Skyrim’s survival mode makes it feel like an entirely new game

I was feeling miserable earlier this week. When writing about video games is your day job, it can be hard to take pleasure in them, especially as the pressure to churn out articles on the newest releases can suck all the fun out of them. So, I downloaded Skyrim‘s Anniversary edition on my PS5, more as a cry for help than anything else, and I happily discovered an entirely new game.

After busting out of Helgen with Ralof (you’d never catch me chumming up to the people who just tried to behead me), I was met with a menu I’d never seen before: did I want to enable survival mode?