Skyrim Special Edition GRAPHICS COMPARISON: Xbox 360 vs. Xbox One

We take a look at the enhanced graphics of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition on Xbox One, compared to the original Xbox 360 version. Check out 1:13 for the best improvement of all!
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[@iced_latteZ]

It just looks like the saturation was turned up on the Xbox One. But can we take a moment to recognize that the 360 is almost 11 years old and it still holds up for graphics!

[@daftnezzie]

Right?! I was going to say the same thing!

[@SilverAura]

I don't think a mild upgrade on a 5 year old game qualifies as still holding up for graphics. Once the mods start coming, I think you'll start seeing major differences in what the Xbox One can handle compared to the Xbox 360.

[@daftnezzie]

Silver Aura Still bought it! It's one of my all time favorites. Playing it literally right now.

[@Name-wg4gt]

Well, skyrim on 360 doesn't look that good, but games like mgs v and gta v look nice and hold up today

[@daltonsullivant2127]

Nez mine too

[@whechi]

xbox 360 clearly wins for having more rabbits

[@eizhowa]

My thoughts exactly.

[@jeanbatiste]

literally a bunch of filters and added foiliage, it's embarrassing that modders do a better job than the creators of the game themselves

[@dankdoodlememes5544]

Bethesda don't want to over do it and want to keep the original feel of the game incase someone wants some graphics/foliage mods

[@dankdoodlememes5544]

People r dumb

[@Jonpo]

a lot of behind the scenes stuff too new engine and stuff

[@NIke9v9]

It almost looks better on the 360

[@dankdoodlememes5544]

No the f**k it don't look at the trees dipsh*t!??!@#@?#!

[@dpearson80808]

Yeah I think it’s because of the compression of the KZbin video. On my phone here I thought the same thing, why I came down to the comments. But on the Microsoft store on XBOne it looks considerably better. It’s lost in the KZbin vid.

[@outofworkbum2324]

Dank Doodle memes 61 people think so

[@outofworkbum2324]

Kyle V agreed 360 looks better and I did look at the trees as per comment section suggestions

[@wesleymartens6794]

I have both versions and I love the remastered one but in some way I deff can agree with you style wise r something.

[@MikeHeldTheWorld]

doesnt look anything like the official reveal comparison.

[@choptop81]

and here i thought they were actually gonna update the textures

[@dankdoodlememes5544]

Look at the water dipshit

[@AngelBolt]

at first I thought the one on the right hand screen was the improved, because normally the reading order is left to right, old to new. And... I still like that the older one had sharper details and edges.

[@dochmbi]

Xbox 360 is amazing, it looks pretty damn great for a console from 2005.

[@recht_voor_zijn_raap5506]

After playing the special edition for quite a few hours now. .. I have to say i'm really impressed by the graphical upgrade. .. Its way more than a few sharper textures and foliage.... Especially the lighting is extremely impressive... Think of volumetric real time lighting ( the so called godrays for instance ) But also impressive global illumination which really improves the immersion... At night the moonlight shimmers through the trees and in real time lights up the fog ( Thats also volumetric ) which gives some absolute amazing visuals.... The depth of field effect is implemented also in impressive ways.... Overall the game has nice improved full HD textures and new effects for water ,snow, foliage ,fur etc.... The draw distance is increased signifacantly and pop up is almost non existant ( something which was very prevallent in the original version ) .... Shadows which were just ugly in the original are smooth and accurate .. The game runs on consoles at a steady 30fps without slowdown .. Not everything is ok though ... Some textures are still a bit muddy and not everything has recieved the same amount of polish ( Think of some noticable lower quality textures on rocks for instance ) Also though the game runs smoothly at 30 fps .. The fact it doesn't run at 60fps could be considered as a bit dissapointing ... Having said that : The rest of the game has recieved an incredible amount of polish and although the game is 5 years old .. With this release it can compete again with the best looking games nowadays... The artwork and design are still top notch and looking better than ever.

[@Joanna-sk7bg]

Recht_voor_zijn_raap Do you think it's worth buying again if I've played the original and the DLC's? I really love skyrim and want to play it again, but I might wait till it's a little cheaper.

