The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Franchise: The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim
Release date: Oct 27, 2016
Store page updated: Aug 13, 2026
Price: $39.99 · Steam store ↗

Review Analysis Score

91.5/ 100

Based on 365 reviews from the past 1 year

Steam User Rating

Recent 🙂 Mostly Positive 77% of 2,435

All time 😄 Very Positive 92% of 377,664

“addictive gameplay loop keeps me returning despite frustrations”

How it holds up

−50+5

Gameplay

+3.23

Freedom +4.65 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way

“you can ignore the main story and create your own stories” (63)

🔒 5 more indicators

Story & World

+3.91

World +4.52 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

“best open-world RPG even 15 years after release” (81)

🔒 2 more indicators

Content Volume

+4.18

Volume +4.75 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price

“can do everything in one playthrough, legendary” (22)

🔒 2 more indicators

Visuals & Sound

+2.86

Visuals +1.73 · Graphics, art style, and animation

🔒 1 more indicators

Multiplayer

+3.71

Not enough data — only 9% of reviews mention this.

Community +3.60 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

🔒 2 more indicators

Pricing & Fairness

-2.00

Not enough data — only 8% of reviews mention this.

Pricing -1.79 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge

🔒 3 more indicators

Tech & Support

-2.25

Stability -2.40 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs

“bugs can get annoying during play” (52)

🔒 2 more indicators

Scores are the average of reviews that mention each category (−5 to +5). Fainter bars were mentioned by fewer reviews; grey means too few to trust. Tap a category ▾ to see what drives it.

Steam review activity

% positive over time

since launch, by month · major update

Oct 2016Sep 2026

Reviews

per day · 2,426 reviews, peak 204/day

Aug 21Sep 18

Steam only gives daily counts for the last 30 days; longer ranges are by month. Months with fewer than 10 reviews are left out of % positive. "Show updates" marks major updates and DLC the developer posted on Steam (since about 2020) — hover a column to see % positive the month before and after.