Skyrim's huge mod scene makes my wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 less painful

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Skyrim'southward huge modern scene makes my expect for The Elder Scrolls vi less painful

(Image credit: Bethesda)

It's been nearly a decade since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released in the fall of 2011. Since then nosotros've seen the open-world first-person RPG get re-released on multiple panel generations, and fifty-fifty ported over to the Nintendo Switch and virtual reality.

While prolific, in both its vanilla and 2016 Special Edition forms, Skyrim now looks rather long in the tooth, with a game engine that very much belies its age. But Skyrim'south support for mods and all manner of tweaks accept extended the game'due south life massively. And a new video showing off what happens to Skyrim when ane sticks 500 mods and ray tracing on it reminds me simply why information technology'south such a special game, and triggers quiet excitement for The Elder Scrolls 6.

• Everything we know so far nearly The Elder Scrolls vi
• I'1000 OK with The Elderberry Scrolls 6 release date existence years away
• Plus: The Skryim mod that makes the game unplayable just got killed

Mods for an Elder Scrolls game are cipher new. Skyrim's predecessor Oblivion has modern support on the PC, and Skyrim came with it pretty much from the get-go. Steam Workshop support later made it trivially piece of cake to access and utilise multiple mods in the game without breaking it.

Now, YouTube channel Digital Dreams has taken this back up and really run with it, giving Skyrim Special Edition a 4K makeover, a large boost in graphics and ray tracing, equally well as hundreds of other mods. I've embedded the video below for your viewing pleasance. Suffice to say, with plenty of visual mods the game looks miles apart from its original form, yet still unmistakably Skyrim.

Making one of the best games of all time even improve

(Epitome credit: Hereafter)

Such mod projects are ambitious, merely serve to show how malleable Skyrim is. And they too let you take an old game and make it expect a lot newer, customizing information technology pretty much to your liking.

I've non flirted besides heavily with mods myself, simply opting for the official loftier-res textures for my first major playthrough of Skyrim. But as I polished off the main entrada and the multitude of major side quests, I started to look at ways to tweak some of the annoyances out of Skyrim, and modern support was the answer.

Subsequently hearing various guards tell me for the hundredth time tell me "I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee," I found a mod that got rid of the repetitive voice lines. Then I started to dig farther, tweaking map markers, audio, and calculation extra content into the game.

While I like to play games as the developers intended, having ploughed hundreds of hours into Skyrim I've got to the point where there's not much else to explore. But while I bemoan the filibuster of PS5 exclusives, seeing Digital Dreams' video serves as a reminder that there'due south so much that I could still wring out of Skyrim.

But it also gave me a dose of nostalgia and reminded me of but how adept Skyrim really was.

Sure, The Witcher three offers a more than compelling story to frame its open-world, Cherry Expressionless Redemption 2 provides smarter systems and more than dynamic environments, and Breath of the Wild makes traversing its ruined landscape an utter joy. Merely there really aren't many games, at to the lowest degree outside of programmer Bethesda'south library, that give you the feeling of being in a whole country to explore.

Why Skyrim is still worth playing today

(Paradigm credit: Future)

While the Witcher 3 felt like you were dropped in a canton, Skyrim conveyed the feeling of moving across an unabridged country on a big continent. Multiple cities over seeing specific areas — Winterhold in the North, Falkreath in the Southward, Riften in the East and Markarth in the West, and more than — each carrying the cultural particularities of the slice of Skyrim they occupy, made the game's setting feel like a fully-fledged fantasy nation rather than just a map to explore.

And while the chief storyline wasn't the most dynamic, the myriad of side quests — from full-fat secondary stories of the Thieves' Society, Dark Alliance and The Companions, to simple tasks — gave the expanse of Skyrim real character and depth. Quests will meet you crossing fields and fjords, plumbing the depths of cave networks and dwarven ruins, and scaling ancient Nordic fortresses built into snow-capped mountains. Some finish in a unproblematic reward and an entry in your journal marked off, while others provided surprisingly poignant stories about lost ghosts or tales embroiled in Skyrim's rich history.

Non only does Skyrim provide this incoherent go-anywhere wonder from the very outset, it communicates that it's a land embroiled in fantasy geo-politics, cultural scuffles, hardships and successes for those willing to graft or cheat their way to the top.

While it tin't quite deliver the nuanced ecology storytelling of Souls games, which accept seen people launch whole YouTube careers based around deciphering lore and stories from items, symbols, architecture and environments, the country of Skyrim notwithstanding tells its own tales. A skeleton in a cave might exist clutching a journal saying how the person concluded up at that place, with an entry noting foreign scratching noises; venture farther and you may find that person ran afoul of giant spiders or the Falmer, seemingly corrupted elves with a murderous intent.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

All that aside, Skyrim remains just a wonderful nation to explore. Even in its vanilla course it still presents yous with some screenshot-worthy vistas dappled in autumnal sunsets or covered by a star-studded sky.

During the multiple coronavirus lockdowns when I couldn't get out of London to the countryside, Skyrim offered me some respite as I shuffled through the deciduous woods of Falkreath or crossed the misty hills and mountains surrounding Markarth. Coupled with the fabulous soundtrack, and a skillful drinking glass of wine or whiskey, and Skyrim delivered some wonderful escapism.

With all the transformational properties of modding, there's enough of reasons for me to go on revisiting Skyrim for years to come. Only my recent feel with the game too makes me experience very positive about The Elder Scrolls vi.

Sure high-allegiance open-world games are at present a dime-a-dozen. But few developers capture that Bethesda magic when information technology games to making a virtual earth yous just want to lose yourself in. I'm currently playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla and every bit skillful as it looks, it lacks that certain "what's around that corner" bulldoze that Skyrim gave me nearly a decade ago and nonetheless manages to practice today. Fallout 76, meanwhile, may have suffered a terrible launch, merely as my colleague Marc McLaren says in his review of the latest Steel Reign update, it'southward now close to being the game it e'er should have been. And again, that Bethesda open-world magic is a big part of information technology.

So with the lessons learned from Skyrim and the plethora of mod inspiration to draw upon, I'm rather confident that Bethesda will not merely make The Elder Scrolls six a visual treat, but also give me yet another compelling country to explore for literal years.

The only fly in the ointment with all this is that Bethesda's next large game Starfield is set to arrive belatedly 2022, meaning The Elderberry Scrolls six isn't likely to be released for a good few years yet. Just I won't moan, every bit I similar sci-fi exploration just as much every bit fantasy open-world wandering. And while I wait, I tin can simply mod the heck out of Skyrim.

• More: Grand Theft Machine 5 on PS5 will officially run at 4K/sixty fps

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.G. Editor at Tom'southward Guide with a focus on news, features and stance manufactures. He often writes near gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's besides got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, oftentimes with a await of curiosity on his face.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/skyrims-huge-mod-scene-makes-my-wait-for-the-elder-scrolls-6-less-painful

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