A mod? More like a whole new game (spoiler free).
So I've finally been playing the much anticipated mod Enderal since it's finally come out in English. It's amazing.
I don't think it should be called a mod at all. It's like a whole game you'd have paid £15 for at least. The voice acting is really good and I cannot fault the world design. With Skyrim you can sort of allow the lack of stuff Bethesda dotted about because it's so cold and wouldn't be much activity anyway, but most of Enderal (which is the name of the island, by the way) is quite warm and fertile and there are camps and bags and abandoned things everywhere. It really makes the world feel dynamic.
Not just that but it's so much more mature than Skyrim. People swear quite a bit and you see things and hear things you would never hear in vanilla Skyrim (for those not familiar with modding, 'vanilla' here means an unmodded game). It's quite odd, but nice to hear NPCs say words like 'bloody' but that's probably because I'm from London and hear those types of words anyway.
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| You don't see things like this in Skyrim |
One thing I will say - it does sometimes feel a little unfinished. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel there are some NPCs and locations about that might have had quests attached to them once upon a time. This isn't a negative thing, just a thought.
I'm only five hours in so far, but I hope there's a lot more content with the two main followers I've met so far. The affection mechanic or whatever it is for followers seems very interesting and reminds me of the companions found in the Dragon Age franchise. I've seen quite a few inspirations from Dragon Age actually - one quest I just knew I couldn't trust a guy because it felt so much like a quest from DA.
I am playing Enderal modded, but only tiny fixes seen below:
I've had two crashes, not sure why but it is probably a memory thing knowing the Creation Engine and its quirks. I've also seen a couple of visual bugs, floating grass and gaps but nothing gamebreaking so I don't mind. The development team are also patching daily.
The story so far seems very interesting. The game starts you off with a distinct background, but it's still quite obscure and allows you to still roleplay as you would like. The beginning of the game is really nicely done - almost like the beginning of a horror game. Plus the writers were clearly not protective of their characters - Enderal is a dangerous land and is in a time of upheaval and upset and this shows.
Conclusion: Go play it. It's super fun and is full of different mechanics and the familiar engine but completely different world and story is refreshing.
