The system requirements for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition have been revealed, and I hope none of you were expecting that they'd be more or less the same as they were for the original release. They are not.

Come on, are you surprised? The original Skyrim is five years old, after all, and no, that's not exactly an eternity in the realm of PC hardware, but it is an awfully long time. The minimum required spec for Skyrim OG was a 2.0 GHz dual core CPU, 2GB RAM, and a DX9.0c-compliant video card with 512MB of RAM. I'm pretty sure my phone packs a heavier punch than that.

So here's what you're going to need if you want to roam the prettier-than-ever lands of Skyrim SE:

Minimum:

Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)

Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945

8GB RAM

12 GB free HDD space

Nvidia GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB

Recommended:

Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)

Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320

8GB RAM

12 GB free HDD space

Nvidia GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB

Bethesda has previously announced that Skyrim SE will be free for people who already own "all the Skyrim stuff" that's already been released. More specifically, as it explained on Steam, that means anyone who owns the original game and the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLCs, or the Skyrim Legendary Edition, which is all of the above in a single bundle.

That's really the way to go if you're looking to leap into the land of the Nords for the first time: Skyrim SE will sell for $60, while the Legendary bundle is $40. You've got until the Skyrim SE release date of October 28 to pick it up if you want the free upgrade.

