Among the things which annoyed me about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim were the eye-wrenching textures.

Fortunately, a variety of user-created enhancements are available that make the game far more pleasing on the eyes – and Bethesda has today chimed in with its own visual overhaul.

Over the weekend, the publisher teased that it would release a special “surprise” alongside the Creation Kit, which today becomes available as a free Steam download. That surprise is a high resolution texture pack which is available as a free download via Steam. The download weighs in at just over 3GB.

Of course, you shouldn’t even think about installing the high resolution texture pack if your PC specs don’t exceed the game’s recommended system requirements. So, a minimum of 4GB of system RAM  and a graphics card with at least 1GB of RAM are must-haves if you want to use the new textures.

If you don’t already own Skyrim, then today may be your lucky day because to celebrate the launch of Bethesda’s new toys, the game has been reduced to $33.49 (R270) on Steam, while its predecessors Oblivion and Morrowind are each $9.99 (R80) for today only.

Source: Steam

"Okay, it's slightly less rubbish now." - Nic Simmonds