A new mod for the The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition allows players to revert this latest version of the title back to its previous iteration, Skyrim Special Edition. This new version of the action RPG celebrates the 10-year mark for Bethesda's prolific Elder Scrolls title with the price of around $50 USD. Players who own the Special Edition of the game can update that version by purchasing the Anniversary Upgrade through digital stores for $19.99 USD.
Skyrim continues to maintain a strong player base over the past decade, in part due to producing three official versions of the game over the course of three console generations. The technical advancements made with each version of Skyrim consistently proves to be enough to bring both new and old players, a good portion of which are willing to spend modern debut amounts for a 10-year old title. There are some drawbacks to the game's constant evolution, however, and Anniversary Edition in particular has a major one with the Elder Scrolls modding community.
The latest version of Skyrim has a tendency to break mods that were originally created for earlier editions of the title. Bethesda allowed some modders the ability to make adjustments to their work to better fit the updated specs of the Anniversary Edition, but many mods still remain broken. Luckily there is a solution for those who now find their version of Skyrim unplayable: the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Downgrade Patch. PC Gamer reported that this mod, currently available on Nexus Mods, downgrades the Anniversary Edition back to Special Edition version 1.5.97. This 3 GB mod allows players to once again use all the extra content they added prior to the game's upgrade.
As of now, the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Downgrade Patch is limited to those that have a Steam version of Skyrim. It still appears to be a work in progress, seeing as many users have reported issues stemming from the downgrade not quite functioning as intended. Players may want to proceed with caution prior to installing this particular mod.
It feels natural at this point that Bethesda would continue to lean on Skyrim's success, especially with Elder Scrolls 6 still a few years away; but 10 years post-release is a long time to wait for a series follow-up. As a result, some likely hope The Elder Scross 6 finally hits shelves before another re-release or updated version of Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: PC Gamer, Nexus Mods