"Skyrim Special Edition" is set to launch soon to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the original game. Bethesda revealed that there will be several new features that will make the fifth "Elder Scrolls" installment feel new again. The game developer also outlined the system requirements to enjoy "Skyrim Special Edition."
Bethesda wrote on the Steam Community that "Skyrim Special Edition" will officially arrive on Oct. 28, 2016. Gamers who already own the main game and all three DLCs, namely Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn, will receive "Skyrim Special Edition" in their Steam Library separately, free of charge.
To become eligible for a free copy of "Skyrim Special Edition," players should own the main game and three DLCs on Steam on or before October 28. A recent update also stated that players who own the "Skyrim Legendary Edition" will also get "Skyrim Special Edition" for free.
Bethesda stated that "Skyrim Special Edition" will introduce major changes to the game. These include mod support on consoles, volumetric lighting or "God Rays," remastered art and effects, Dynamic Depth of Field," new snow and water shaders and screen-space reflections. With the new mods, "Skyrim Special Edition" can play the game on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The special version also features native 4K support for the PlayStation 4.
Those who plan to purchase "Skyrim Special Edition" can wait for the global release of 12 a.m. UTC on October 28. The unlock times will be region-specific at 5 p.m. Pacific Time and 8 p.m. Eastern Time on October 27. It will also be unlocked 1 a.m. British Summer Time, 2 a.m. Central European Summer Time, 11 a.m. Australian Eastern Time Zone, 1 p.m. New Zealand time and 2 p.m. Japan Time. The free update to "Skyrim Special Edition" may require up to 36 hours to apply to player accounts.
The minimum PC system requirements to play "Skyrim Special Edition" include Windows 7/8.1.10 (64-bit version), 8GB of RAM, Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945, 12GB free HDD space and NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB/AMD HD7870 2GB. The game will require 20GB (North America) and 33GB (Europe) of PlayStation 4 storage space, respectively. On the Xbox One, 17GB (North America) and 25GB (Europe) of console storage space is required, respectively.