[@recht_voor_zijn_raap5506]

Joanna Thats something everyone has to decides for themselves i'm afraid .. I absolutely loved Skyrim in 2011 but it became unplayable on my ps3 when my savefile became bigger than 15mb ( The RAM of PS3 was insufficiënt.... So I bought this one to get back in the game after 4 years ... If you love Skyrim its a must own ... But its not a must buy right now...The game is content wise exactly the same .. nothing has been added except for mod support on consoles.... You can wait till it becomes cheaper , but I recommend getting it at some point ... Its still an amazing game 😊

[@Joanna-sk7bg]

Yeah, you're right. I think I might buy it in a few weeks or so. I spent hundreds of hours on Skyrim but I feel like I want to play it again. My xbox 360 is so loud that I can barely hear the game, it kind of ruins it for me, haha. Thanks for the reply!

[@recht_voor_zijn_raap5506]

Joanna You're welcome 😉

[@Joanna-sk7bg]

I am a peasant for life. I'd play it on PC but I don't have one. :P

[@june6089]

To be fair, I don't think youtube's encoding is loving all the soft fog effects in the remaster? It looks real bad in this video for that.

[@AdrianWoodUK]

Either KZbin encoding, or however they captured the footage, yeah. Both videos are *very* blurry, and the xb1 was affected more by it. 360 looks *better* in the first set of footage, the executioner's mask loses all detail in the xb1 side etc. Completely useless as an actual comparison.

[@dpearson80808]

That’s what I thought. It looked reaaaallly good on the Microsoft store. I was just looking for a little more direct comparison but this isn’t doing it justice

[@Jkdtr1013]

Positives: - Less blocky shadows - That view distance when he was walking to Whiterun though...me likey. - Load times...the shorter the better, seriously. - Slightly improved graphics, vegetation and more color to the world is nice. Full price though? No thank you. I still have my old copy, so it's not really worth it, even with the upgrades, because it's still playable and fun. If you get it free for PC you have no reason to complain. Otherwise, people who haven't played it yet should definitely get the remastered version. It may be the same old, buggy as hell Skyrim, but it does look better. Every one else is just upset they didn't get a free copy or it wasn't overkill. What were you expecting? They're not going to put all the time and money into an older game, just to blow are minds with crazy new graphics. (If they did I'd rather it be one of the older elder scrolls because this game is already pretty) It will always be the same game, new graphics or not. So if you can't or won't mod it, don't get it. If I never played it, I'd get it. Oh well...

[@PoopyDoopyFloop]

It's like 20 bucks tho

[@nyloaf]

Hey y'all, youtube does NOT portray the xbox one version's graphics/changes very well. You can hardly notice in this video due to the way youtube's resolution works. I would recommend just buying the game used or at a cheap price to really see the differences.

[@mytech6779]

It's a whole console change not just a game, but good to know YTs deceptivly compressed "1080p" strikes again. Same for all of the YT resolutions really, 540 on vimeo was better than YT 720 5 years ago and I know YT had degraded quality so much since then that I have had to shift up a full resolution step on all videos to keep similar visual quality. (I have a lot of people streaming on a limited data connection so I don't 1080 everything; and for a while it seemed like YT ran more ads on higher res settings but I don't notice it now.)

[@suspectedcrab]

Special Edition removes the cold, wintery harsh atmosphere/look of Skyrim, and replaces it with a Spring-like look. This is not an upgrade... And aside from those differences, the texture upgrade is not noticeable. Get the original version if you want better immersion and an almost guarantee of zero bugs.

[@lordzeuscannon6400]

I do have to say, I prefer the look of oldrim over newrim. But unfortunately modders don't support oldrim anymore and went to newrim (special edition) instead of legendary edition or base game

[@AshesAriseTW]

Call me crazy but I actually like the 360 version more than the special edition, never did like the lighting updates they did...

[@ShrubRustle]

it looks the Fucking Same

[@jack8025]

Sometimes I would mistake the 360 version as the better one

[@TheGebs24]

I thought the left was the 360 😂😂😂

[@jacobhanifon9883]

The bright scenes are to bright and yellow, and all the dark scenes/areas are hard af to see.

