While it doesn’t really feel right to call Enderal a mod, so much as it’s a complete conversion of vanilla Skyrim it can also be called a masterpiece. Currently holding a 9.4/10 on ModDB.com, Enderal is a completely new game built using Bethesda’s Creation Kit as a base, along with base assets from Skyrim.
Enderal boasts 20-30 hours of gameplay, it’s own twist on level progression and a dark, psychological story. The changes are too many to count, so here’s a quick teaser trailer for those who haven’t played it:
With so many rave reviews, it’s hard to find things that could be improved upon. That’s why I was only able to come up with 3 real aspects that could be made better in Enderal.
1. Enderal’s Combat
So here’s the kicker with the combat in this thing. The combat itself has been tweaked for the game, with new spells and abilities added in. For me, the drawback is that it’s merely a tweaked version of Skyrim’s combat system. Now, I’m not putting down Skyrim, a game I have close to 900 hours playing, but Enderal just feels like it needs something more to its combat. It’s not bad, I just feel it would benefit more from a different type of combat system.
Perhaps if it went for a more Witcher 3 system with parry and dodge roll mechanics? I feel like it would be more natural feeling that way. The AI could also use a bit of work but again, that’s down to vanilla Skyrim mechanics. Maybe if you were able to intergrate some combat mods like “Wildcat” or “Combat Evolved” it would help to make combat situations feel more tense.
2. Enderal’s Cutscenes are a Slog
The cutscenes are long. Not only are they long, they’re unskippable as well. While they do serve to help move the story along, it can feel really tedious at times to be forced to sit through them, especially with their often clunky animation mechanics. It’s not a total deal-breaker but the option to skip cutscenes should be present.
Or, if this were to manage to get a port to the 64-bit remaster, they could look into doing the cutscenes like they are in Fallout 4, where you’re able to move out of them or speed them along. I guess a downside to doing this would be that you’d be prone to skipping through relevant story information and maybe not appreciate the game as much. But it’s all about the user experience! So …
3. Enderal’s Crafting Feels Weak
I may not always like the grind to gaining proficiency in crafting skills but the reward at the end is worth it. But that’s not the case with Enderal’s alchemy skill. Unlike in vanilla Skyrim where having an alchemy skill could vastly increase your potions — somewhere around ~125% more powerful — Enderal caps out at around 25% more powerful. This makes crafting potions less desirable because players can find/buy better potions than they’ll ever be able to craft.
Now I know that a few other modders have done some work to fix some of the crafting issues, but it’s kind of weird to have a mod to fix another mod (although I know from experience that there are plenty of mods doing this).
Other than that, Enderal is an amazing experience that you should, well, experience, especially if you own vanilla Skyrim. What’s more exciting is the recent announcement of a “DLC” for the game — adding an additional 10-20 hours of play time to this already impressive mod. For more information here’s a sneak peek trailer:
Do you have some improvements that you feel could be made to the game? What’s been your experience with Enderal? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!
