8 Skyrim Mods that will Totally Transform your Game

Skyrim is easily one of the biggest games ever made. It can take thousands of hours to find every single thing. So, what’s the most obvious thing to do with a game that’s nearly endless? Add MORE stuff to it! These are the 10 Skyrim Mods That Will Totally Transform Your Game. Every mod we mention is available on PC. We’ll let you know if you can find it on other platforms as well.

Static Mesh Improvement Mod

As impressive as Skyrim was when it released in 2011, time is rarely friendly to video game graphics. These first few mods are going to focus on improving some of the game’s graphics. For starters, let’s focus on Brumbek’s Static Mesh Improvement Mod.

Brumbek’s primary goal with the mod was to “improve the appearance of countless static 3D models within Skyrim.”. Bethesda did a great job filling the world, but in vanilla Skyrim, and even in the updated Special Edition, textures look rather decent from a fair distance. However, upon closer inspection the object’s detail often gets lost, replaced by jagged edges.

Brumbek did note that while the characters and environments within Skyrim are gorgeous and fairly detailed, it was the small items like food, rope, and clothes that felt neglected by the development team. Brumbek has certainly put in the work improving Skyrim’s graphics with their mod. Since the Static Mesh Improvement mod was first uploaded in 2012 it’s gotten fairly regular updates through August of 2017.

So, if your eyes are starting to hurt from looking at blurred and muddy textures in Skyrim then the Static Mesh Improvement Mod is just for you! It’s available on both PC and Xbox One.

Project ENB

While vanilla Skyrim’s lighting was impressive when it first hit shelves, the game’s lighting hasn’t aged well. It’s a shame that’s the case because there are a lot of beautiful things to love in Skyrim but much of it is bogged down by subpar lighting.

That’s where Project ENB comes in. A lot of modders have tried to fix the lighting by working with shaders, filters, and a plethora of other tools. Certain ENB shader mods require a hefty PC to run properly and it can be hard to find the right one for your set up. We chose Project ENB by modder Bronze316 because it offers a fair amount of versatility and their work in the mod looks absolutely gorgeous. Bronze316’s goal was to make Skyrim look as realistic as possible without ruining the original vision of the game. The mod offers a lot of customization so you can find a setting that feels just right for you. Due to how ENB’s alter the game, you can only find Project ENB on PC, but if you like Bronze316’s work then you’re in luck. They’ve created similar enhancement mods for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Witcher 3, and the Mass Effect.

Climates of Tamriel

Now that your shading is perfect and the details are enhanced, it’s time to improve Skyrim’s weather system. Climates of Tamriel by modder jjc71 is arguably of one of the most popular mods in the Skyrim community. The Climates mod rightfully sits atop the throne of popular mods with over two million unique downloads on Nexusmods. Downloading climates lets you remaster Skyrim’s weather system, overhauling it right down to the minutiae of a raindrop.

Bronze316 actually noted that Project ENB pairs extremely well with Climates of Tamriel, giving the 2011 game a beautiful new coat of paint. Over five hundred unique weather systems were added into the game in Climates of Tamriel, and the mod provides plenty of new texture to make your sky look pretty as can be. There is a preset for nearly every type of fan out there to make the game look insanely detailed and realistic.

Fortunately, just like Project ENB, Climates of Tamriel is fairly customizable which allows players to find the right setting for them. From a visual standpoint, it’s safe to say that Climates of Tamriel is easily one of the most ambitious mods currently out for Skyrim and certainly one of the most essential. You can find it on both PC and Xbox One.

The Forgotten City

Making Skyrim look beautiful is neat and all, but the benefits of mods is the ability expand your game and continue your character’s journey. Many popular mods feature quests built entirely from scratch, integrated seamlessly into Skyrim’s world. There are tons of great ones, here are a few of our favorite fan-made Skyrim quests.