[@michaeltuckey7]

Lol, so the xbox one version is a slightly more blurry version of the 360 version...

[@KevinR1138]

I can't justify the full price to rebuy this game however I do see the difference and anyone that says there isn't a difference are either blind or so Bethesda jaded they can't see any positive in anything they do any longer. The draw distances alone have been dramatically improved that's plain to see, the jaggies in the texture details at a distance have been smoothed over completely, the foliage has been increased to a rather beautiful extent, the lighting etc. etc. yeah it's been improved folks. Even so I'm waiting for this to drop in price before I even consider buying it.

[@NaughtyGhost777]

No, if they haven't played it I can agree with them saying they look the same. KZbin's having a hard time rendering the new shaders so the images on youtube look blurry and unfinished.

[@KevinR1138]

Dominic Berry look...to each their own but that's bullshit, the side by side comps clearly show all the differences I just mentioned, I don't own it and yet I can see them myself (there's no end to them here on YT, just pick one for varieties sake) so obviously there's a noticeable difference even at lower resolution. But I'm not just going by these KZbin videos there are infinite gaming sites out there that have higher resolution photo comparisons, the information is out there for people to see.

[@OrganicGuerrilla]

It's only $20 now and with the Gamestop membership it's down to $15.

[@Duhya]

Meh it's free if you already own the original, so im happy to have a better looking base to mod from.

[@markyates3680]

Its like a photography I student went into lightroom and just tinted all of their photos yellow. Even the "cold" places look super warm now.

[@paradoxacres1063]

Damn, _Dragon Age_ looks better than I remembered.

[@Jericho1903]

Why comparing two things that look almost the same?

[@phlag]

So that you know that they look almost the same.

[@Jericho1903]

good point

[@NaughtyGhost777]

Apparently youtube's having a hard time rendering the new shader graphics. I own it at its running significantly better than what's being shown.

[@trentweems4374]

feyjay1903TR I only got Skyrim Special Edition because I wanted to play it on Xbox one instead of my old, clunky Xbox 360

[@Jericho1903]

They could have made it backwards compatible. The difference is just too little for 60$. Why not remaster an amazing game like skyrim? Look how fantastic MW Remastered looks. I would even assert that MW Remastered looks better than most current gen games.

[@luxmonolith]

I vastly prefer the original color grading and atmosphere over special edition. 360 is the best version of Skyrim, not only because of the original look, but the ability to play on CRTs with beautiful native analog output. Peak gaming.

[@davisbernstein5150]

It was already a good looking game that's probably why it hasn't changed that much. Also when I used to play skyrim on the 360 I played on a 50 pound piece of crap for a tv this is gonna be so much better

[@NeknwKenw-oc4mf]

I got my Xbox 360 2005 arcade version to load Skyrim in 17 seconds I reformated my drive and made a clean new save and reinstalled the game on my drive

[@lukeautosymbol2668]

Looking at this in 2024 is strange. We all would've said back in 2016 that the Xbox One was the clear winner, but with time and perspective, the answer isn't so simple. Yes, the general performance in terms of frame rate and stability on the Xbox One is largely better--it should be, and that shouldn't surprise anyone. But the graphics--the focus of this video--is the weird part. Better particle effects on the XBone, but it gets to a point where areas seem hazy; there's also too much saturation, and somehow sharpness is less. Textures are noticeably sharper on the 360 than on the Xbone. The Xbone's saturation leads to a warm, sepia tone-esque tint outdoors, while the 360 in contrast looks like a color-corrected version. Xbone has more flora (plants) outdoors--nice feature, although the difference isn't striking. Frame rate in this video shows stability even during combat on the 360, keeping pace with the Xbone. Load times better on Xbone--Polygon is right to call that the best improvement. Draw distance on objects and NPCs is nearly the same, which is wild. Pop-up is a little worse on 360, but not by much. Still can't get over how much clearer textures are on the 360. The 360 version is awesome. Amazing to think you could run a game like this on a console made as early as 2005.

