Enderal The Shards of Order

[Zurvanight]

 

Enderal is a Skyrim mod (yes I know it sounds silly to make a whole topic about a mod, but read on please). It's a free total conversion mod by a group of professionals called SureAI that turns Skyrim into a totally different game with its own world, people, and cultures. It still feels like Skyrim a bit, but it is much, much better. For instance, combat feels much more fun, where you can weave together certain spells for different effects, and learn different combat stances. I play a rogue class, and leveling up one of 3 skill trees unlocks stuff like flash powder, oil that slows down would be attackers, and even the ability to cook your own poison food. And when searching corpses or treasure chests as a rogue you can sometimes find secret stashes if your "Sleight of Hand" skill is decent.

The soundtrack is much more oppressive sounding than Skyrim's epic ballads and choruses. It fits the dreary landscapes and cities really well. You can gamble in pubs, craft tons of furniture for houses, invest money with a bank, and even own shareholdings. There are guilds you can join, like the Golden Sickle Merchants Guild, or in the new expansion you can become an assassin.

There is a city called Ark, and it is bigger than any Skyrim city. It has 5 whole separate districts, with each one being the size of a town, and another entire city located underneath the main one. It's called the Undercity and I love it. The atmosphere is oppressive and gloomy, the sunken and rotting buildings are so cramped together you have to travel through alleyways and houses just to get to other areas. The poor, sick and destitute wander around begging for scraps, hired thugs shakedown residents for money, shady merchants ply their wares, while prostitutes call out to you in seedy pubs. Never, and I mean, NEVER have I seen a city in a video game with such attention to detail. 

Regions in Enderal include mountainous tundras, heartlands, coastal tropics, rocky islands, deserts, marshlands, and ravines. There are hundreds of map markers, and I swear I have never seen one location that looks similar to another. Every single place looks unique, and offers hundreds of hours of exploration.

The story is much darker than I thought. You, a former citizen of Nehrim (SureAI's prequel to Enderal) start aboard a ship you smuggled yourself into and after being tossed overboard you wake up on the coast of Enderal. And everything starts getting crazy. A disease is rampaging unchecked across the continent called the Red Madness, turning wildlife aggressive, and normal villagers into crazed murderers. And to top it all off the dead are rising from their graves. You of course have to discover the origin of the disease, but you find it's much, MUCH more complicated than you thought.

Seriously, check this game out. If you plan to play, you need the original 2011 Skyrim for PC or the Legendary Edition. Special Edition is not compatible unfortunately. Here is SureAI's site if you need more info: https://sureai.net/games/enderal/

Edited August 4, 2019 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight]

Bumping because I got back into Enderal just to find out that SureAI is releasing Enderal's predecessor, Nehrim: At Fate's Edge on Steam next month. 

https://sureai.net/games/nehrim/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1014940/Nehrim_At_Fates_Edge/

Nehrim, like Enderal is a completely free total conversion mod. This one uses The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The developer confirmed both GotY editions work with Nehrim. Gameplay is similar to the old Oblivion (ew ...kinda) but instead of leveling your stats you get experience points like in Enderal, and can level up your abilities at a teacher like the Gothic series.

The story goes that the Light Born, cruel gods that rule over the world of Vyn, will be overthrown by the Shadow God, Tel'Imaltath. You are possibly that supposed 'god' but others believe it refers to Narathzul Arantheal, son of Tealor Arantheal, a major character in Enderal. Narathzul, with the help of Merzul has established The Order and are leaders of the rebellion against the gods. Taking place on the continent of Nehrim, a land where magic is forbidden, you must help The Order defeat and overthrow the gods, and fate itself, in order for men to truly become free. 

The game is originally German, and unlike Enderal, it does not have English voice acting, but there is a fan project in the works for translating it, and the developer has expressed interest in adding it as free dlc or something. All text in game has been translated into multiple languages so you can still play. No actual release day has been announced but the developer has gone on the record to say that there has been no delays. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Zurvanite