Sunday during Bethesda's E3 press conference one of the many pre-show rumors floating around was confirmed: a remastered edition of Skyrim is headed our way. It's called the Skyrim Special Edition, and it'll be out for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in October. During a post-show interview, Todd Howard also said that the Special Edition would be free for those who own "all the Skyrim" stuff on PC, and by "stuff" we assume he means the three official DLC expansions: Hearthfire, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn.
For console gamers, the Special Edition is good news, because it will provide remastered art, improved lighting, new shaders, and other graphical upgrades. For PC gamers, there's also good news—though not exactly breaking news—because modders have been hard at work improving Skyrim's looks from the moment it launched in 2011.
So, if you don't want to wait for your copy of Skyrim Special Edition to arrive, I've put together a list of existing mods based on the improved features showcased in the Special Edition trailer.
Remastered art and effects
There's a heck of a lot to choose from if you want Skyrim to be a prettier place. The Special Edition trailer focuses on trees, so I'd recommend the Skyrim Flora Overhaul, which provides new textures, lusher colors, better trees and bark, lovelier plants, and taller grass.
Volumetric God Rays
If you want to bring some God rays into Skyrim, there are a number of ENB presets you can use, but RealLike ENB is one of the best, and though it first appeared in 2012 it's been updated as recently as June of this year.
Dynamic depth of field
Dynavision's got you covered here. It works like a camera's auto-focus. If you look at something in the foreground, objects in background will lose focus. It's highly customizable as well, and you can even activate and deactivate is while you're playing.
Screen-space reflections
In the video above you can see real-time reflections similar to those shown in the Special Edition trailer. Skyrim Enhanced Shaders NLA is an adaptation of the Natural Lighting and Atmospherics for ENB preset, and adjusts reflection parameters, enables reflections for interiors, and makes lots of other tweaks.
New snow shaders
If you're looking for better snow, Real Skyrim Snowflakes, also called Vivid Snow, adds a particle system so the snowflakes are hit by light sources. No more flat, fake flakes—you really feel like you're standing in a snowfall.
New water shaders
There's just something about nice-looking water that can completely change a game's world. I'd recommend the latest version of the Purity mod, which in addition to overhauling Skyrim's exteriors, gives you some sparkling and lovely looking water.
And, if you're looking for more mods to improve Skyrim's looks, we've got a whole page dedicated to visual overhauls on our list of the best Skyrim mods.
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