Skyrim is my favorite role-playing game. Or no – it was my favorite RPG until a similar but completely different RPG usurped that spot.
Every time someone says they're playing a game that's better than Skyrim, I roll my eyes. Come on, your new favorite has nothing to do with Skyrim! The Witcher 3 is better than Skyrim, yes? Do you realize that The Witcher 3 follows a completely different gameplay premise, with a pre-built story and pre-built character? Huh?
Say what you want, but there are hardly any games like The Elder Scrolls. Which doesn't mean that the TES parts are infallible masterpieces on the market; it simply means one thing: Role-playing games are rarely so lonely, so free, so big. In Skyrim you can do anything you want; you can become almost anything you want. For some it's too boring – some, like me, love it. Now of course it's kind of funny when I say that at most Skyrim could surpass a game like Skyrim, right?
When I think of Skyrim, Enderal suddenly pops into my head
Hmm, what was the name of this city in Skyrim again? Ark? No, no – Whiterun! But whatever, I prefer to think of Ark over Whiterun anyway: Enderal has overwritten the memories of Skyrim in my head, and it's able to do that so well because it's a Skyrim mod. Probably the biggest Skyrim mod ever – a mod with its own story, its own map, its own skill system, its own NPCs and characters, its own monsters, its own music and its own speakers. And one that somehow feels like Skyrim. A better Skyrim if you ask me.
It's all about this: You and your friend travel to Enderal as stowaways, the island where you want to find your happiness. But your life as a refugee soon takes a turn: the Red Madness afflicts Enderal's residents, a disease in which everyone loses their minds and becomes violent. The city of Ark, the center of Endralean culture, is huge: markets, the Order's temple, several taverns, homes and a second underground city where beggars and pathless people languish.
Problems, tasks and decisions await you, as does the main quest, which drags you deeper into its clutches hour by hour. There are also NPCs with whom you can… Friendships and even relationships can build up: Similar to Dragon Age, you just have to give the right answers in the conversation, but a little oratory also helps. Enderal is more difficult as Skyrim, more emotional and still offers the freedom with which you can play almost any build and wander around in the world.
All in all, Enderal felt so much like a better Skyrim that it's no wonder I now think more of the mod than the original game.
Enderal is already a few years old, but if you don't know it yet – get to know it!
Am I a Skyrim traitor?
Is it okay to love Enderal more than Skyrim? After The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, I waited year after year for games that managed to pull me into their fantastic world with just as much freedom. The fact that Enderal is tearing me off my role-playing game stool has of course also to do with the nostalgia that I feel towards Skyrim.
Of course, it's also easier – even if it's still incredibly difficult! – Years after Skyrim, creating a game on the same engine that, for some, even surpasses its predecessor. And finally, I'm sure that not everyone will be so convinced of Enderal: it's not as huge as Skyrim and there's even more talk in the mod than in the original. What you have to like.
By the way, there is now even one that has been praised by critics Fantasy book for Enderal: Dreams of the Dying.
If you miss Skyrim or Dragon Age, just play Enderal
– immediately!
My recommendation to you: If you love Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Skyrim, don't wait any longer and let Enderal kidnap you. The mod starts as its own game with its own menu, just as the in-game world cannot be classified in the Elder Scrolls universe. Enderal is freeyou just need to own Skyrim or Skyrim: Special Edition on Steam.
Get Enderal for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim on Steam.
Get Enderal for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition on Steam.
Enderal is not without its faults, but for me it is now on par with Skyrim and the best BioWare RPGs. The fact that modders, volunteers and the community have created such an amazing game is pretty impressive. And developer SureAI is already in the process of implementing a next work – but where it will take players is still uncertain.