In terms of open-world games, Skyrim is undoubtedly one of the most expansive. The game is home to hundreds of NPCs, unique locations, and quests of varying length and complexity. It feels at times as though there's always something new to discover no matter how many times someone has journeyed through Skyrim before. Subsequent rereleases of the game have only served to increase its longevity, especially in the case of 2021's Skyrim Anniversary Edition, which was marketed as adding over 500 Bethesda Creation Club elements to the vanilla Skyrim experience. How many hours does all of this new content add to Skyrim's total playtime, especially when it comes to completionists?
Skyrim Anniversary Edition released on November 11, 2021, the exact 10th anniversary of the game. It serves as an upgrade from Skyrim Special Edition, including all of the graphical improvements featured in that remaster. All in all, it brings the total number of Skyrim rereleases to fifteen, scattered across ten different gaming consoles. While some Elder Scrolls fans were disappointed to see another Skyrim remaster as opposed to an upgrade for older games like Morrowind or Oblivion, others were glad to see at least some part of the series return given the lengthy development process currently facing The Elder Scrolls 6.
Many Skyrim players were likewise excited to explore the expansive host of new content introduced thanks to Skyrim Anniversary Edition's Creation Club elements, and some hoped that it would help refresh a gameplay experience that may have started to become stale in the eyes of longtime fans. It gave new and returning players alike a reason to pour more hours into exploring the vast region of Skyrim. To find specific numbers regarding just how long it takes to fully complete the game now, one could turn to HowLongToBeat, a site that polls gamers on how many hours they spent completing the story mode and extra content of games like Skyrim and compiles the data into average numbers. While there isn't specific data available for Skyrim Anniversary Edition just yet, it's still possible to examine Skyrim Special Edition and compare it to the changes introduced in the 2021 rerelease.
How Long It Takes To Complete Everything In Skyrim Anniversary Edition
In the case of Skyrim Special Edition, it takes players an average of just 25 hours to complete Skyrim's main questline. The gap between this gameplay method and that of completing the main quest plus a large portion of Skyrim's extra content is impressive, with most players taking upwards of 100 hours to beat the game with side quests. Completionists, meanwhile, could see anywhere from 200 to 700 hours worth of playtime. This would involve fully exploring every location on the map, completing every side quest with the exception of repeating radiant missions, and wrapping up the lengthier storylines in Skyrim.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition adds upwards of 40 quests to the game, each of which can take anywhere from under an hour to much longer to complete depending on how long players spend searching for small details such as story content hidden within notes and journals. Some of the lengthier questlines, like the popular "Saints and Seducers" storyline, can take multiple hours to play through in their entirety. That, plus the hundreds of new items scattered throughout the game, many of which are unique and will likely serve as collectibles in the eyes of completionist players, means Skyrim fans could be looking at around 100 hours worth of additional content when they install Skyrim Anniversary Edition. It lengthens the base game significantly and serves as a solid investment for players who feel as though they've already seen all there is to see in the region, all the more so for those who still haven't played Skyrim's expansions.
Source: HowLongToBeat