Enderal, The Huge Skyrim Mod, Is Out Now
Dovah keen
A final version of Enderal: The Shards of Order [official site] has been completed and can be downloaded for free now. While 'Enderal' sounds like it could be something made by a United States pharmaceutical company, it is actually a massive total conversion mod for Skyrim, not just adding new weapons or turning it into a survival game, but creating a whole new RPG using the raw materials of its parent. A German version was recently released but now you can get it in English. Disgusting, verminous English.
The modders, SureAI, have good form at this sort of thing. They are the same crowd who made Nehrim, a total conversion mod for Oblivion, and this has been called a sequel to that. We’ve already seen glimpses of the Undercity, a subterranean location in this big new continent, and hopefully there are many more handcrafted townships to harass.
The mod itself promises a “dark, psychological storyline” that takes over 30 hours to beat, with a cast of fully-voiced characters, and a revamped progression system that goes back to the experience points of traditional RPGs. While it’s all based on Skyrim’s machinery (you’ll still be swinging your sword by the looks of things), the mechanics have been altered somewhat, and a whole new open world will be there to explore “with its own lore and hand-crafted, detailed and diverse landscapes (desert, heathlands, forests, jungles, mountains and more).”
I’m going to play it this week and report back what I think. It's been a while since I nearly froze to death. In the mean time, you can grab it yourself by following the instructions on their website.