Enderal: Forgotten Stories (Special Edition) is a total conversion mod for Skyrim SE, which is now running on the 64 bit version of the TES V: Skyrim Special Edition. This version benefits heavily from the new rendering engine and features improved lighting effects, smoother image quality and the best possible performance & stability. Enderal is a game modification that is set in its own world with its own landscape, lore and story. It offers an immersive open world, all for the player to explore, overhauled skill systems and gameplay mechanics and a dark, psychological storyline with believable characters. Enderal is free and can be played by anyone owning a legal copy of TES V: Skyrim Special Edition. It is developed non-commercially by SureAI, the team behind the renowned Oblivion mod Nehrim: At Fate´s Edge (and various other projects).
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Very impressive mod with a few quirks that I didn't enjoy. The story and characters are great, amazing reuse of assets from Skyrim and some fun gameplay. However, there were a couple of choices made both story wise and gameplay wise I wasn't always a fan of, but that's very subjective.
If you have Skyrim SE, play this. Free and hours long, definitely worth it.
If you have Skyrim SE, play this. Free and hours long, definitely worth it.
After a long time, I have finally finished to play this game. I started it on the original version, then switched to the Special Edition and continued with my save here. It has a lot to do, a lot. There's a big world map to explore and a lot of quests. I had encountered some bugs, some of them I had even to use the console commands to partially fix them, but this didn't stop me from enjoying this game. It's a pretty well-done game with a well-written story, unexpected plot twists, and many decisions to make in some quests and side quests. Who you choose to trust and how the game ends, it's all up to you.
This is to Skyrim what Fallout: New Vegas is to Fallout 3. This is one of the best RPGs in recent memory. The story gave me a genuine existential crisis due to how well the themes of surrealism and existentialism were written and executed.
The world is gorgeous with in-depth and alien lore. A world that feels simultaneously like a living, breathing, and grounded grimdark fantasy world; while also as magical, fantastical, and whimsical as a German fairy tale. Similar to Morrowind you are thrown in as an "outlander" and have to learn the culture with your player character. The combat and character building is elevated beyond base Bethesda-esque gameplay by a new XP and freeform class system. You can make such unique builds based around so many different things, from collecting unique souls to summon as undead companions you build to crafting oil pots to make people ragdoll like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Armor, weapons, and enchantments are more complex too with unique sets handplaced throughout the world, pieces found in every dungeon. Magic is unique, deeply powerful but with drawbacks. I also enjoyed the interesting arcane fever and perk system.
Dungeons are my least favorite part of most RPGs, in Bethesda games they become slogs especially. So samey and boring with nothing unique, but in Enderal they are absolutely fantastic. Aesthetically I may go as far to say they are the best dungeons I've ever seen in a video game. The flora and fauna, complex and gargantuan ruins and structures looking more like a FromSoftware area than a Bethesda engine game, etc. Dungeons are more detailed and unique feeling while feeling worthwhile. As I mentioned earlier most dungeons have at least a single handplaced unique item of a set. There are also mysterious magical symbols that give you XP, Ice Claws which raise your carrying capacity, and worthwhile crafting blueprints. Cities and world design in Enderal is some of the best and most detailed, shoulder to shoulder with Novigrad in the Witcher and Baldur's Gate. The world also benefits from a genuine feeling of realism, an entire huge area of tons of farms that feel realistically laid out and visually stunning. Different biomes and regions. Etc.
Side quests as well as the main quest are memorable and interesting and some of the best in the genre up there with the best of Oblivion's, Baldur's Gate 2's, and Witcher 3's. They are full of both realistic and compelling characters as well as wacky and hilariously unique ones. Several characters I will remember years later. And there are many long questlines based around diverse central characters, all of them memorable with different paths the player can lead them on. (My favorites being Tharael, Esme, Jespar, and Calia). One quest genuinely had me weeping like nothing else. Just. Wow. The game also effortlessly pulls of fantastic horror, possibly the best I've seen horror done in a fantasy RPG. With compelling visuals and audio, haunting writing, and memorably dark stories.
The voice acting is very impressive as well, some are professional quality, a few here and there aren't spectacular but overall there is a good quality to them all. Some are absolutely standout though. The music is beautiful, it feels like if you mixed Spirited Away's melancholic breezy music with the adventurous spirit of Morrowind/Oblivion's soundtrack! The bard songs are amazing. If you like medieval/fantasy bardic songs this is a treasure trove for them, better than those found in base Skyrim. My favorite bard's song is the Aged Man, which is absolutely haunting.
The writing is some of the best in the business, up there with the classics like Planescape (in my humble opinion). I've even ordered the main writer's book, Dreams of the Dying! I will be reading it once I finish this playthrough. I wish him and this whole team the best, and gaming studios please get on top of hiring these people!
