With the 10th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim very close at hand, the upcoming anniversary edition of the game has long-time fans more excited than ever. While some may roll their eyes at yet another release for the game, this version of it (or upgrade for owners of Skyrim: Special Edition) promises to bring high-quality new content thanks to Skyrim's Creation Club.
Launched in 2017, this feature allowed third parties to creators to work with Bethesda, helping the developer create new content for Skyrim with a level of polish rarely seen in the game's vast modding scene. Over the years, 48 creations released onto this store, and all of them will be included in the anniversary edition, along with 26 new creations, many of which have yet to be unveiled. A lot is coming, and players need to know what's on the way.
The Free Stuff
While the anniversary edition offers all of the Creation Club content, players who don't buy it will still get some new content, too, as long as they own Skyrim: Special Edition. Four sizable content packs are being made free for everyone to download and play.
Survival Mode is the first, and it will see players having to contend with the world around them as well as Dragons. Cold, famine and fatigue will all be things that Dragonborn now has to worry about, with an overhauled UI brought in for a much more challenging experience.
Saints & Seducers is one of the biggest content packs available, and now it's being given away for free. This pack has a little bit of everything themed around Sheogorath's Shivering Isles, with armor, weapons and Daedric artefacts in-store, alongside 8 new quests and 19 new creatures/characters. It even comes with the bonus pack, Rare Curios, which gives rare goods to Skyrim's Khajit merchants.
Finally, a brand new content pack is being added: Fishing. Fishing minigames are the hot topic in open-world games, and everyone wants a piece. There are over 20 fish to catch, and they can be used in several different ways. Eating them, displaying them as trophies, or letting them swim beautifully in the brand-new home aquarium will be the options available to those who want to fish.
Player Homes
Always a favourite of the modding scene, several creations add new player homes into Skyrim's world. All themed around different aspects of Skyrim, they're great stopping places for players to store their gear and rest their heads before moving on to the next adventure. All four can be obtained through quests.
The Tundra Homestead is the simplest of these. It is a warm and cozy cottage located east of Whiterun. It's not the most lavish place, but it has a homely feel and comes fitted with crafting stations and racks to display all sorts of loot, including all of the game's Dragon Claws. Getting slightly grander, Hendraheim is a Nordic hall that comes into the player's possession through a duel. As the hall of a mighty warrior, there are places for unique weapons to be displayed, from the Bloodskal Blade to Miraak's Sword, and even some of the unique shields.
The Shadowfoot Sanctum, as the name may suggest, is a home designed for the professional thief. Entering either via The Ratway or a sewage grate outside of Riften, it's not a glamourous home, but a very useful one nonetheless. There are crafting stations galore and places to store all the unique items that players are likely to come across during the Thieves Guild questline.
Myrwatch is a grand tower standing in Eastmarch. Containing two areas, this house takes inspiration from the College of Winterhold and is a wonderful lair for a grow mage. The most impressive feature is a Staff Enchanter, which is usually only available on Solthstiem and an All Forge, which can forge items exclusive to the Skyforge or Gunmar's Forge. Finally, while Camping doesn't technically add a player home, it gives them a tiny home away from home, setting them up with a place to sleep, cook and keep warm.
Weapons & Armor
Naturally, there is a veritable arsenal available to players with all of the Creation Club's content. These range from uniquely powerful items to those that simply look cool, and they pull from all sorts of places. Included are 7 "Alternative Armors" packs, featuring armor from The Elder Scrolls: Blades.
- Ebony Plate
- Steel Soldiers
- Daedric Mail
- Elven Hunter
- Dragonscale
- Dwarven Mail
- Stalhrim Fur
Some packs allow armor to be crafted out of normally useless materials like Netch Leather or the Vigilant of Stendarr armor. Players can now look more like a Skyrim native and a true Nord than ever with new Nordic Jewellery, while loyal soldiers can find and don the Imperial Lord's Mail. Players can even get into the holiday spirit with the Saturalia Holiday pack.
Additionally, there are 11 packs that add unique weapons with crazy effects.
- Dawnfang & Duskfang (Swords) - Strike with Fire (Dawnfang) or Ice (Duskfang).
- Elite Crossbows - Add Elven & Ebony crossbows.
- Expanded Crossbows - Add crossbows from all major smithing materials.
- Umbra (Greatsword) - Adds an expansive dungeon. Sword soul-traps and heals both HP and Stamina.
- Staff of Hasedoki - Knocks back and soul-traps foes.
- Shadowrend (Sword or Battleaxe) - Lowers foe's magic defence.
- Arcane Archer (Arrows) - Six craftable magic arrows.
- Chrysamere (Greatsword) - User resists Fire and absorbs Magic.
- Ruin's Edge (Bow) - Shots might cast a random spell.
