 upgrade is available. At my check it was in stock from a third-party seller and shipped by Amazon. I picked it because the plain Special Edition PS4 listing I found was a resale copy. Skyrim Special Edition is on PC through Steam, and Skyrim is also on Xbox and Nintendo Switch.

Sit with me a moment. Every silverback in this troop has a Skyrim story that starts with a quest and ends three days later in a cave they never meant to enter. Mine involves a cheese wheel and a long fall. That is the game. You walk toward a mountain, and the mountain lets you.

What It Wants To Be

Bethesda's 2011 open world RPG puts you in the boots of the Dragonborn, a hero who can learn the language of dragons and shout it back at them. The 2016 Special Edition remastered the visuals and bundled the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn expansions. You can follow the main story, join guilds, or ignore all of it and wander.

What Works

Freedom. Skyrim lets you build any character through use, so you become good at what you actually do. The world is packed with ruins, side stories, and small surprises around every ridge. Shouts still feel powerful. On PC and Xbox, mods turn it into a new game every year, and on PS4 Bethesda's mod support adds a lot of life too.

What Breaks

Listen well. It is a 2011 game under fresh paint. Combat is stiff, faces are wooden, and the main quest is thin next to the side content. Bugs are part of the legend, and some are not funny when they eat a save. Mods on PlayStation are limited to content that uses the game's own assets, so the wild mod scene is a PC and Xbox thing. Bethesda has also sold this game on almost every device, so make sure you are not buying it a fourth time.

Who Should Play

Play if you have never been to Skyrim, or if you want a huge RPG you can live in for months. Skip if you need modern combat or a tight story. If you only want the main quest, you will wonder what the fuss was about.

Related: Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

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