I'm going through my second playthrough now, my first on the special edition. I already have tens of hours of this on the Skyrim Classic version, fantastically made mod, better than Skyrim itself in many regards. I would also say this is the true successor to Morrowind. Play it. It's free if you have Skyrim. And if you don't have Skyrim, buy it for this.
The world is gorgeous with in-depth and alien lore. A world that feels simultaneously like a living, breathing, and grounded grimdark fantasy world; while also as magical, fantastical, and whimsical as a German fairy tale. Similar to Morrowind you are thrown in as an "outlander" and have to learn the culture with your player character. The combat and character building is elevated beyond base Bethesda-esque gameplay by a new XP and freeform class system. You can make such unique builds based around so many different things, from collecting unique souls to summon as undead companions you build to crafting oil pots to make people ragdoll like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Armor, weapons, and enchantments are more complex too with unique sets handplaced throughout the world, pieces found in every dungeon. Magic is unique, deeply powerful but with drawbacks. I also enjoyed the interesting arcane fever and perk system.
Dungeons are my least favorite part of most RPGs, in Bethesda games they become slogs especially. So samey and boring with nothing unique, but in Enderal they are absolutely fantastic. Aesthetically I may go as far to say they are the best dungeons I've ever seen in a video game. The flora and fauna, complex and gargantuan ruins and structures looking more like a FromSoftware area than a Bethesda engine game, etc. Dungeons are more detailed and unique feeling while feeling worthwhile. As I mentioned earlier most dungeons have at least a single handplaced unique item of a set. There are also mysterious magical symbols that give you XP, Ice Claws which raise your carrying capacity, and worthwhile crafting blueprints. Cities and world design in Enderal is some of the best and most detailed, shoulder to shoulder with Novigrad in the Witcher and Baldur's Gate. The world also benefits from a genuine feeling of realism, an entire huge area of tons of farms that feel realistically laid out and visually stunning. Different biomes and regions. Etc.
Side quests as well as the main quest are memorable and interesting and some of the best in the genre up there with the best of Oblivion's, Baldur's Gate 2's, and Witcher 3's. They are full of both realistic and compelling characters as well as wacky and hilariously unique ones. Several characters I will remember years later. And there are many long questlines based around diverse central characters, all of them memorable with different paths the player can lead them on. (My favorites being Tharael, Esme, Jespar, and Calia). One quest genuinely had me weeping like nothing else. Just. Wow. The game also effortlessly pulls of fantastic horror, possibly the best I've seen horror done in a fantasy RPG. With compelling visuals and audio, haunting writing, and memorably dark stories.
The voice acting is very impressive as well, some are professional quality, a few here and there aren't spectacular but overall there is a good quality to them all. Some are absolutely standout though. The music is beautiful, it feels like if you mixed Spirited Away's melancholic breezy music with the adventurous spirit of Morrowind/Oblivion's soundtrack! The bard songs are amazing. If you like medieval/fantasy bardic songs this is a treasure trove for them, better than those found in base Skyrim. My favorite bard's song is the Aged Man, which is absolutely haunting.
The writing is some of the best in the business, up there with the classics like Planescape (in my humble opinion). I've even ordered the main writer's book, Dreams of the Dying! I will be reading it once I finish this playthrough. I wish him and this whole team the best, and gaming studios please get on top of hiring these people!
I'm going through my second playthrough now, my first on the special edition. I already have tens of hours of this on the Skyrim Classic version, fantastically made mod, better than Skyrim itself in many regards. I would also say this is the true successor to Morrowind. Play it. It's free if you have Skyrim. And if you don't have Skyrim, buy it for this.
Sehr schön!