- Staff of Sheogorath - Paralyzes foes.
- Stendarr's Hammer(Warhammer) - Drains Stamina.
Naturally, this is a lot to be carrying around, which is where the Adventurer's Backpack comes in. A craftable item that adds a whopping 75 points to carry weight, making over-encumbrance a thing of the past. Finally, for this category, 6 packs add both apparel and weapons.
- Arms of Chaos - 2 Staffs and an Amulet.
- Civil War Champions - Elite Stormcloak and Imperial armor and weapons.
- Sunder & Wraithguard - Enchanted Mace and Gauntlets.
- Arcane Accessories - 28 Robes and 16 Spells.
- Divine Crusader - A Mace and Sword. Heavy and Light Armor sets.
- Spell Knight Armor - Iron, Steel and Ebony variants of Spell Knight armor set.
Creatures
Wildlife is a big part of what makes the game's overworld feel so alive. Be they regular deer roaming the world or a band of hostile Spriggans, filling Skyrim's world with more creatures is bound to bring a new layer of enjoyment to roaming the fields and hills of Skyrim.
The Wild Horses pack means that horses don't have to be bought from Skyrim's stables anymore. Wild horses will now roam Skyrim and can be tamed in a minigame where the horse tries to buck the player off. It gives an extra connection to these animals, and there's even a mythical Unicorn out there for taming.
The Bone Wolf and Nix-Hound are different types of dogs that players can keep as pets. They both have slightly different effects, but they share buffs to Carry Weight and boost damage. The Nix-Hound can even scrounge around and sniff out alchemical ingredients, and if that's not enough, the Dwarven Amrored Mudcrab is sure to strike fear into the hearts of enemies.
Dogs are all well and good, but players who want more exotic pets will love the Pets of Skyrim pack. This adds 5 names animals who are all obtainable as followers.
- Arachnia the Spider
- Hilda the Goat
- Skritch the Skeever
- Sweet Roll the Fox
- Thistle the Rabbit
It's not all fun and games, though, as some truly horrifying creatures lurk in the night. Goblins have made their way to Skyrim in a brand new quest, with the potential to recruit one as a follower. However, that's nothing compared to the threat of a deadly zombie hoard that the Dragonborn must put down (or summon and control them, if they're so inclined).
A Bit of Everything
Some packs just can't be put into a single category because what they add is so expansive. Including the aforementioned Saints & Seducers, three of these are confirmed to be added to the anniversary edition, with at least one more promised amongst the brand new content.
Dead Man's Dread is a pirate-themed pack where the Dragonborn will be led to investigate a haunted shipwreck filled with all kinds of goodies and monsters from Skyrim's seas. Pirate treasure, along with the clothes and weapons of the pirate captain and Cyrus, the protagonist of 1998 game The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. The grotto where the undead rest can even be used as a player home once it's cleared out.
Forgotten Seasons adds arguably one of the most impressive dungeons in the game's history. Themed around the four seasons, players will need to understand the mechanics to reach their goals, with puzzle design familiar to fans of The Legend of Zelda series. It adds a mind-blowing amount of content from various creators. This content consists of 7 new creatures (including a mechanical mount), a new armor set, valuable enchanted items, and a new passive spell.
What's Yet to be Revealed
With a total of 26 brand new packs promised to be added, it's hard to say what all of them will be. So far, Bethesda has revealed the names of 15 packs and given a sneak peek into some of them.
- Bittercup - A mysterious altar in Falkreath.
- Bloodchil Manor - Vampire-themed player home.
- Bow of Shadows - Bow that grants invisibility and increased sneak speed.
- Farming - A working farmstead in Whiterun.
- Fearsome Fists - 15 craftable Gauntlets for unarmed combat.
- Gallows Hall - Necromancer-themed player home.
- Ghosts of the Tribunal - Help or destroy a band of rebels, with lots of gear from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
- Goldband - A legendary Katana hidden in a dungeon.
- Headman's Cleaver - A new Greataxe.
- Nchuanthumz: Dwarven Home - Dwarven-themed player home.
- Necromantic Grimoire - Necromancy-themed Spells and Enchantments.
- Redguard Elite Armaments - Redguard-themed Light Armor and 2 Weapons.
- Staves - 7 Staves from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
- The Cause - Questline involving the Mythic Dawn trying to open an Oblivion Gate
- The Contest - Questline following the trail of a hunt for a legendary Spider.
With so much new content being added to Skyrim for the first time since the Dragonborn DLC, it's an exciting time to be getting back into the game, or perhaps play it for the first time. There are still more packs to be unveiled, and it's a certainty that this will be a worthy anniversary celebration of a legendary game.
Skyrim: Anniversary Edition releases on November 11 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.