[@waffleless]

I hope this will be the version available on the Nintendi Swotch

[@endamccusker2489]

Got this at the weekend for £18 cos I traded in a game. Glad I did. The vanilla experience is a significant enough upgrade alone, but with mods like vivid weather, frost fall, frost fall hypothermia, camping, realistic sounds, realistic ice & snow plus new areas with new quest mods and mods that add little things like progress notifications every time I level up, it really adds to the emersion and feels like a much fuller RPG. I think that was worth my £18.

[@WhoTheHellIsHarvy]

Aka foliage comparison. I can turn the brightness and contrast up on my tv myself Bethesda thank you very much. Game developers should really start paying modders to do the job because dev studios are getting disgustingly lazy by the year. They could have put a lot more time and effort into making this look better on the next gen console. There is no way this warrants paying the full price for a game, no chance.

[@jediknight4951]

If this was where all the effort that was supposed to have gone into Fallout 4 went then I'm pretty disappointed.

[@danielgigs]

fallout 4 didn't really live up to the hype though even just by gameplay (don't know how it could). I still prefer to play new vegas and 3 over 4

[@danielgigs]

and no, it's not because nostalgia, it's because they're much better games, and i doubt all the effort went into skyrim. fallout 4 was focused on gradually threw the first 2 years of skyrim and than the soul focus after was fallout 4. so fallout 4 had 4 years of development and 2 of them being an almost 100% focus on fallout 4 (I say almost 100% as they had other games in the works like doom). all Skyrim SE got was a new engine, better textures and an almost perfect copy and paste of code and that's after fallout 4's release in which some of the team were working on the DLC and others were working on the doom revamp.

[@vassilyknigge850]

Still cannot believe how good the games looked on the 360 although the xbox one has 16 times the video memory. It looks like the only thing the Xbox one did is add light rays and revamp the trees.

[@RPG_Bro]

The only real improvements I see is the lighting, the hazy looking "filter", the draw distance, more grass, trees and plant life ,and the environment both up close and really far away. Those mountains with trees tho.

[@TomTom-fu4ix]

looks better, but could look a LOT better than that for charging full price again. I expected Witcher 3 on the graphics side (more or less) but did not. i know different engine and what not blah blah blah but still. fight me

[@EvilKingPhill]

They look basically the same. Glad to hear about shorter load times though

[@nickramos5614]

xbox 360 looks visually the best and it's the best selling version

[@ascentlx4222]

How are the mods? Any recommendations that'll work with the unofficial patch?

[@OLDCHANNELDONOTUSE]

Depth of field and more foliage... woah, slow down there Bethesda

[@97dodgecummins]

Is there a special edition for the 360? Or is it only for the Xbox one? Thanks.

[@goldenmossjs]

It sucks how the people at Bethesda have straight up stated that the $60 pricing is because they want more money. I'll buy this, yes I will. But not today, tomorrow or next week, not until the price is easier on someone's wallet. Should've been a $40-$50 game.

[@danielgigs]

it's 40 in australia

[@mustangbeauty4]

Huh. 360 isn’t bad. I’ve only played on 360, but compared to the “remaster,” it looks okay.

[@Pessimisten]

nice compression on the video, you could almost make out details

[@jawsvvvvv]

just me or doesn't look that much different

[@XboxAnnihilator]

Game developers seem to be under the misguided delusion that "remaster" just means to up the contrast a little.

[@resaleketchup5149]

seems to be more grass, water is nice. there aren't random texture patches missing from the rivers. lighting is nice. magic is pretty. overall it is skyrim still, It's just closer to how it looked in my head playing on ps3

[@danielgigs]

i feel sorry for you (i also played it on ps3 and not xbox 360) we got the short end when it came to console versions. it ran pretty badly on ps3 over the 360 version. i had a 360, but i got it as a gift

[@lucidbarrier]

So is it worth buying for the Xbox One? I have been playing it on the PS3 and it's got laggy parts, screen tearing and popping and all that jazz. You can't play a Bethesda game without that. I was thinking of getting it for the 360 but I do have the Xbox One just kind of sitting there. So far it's just been Hoarders: Medieval Edition

[@michaelcavanagh8087]

the graphical changes might not be that different, but SE plays hell of a lot better

[@jawsvvvvv]

Rabbits FTW

[@paradoxacres1063]

Mmm rabbit stew...

