The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation is the era of remasters. Tomb Raider , Final Fantasy X , Dishonored , Injustice , DmC , Dead Island , Resident Evil , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare , and I should really stop listing games or this will never end. Remasters are everywhere. They’re unavoidable. And now, it seems like Bethesda could be in the midst of bringing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But, is it a good idea?
I mean, it’s absolutely a great idea for Bethesda. Skyrim was a hugely successful game, people would absolutely buy it again for a current gen console, and it would require less time and money to put together than an entirely new The Elder Scrolls game. It’d definitely generate a lot of profit. Plus, it’d tide people over until a sixth game was released. There’s no question Bethesda would win from such a thing, but would we?
I think enough time has passed where we would. It might not seem like it’s been a long time, but Skyrim was released back in 2011. It’s turning five years old this year. It’s a pretty game, but a remaster would allow it to look much better on consoles. We’ve reached a point where a Skyrim remaster would look substantially different from the original than, say, Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition .
Skyrim is also the sort of game where there is a chance some people still haven’t finished it. The Dawnguard and Dragonborn expansions were huge. Also, I know I never actually completed the main campaign. I went around the world doing everything else instead. It’s substantial enough that people could easily go for it again because of all of the game’s nooks and crannies.
There’s one more important thing to consider, and that’s mod support. Bethesda set a precedent with Fallout 4 , by allowing the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the games to access mods made for the PC version. Consider the wealth of Skyrim mods already available. Imagine if Bethesda brought a remaster of the game with mod support to consoles. It would blow us all away.
Basically, there’s potential here. A Skyrim remaster is absolutely a good idea for Bethesda. What developer doesn’t like relatively easy money? It could also be good for us. A lot of time has passed since the original release and, if Bethesda incorporates what it’s learned from Fallout 4 , we could have a chance to enjoy a wealth of mods on consoles.