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Originally released back in 2011, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim remains one of the most successful RPGs of all time. Beloved for its sprawling open world, emergent gameplay, and a vast array of role-playing opportunities, Skyrim continues to delight players to this day.
Because of Skyrim’s massive popularity, the game has been released and re-released on nearly every major gaming system available. From the Xbox One X to the now-ancient Xbox 360, the game's age has led to it being a remarkably scalable title in terms of its graphics and performance. While powerful PCs loaded with mods can make Skyrim look downright gorgeous, the game can also be made to appear to show its age, and then some.
A Reddit user who goes by the name SomberKlepto has posted a video clip of him playing a hilariously downgraded version of Skyrim on their 2012 laptop. Rather than use Skyrim mods to achieve the desired look, SomberKlepto has instead gone into their PC registry files to alter the title. After the tweaks, Skyrim looks like it would be right at home on the Nintendo 64 or original PlayStation. SomberKlepto admits that while their AMD A8 powered PC could play the game at higher, although still low, graphics, they simply couldn't resist trying the appalling settings and found the results too amusing to not share.
The video has absolutely blown up on Reddit, earning over eight thousand upvotes and hundreds of comments. Other users are laughing at the finished product and some are remarking that they didn’t even know Skyrim’s graphics could actually go so low and are jokingly comparing the new blocky look of the title to the intentionally square Minecraft.
Skyrim isn’t really known for having incredible graphics anymore due to its age, but it obviously normally looks significantly better than SomberKlepto’s video. There’s a new next-generation version coming soon, too, titled the Skyrim Anniversary Edition, that will likely improve the game’s visuals even further. The new version releases on the tenth anniversary of the game’s launch date, November 11th, 2021, and also adds some new content, like fishing.
Of course, fans would likely rather have the much-anticipated Elder Scrolls 6 instead of another release of Skyrim, but at least the next title in the storied franchise is in active development. Although The Elder Scrolls 6 was first announced with a brief teaser trailer in 2018, very little has been revealed about the much-anticipated sequel since. Elder Scrolls fans will just have to keep manipulating Skyrim in silly ways like SomberKlepto while they wait.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available on PC, Switch, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.