Skyrim Free Upgrade Klaxon, Nintendo Gamers Listen Up

You can currently download a free upgrade for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch 2 right this second, but… even for free, is it actually worth the cost?

In case you hadn’t heard, Bethesda dropped a Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade for Skyrim, titled The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, on December 9 last year.

The Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade for Skyrim contains all three of the game's expansions, and "hundreds" of Creation Club items, like new gear, dungeons, spells and quests.

Best of all, however, if you already own the Nintendo Switch version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade is free, which is probably why folks over on the r/Skyrim subreddit have been notifying people to download it.

If you only own the regular version of Skyrim, you could purchase the Anniversary Upgrade instead and upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 version that way (which is much, much cheaper than buying the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition).

As the upgrade is potentially free, and it also allows you to play the game without the use of a cartridge, surely downloading it is a no-brainer, right?

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Anniversary Edition promo banner from Nintendo store, Bethesda

Well, redeeming the upgrade is a good idea, sure, but actually playing it over the Nintendo Switch version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition might leave you a little disappointed.

Several reviewers (and folks on Reddit) absolutely blasted the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game for its numerous new bugs, its tendency to crash frequently, and its awful input lag.

Funnily enough, some of the selling points of the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade listed on Bethesda's official website are "Improved load times" and "optimized performance." I suppose technically they didn’t promise less input lag and fewer bugs, so I guess that’s still true.

Apparently, the latest patch for the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition has addressed some of these issues, but fans still recommend playing it on performance mode regardless. To make matters worse, while the input lag issue is less noticeable, it’s still very much noticeable.

Hopefully Bethesda will get around to releasing another patch or two in the near future, but for now, I’d only suggest redeeming the upgrade.

Until they actually address all of the new issues introduced in the Nintendo Switch 2 update, it seems that the standard Nintendo Switch version of Skyrim is still the way to go.