Not long ago, the remastered version of Skyrim launched to bring players back to the northern coasts of Vvardenfell, and get us all thinking about going back to Tamriel for real this time. While it's not exactly the best news we could have had, it's still good news for a few reasons. Let's have a look at what we're in for, and what this might mean down the line.

First off, it may seem outlandish to buy a game for $60 that many already paid $60 for almost five years ago to the day, but I can make it clear that this is all right. One, the new version of Skyrim is a serious graphical improvement, and after putting together my Bosmer archer, I discovered that the world was much the same as when I left it, largely after finishing the last expansion pack, Dragonborn.

Most of the locations seemed in familiar places, though I didn't exactly go all the way through yet, and indeed, the scenery was next-generation beautiful. It was absolutely stunning, in fact, and it made me wonder why in the world Bethesda Game Studios is holding off on Elder Scrolls 6. Sure, there's talk of some really high-end new tech and gameplay, but for crying out loud, after seeing what it could do on the Xbox One, there really wasn't an excuse for waiting.

Given the rumors about "Starfield" or whatever Bethesda comes out with next, this bodes well. While Fallout 4 wasn't exactly the greatest, there's no denying it was pretty. Even The Elder Scrolls Online was a treat visually, if not so much gameplay-wise, so there's significant room here for some very exciting propositions. Supporting Bethesda now might be just what the company needs to do some rapid-scale hiring and bring enough fresh blood into play that they can release these top-notch games a little more often than they do.

No one wants to see Bethesda fall into the annual release trap, but three years, even two, should be enough for a release. Bethesda's current plan of one new release every console generation won't exactly endear it to its many fans, and buying a copy of the visually-sharpened Skyrim may be just what's needed to help here.