The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition Undocumented Changes

PCGamer’s Jody Macgregor has penned an article detailing seven subtle changes introduced by Skyrim’s Special Edition. These differences, ranging from water physics to save game functionality, represent nice quality of life improvements and show that developers still care and want their game to be the best experience possible, even if some of these changes may be considered questionable. A few examples:

Sprinting is a toggle

Having separate save files for each character is something Bethesda also did with Fallout 4, and another change that comes to Skyrim: Special Edition via that game is toggled sprinting. Once upon a time you’d have to hold down the Alt button until your stamina bar was empty if you wanted to sprint. Now it’s one tap to sprint and another to stop. It’s another very small change, but it may take me another 100 hours to get used to it and stop myself trying to sprint the old way.

The civil war is more impressive

Skyrim wasn’t really made for large-scale battles, as you’ll have noticed if you ever tried any of the mods that worked them in. The new edition makes things run more smoothly, which is of particular note in the civil war storyline. During the quests that involve pitched battles you charge into, fighting over cities like Whiterun, more of the combatants will take part in the actual combat rather than hanging back to let you do all the work (and also to sneakily preserve your framerate). And they say war never changes.