With a renewed interest in big fantasy RPGs as of late (mainly cause of Baldur’s Gate 3 which I still need to finish admittedly), I got a craving for it and considered crawling back to playing Skyrim or Oblivion once again seeing as how there’s still little else like those until… Avowed I guess? Or just waiting for the next TES game 5+ years from now…
Somehow though I’ve only just recently heard about Enderal: Forgotten Stories, a free “full conversion mod” for Skyrim that’s actually considered a whole separate game you can download on Steam. Very curious, instead of replaying Skyrim for the 10th time I decided to give that a shot to see how it differs. Now that I’ve finished, to say I’m impressed by it is an understatement
The main thing to point out about Enderal is that calling it a mod is doing it a disservice honestly. While it of course plays the same as Skyrim and uses its assets, it is most definitely its own RPG and a dense one at that, set in a completely separate world to explore. It has its own unique world-building and lore, a main questline that’s actually pretty compelling and far more involved compared to Skyrim’s own, more fleshed out characters especially with the focus on two central companions throughout the story, has dozens of good side quests to do, and it has full voice acting with its own soundtrack. Needless to say for something that costs nothing aside for just owning Skyrim, I was immensely caught off guard by how extensive it really was. Almost like playing a TES game for the first time again, I got lost in it and have over 50 hours now with the story done but still plenty left to do and explore
There are criticisms to note though, for one as much as they try to rebalance its systems, if you didn’t care for Skyrim’s combat then this won’t really be much different. If anything I found the change to buying learning books for leveling skills instead of natural progression with use to be a bit too limiting after a while, though it did make money more useful and kept the game more challenging given there’s no level scaling. Quests can be prone to breaking also which is an issue for main ones especially, occasionally having to reload older saves to progress cause nothing would happen otherwise. And the voice acting, as varied as it is which was appreciated for something like this, ranges from pretty good to kinda amateurish most of the time. Though on the whole it’s hard to fault this given how huge of a game it is, and that it’s just using Bethesda’s engine which is inherently janky
So overall I think it’s a great game in its own right, but as a free fan project it’s a pretty amazing achievement, even going so far as to say it surpasses the game it’s taking from in most aspects. If anyone’s looking for something that revitalizes Skyrim’s style of adventure or just wants a new fantasy RPG to really sink into, then give this a try for sure
Somehow though I’ve only just recently heard about Enderal: Forgotten Stories, a free “full conversion mod” for Skyrim that’s actually considered a whole separate game you can download on Steam. Very curious, instead of replaying Skyrim for the 10th time I decided to give that a shot to see how it differs. Now that I’ve finished, to say I’m impressed by it is an understatement
The main thing to point out about Enderal is that calling it a mod is doing it a disservice honestly. While it of course plays the same as Skyrim and uses its assets, it is most definitely its own RPG and a dense one at that, set in a completely separate world to explore. It has its own unique world-building and lore, a main questline that’s actually pretty compelling and far more involved compared to Skyrim’s own, more fleshed out characters especially with the focus on two central companions throughout the story, has dozens of good side quests to do, and it has full voice acting with its own soundtrack. Needless to say for something that costs nothing aside for just owning Skyrim, I was immensely caught off guard by how extensive it really was. Almost like playing a TES game for the first time again, I got lost in it and have over 50 hours now with the story done but still plenty left to do and explore
There are criticisms to note though, for one as much as they try to rebalance its systems, if you didn’t care for Skyrim’s combat then this won’t really be much different. If anything I found the change to buying learning books for leveling skills instead of natural progression with use to be a bit too limiting after a while, though it did make money more useful and kept the game more challenging given there’s no level scaling. Quests can be prone to breaking also which is an issue for main ones especially, occasionally having to reload older saves to progress cause nothing would happen otherwise. And the voice acting, as varied as it is which was appreciated for something like this, ranges from pretty good to kinda amateurish most of the time. Though on the whole it’s hard to fault this given how huge of a game it is, and that it’s just using Bethesda’s engine which is inherently janky
So overall I think it’s a great game in its own right, but as a free fan project it’s a pretty amazing achievement, even going so far as to say it surpasses the game it’s taking from in most aspects. If anyone’s looking for something that revitalizes Skyrim’s style of adventure or just wants a new fantasy RPG to really sink into, then give this a try for sure
It was truly a great experience. I would like to thank everyone who effort to this mod (game) for providing a better experience than many games on the market. There are some annoying bugs. Especially the 'Angel' quest bug was frustrating. However, they are not that numerous and offer an overall clean experience.
The entitlement to the labor given cannot be paid for the this mod.
The story and characters are beautiful. World building is great. The main story of the game has two endings, and both of them leave you with indescribable emotions at the end.
Music and voice-overs are handled thoroughly. Pretty successful in all of them.
My favorite track: https://youtu.be/9FKdTsG-j8Q?si=QxKbn0UiOBdGVL-3
Just play and see. This is no longer a mod. It should appear as a game that is better than many games, including Skyrim.
The game has many more points that I can praise, but it does not end with writing. You have to see and experience this wonderful adventure for yourself.
If one day a game is made instead of a mod set in the Vyn universe, I'm ready to pre-order it at the full version price. The devolopers won me over. I'm already a fan of this universe.
Trust me, you won't regret it.
MY SCORE: 10/10
The entitlement to the labor given cannot be paid for the this mod.
The story and characters are beautiful. World building is great. The main story of the game has two endings, and both of them leave you with indescribable emotions at the end.
Music and voice-overs are handled thoroughly. Pretty successful in all of them.
My favorite track: https://youtu.be/9FKdTsG-j8Q?si=QxKbn0UiOBdGVL-3
Just play and see. This is no longer a mod. It should appear as a game that is better than many games, including Skyrim.
The game has many more points that I can praise, but it does not end with writing. You have to see and experience this wonderful adventure for yourself.
If one day a game is made instead of a mod set in the Vyn universe, I'm ready to pre-order it at the full version price. The devolopers won me over. I'm already a fan of this universe.
Trust me, you won't regret it.
MY SCORE: 10/10