[@ryanretrogamer7]

I have a lot of graphics mods on my Xbox One and it looks amazing compared to this

[@indosuprem2296]

i wish i can get the old version of game that like 8-15 gb rather the release that like 100gb something ehem gta 5

[@joebonaparte1490]

its KZbin I played it last night all night there is a major change. I mean very noticeable

[@jake3551]

well that was underwhelming

[@cowboy8494]

*Turns up brightness* Hey it's 60 dollars

[@danielgigs]

i find it hard to believe it's being sold for $60 retail in the US. i just picked it up for $40 in Australia

[@DP-cx6sx]

i can see why some people dont want to buy this again... but fuck, im happy i did. 😃😃

[@eCroz_8611]

Devin Parker Seriously, I love this game & this was the last one that kept me from retiring my 360, so I was set on picking this up regardless. But man does it looks good. None of the videos do it justice. Very nice upgrade, full 1080p & much smoother than last gen consoles. Loading screens are faster, drawing/sheathing weapons/spells are faster & smoother, no lagginess

[@DP-cx6sx]

Erik Crossley yeah its been awhile since i played the original, but this one feels completely new to me. especially with mods.

[@sir_socr8s]

Can I use my 360 Skyrim in my Xbox one

[@buffsniper]

Yes

[@buffsniper]

Most of The 360 games work on Xbox one

[@muzicgr8]

360 still the King!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@sabreflak2215]

Those who have shelled out the cash are still trying to convince themselves and others that it's significantly better than last gen, on this evidence it's not.

[@daftnezzie]

Why does the X360 look better????

[@geraltvonriva4837]

Nez Because X360 is a beast

[@blazedgamingkr1438]

Now, think of how old Xbox 360 is, and watch the video again. 360 teabagging all over the xbone.

[@1kickass]

i think the 360 looks sharper is that wrong i see others thought the same so i guess it really is thats lame wherever is the new skyrim game? why remake the same old game that makes no sense??

[@meangene408]

The graphics aren't much better, if any. It's full of bugs and Bethesda should offer a discount to anyone who had to re-buy this.

[@mpme11509]

It literally only looks like somebody slapped an Instagram filter on the game why are people even buying this cash grab

[@fabionunes7081]

im disapointed

[@OffroadExpress69]

Xbox 360

[@limitbreak84]

Looks the fucking same. like...they lied man.

[@kiasplayz1209]

is special edition on Xbox 360

[@nyloaf]

Yes

[@adamparker1504]

i have both versionsa and the xbox one version is far superior. But for some reason on this youtube vid the xb1 version looks worse. So for this video i am going to say the winner is the 360. But in reality the xb1 wins.

[@StackOf64ilE]

If you listen closely you can hear a pc user laughing so hard he falls out of his chair

[@dartvade1955]

and if he saw how much money we saved he would die in that chair!!

[@HARLANP]

makes me feel bad I got an Xbox one instead of another gtx 1070

[@thomasmcdipper3727]

a gtx 1070 can play skyrim maxed settings, you dont need two to play skyrim.

[@HARLANP]

Thomas mcdipper just saying how I wasted money on my Xbox one because the versions shown are so similar compared to PC

[@thomasmcdipper3727]

I guess, but it will always be better on Pc same as any game.

[@embersaffron5522]

No you cant, you need quite a bit more to run a game than a 1080, where a XBone can play it out of the box

[@thomasmcdipper3727]

And how long will an xbox last? a few years at most. Whereas a pc can last for decades. Yeah you need more and you have to spend more in the short term, but games on pc being cheaper and can last longer. In the long run the pc is much much cheaper.

[@Ripdolly]

Can you mod on the 360? 😅

[@nyloaf]

You probably know by now, but ill answer for other folks. No you cant mod on the 360, at least not easily.

[@yoitsblade2180]

Graphics on xbox 360 suck compared to the xbox one x

[@itspipotyme]

To the people who are saying that it looks better on the 360, you're literally incorrect. Stop trying to be ironic or whatever.

[@LordOfDays]

This is unfair

[@michaelf4385]

Not a good example at all.

[@PedroTawa]

Looks the fucking same

[@poopsicle45]

skyrim sucks

[@aviaris]

wow! they both look bad