Skyrim is Getting Way Harder With a New Survival Mode

A new Survival Mode has been announced for Skyrim Special Edition that'll task players to withstand harsh conditions while traversing the hazardous open-world environment.

Skyrim may have come out several years ago, but that hasn't stopped players from dumping hours into the game thanks to continued mod support and rereleases on different consoles. The Survival Mode that's coming is just another addition that'll help retain players, a product of the Creation Club.

For hardcore gamers who are already versed with some of the restrictions that survival modes typically come with, the additions to Skyrim through its Survival Mode will be familiar. Fatigue, cold weather, hunger, and pesky afflictions are just a few of the factors that'll attempt to ruin your Skyrim experience. These types of debuffs will make players less effective both in and out of battle by lowering stamina or causing your health to quickly deplete when you get too cold, but they can be fixed by the common-sense methods such as sleeping in beds and finding a source of warmth.

Other gameplay elements have also been changed such as carry weight and how you'll level up. A bed's the only way to level up, but you can spend your perk points whenever you'd like. This means no leveling up mid-battle in order to restore your stat bars, a common technique that many Skyrim players have used in the past. Health regeneration is done away with, and only food, potions, or spells will get players back to 100 percent.

But out of all the changes, perhaps one of the most impactful ones is that there's no fast travel. If you want to get to your destination, you'll have to trudge it across the sprawling, dangerous landscape by foot or on horse. You can still take a carriage or other method of transportation to pay for a quick journey, but you might arrive there in a state of hunger or fatigue that'll need resolving.

The full list of changes coming to the Survival Mode can be found through Bethesda's latest announcement. Steam has received the game mode first, but it's currently in the beta phase for testing. It'll be fully released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC by early next month where everyone can play it for free for one week when it launches.