The Forgotten City by modder ModernStoryTeller is considered to be one of the best fan-made quests for Skryim. It has gotten so much attention that Bethesda even interviewed the creator, ModernStoryTeller about it!

ModernStoryTeller, aka Nick Pearce, wanted the Forgotten City to offer a unique gameplay experience: a murder mystery investigation set in an ancient underground city. Instead of utilizing the normal medieval combat found in Skyrim, he wanted players to use their wits and gut instinct to solve the mystery. Tons of new features come with the mod, like interrogating suspects and exploring the expansive lost city to discover its many secrets.

It’s one thing to add a new fetch quest to Skyrim, but Pearce committed to his mod 100%!. Forgotten City has multiple endings, an original orchestral score, and it’s all professionally voice acted as well. Pearce spent nearly 1700 hours creating the Forgotten City. He wanted the mod to feel professionally made.

His hard work didn’t go unnoticed. The Forgotten City mod earned Pierce an Australian Writers’ Guild award for Best Interactive Media. If you’re craving a new medieval whodunnit to enjoy and want to experience one of the most impressive fan made mods in history, then Forgotten City is for you! You can enjoy the Forgotten City Xbox One and PC

Falskaar

While the Forgotten City is outstanding achievement in Skyrim mod storytelling, few mods can compare to Falskaar by modder AlexanderJVelicky. Not only did Alex create a new storyline, but he also made an entirely new land within Skyrim! According to the lore created by Alex, Falskaar is a land that the Nords have inhabited for hundreds of years and its history has been rather unknown until now. Alex approximates that Falskaar is roughly the size of 2 to 3 Skyrim holds. Fans say that it’s equal in scale to any of Skyrim’s paid add-on’s.

The mod adds a lot of new content, which ultimately creates an estimated 30 hours of new gameplay. This includes Falskaar’s nine main story quests and seventeen side quests. Alex did not want to focus on the mod’s item selection. His primary objective when creating Falskarr was to sharpen his skills with level design. He spent nearly 2000 hours bringing the land of Falskaar to life.

Like with the Forgotten City, Alex wanted each quest to challenge players intellectually, forcing them to think outside the box to complete quests . One nice touch is that Falskaar doesn’t have anylevel requirement to start playing. All of its content is scaled to your character’s level.

If you ever thought modding might be silly to pick up, look at Alex as a shining example of what can happen through modding. In 2013, he actually landed a full-time job at Bungie! He never thought that Bungie would even notice his application, but they found his work to be very impressive. Thanks to Falskaar he was able to land his dream job. Falskaar is available on Xbox One and PC.

Moonpath to Elsweyr

This mod is for all the Khajit mains out there. As a Khajit, I’m sure you sometimes feel a bit out of place in Skyrim’s rough climate, wishing for greener pastures, some trees to climb, a place to just be the cat person that you are. If that sounds like you, then I’ll stop reading your diary and suggest you try Moonpath to Elsweyr by modder muppetpuppet.

Moonpath is one of the more interesting mods available for Skyrim. Like the previous two mods, it adds a new land in Tamriel that focuses on the Khajit, which is new for the Elder Scrolls series. While you don’thave to be a Khajit player in order to enjoy Moonpath,t the mod is intended to highlight the Khajit’s homeland: Elsweyr.

The world of Elsweyr looks unlike anything else within the Elder Scrolls series. It features a variety of beautiful landscapes ranging from arid deserts to leafy jungles. It also has unique enemies and feels like its own game at times.

Until the Elder Scrolls introduces an official rendition of Elsweyr, MuppetPuppet’s Moonpath to Elsweyr does an incredible job at giving a look at the homeland of the Khajit. Luckily for you, thanks to the Special Edition release on Xbox One, the mod was also recently updated for the first time in five years. In the update, numerous bugs were squashed, and the graphics have been greatly enhanced. You can play it on both Xbox One and PC

Aethernautics A Space Travel Mod

We did promise in the title that we would showcase mods that would “totally transform your game” and while all of the mods we have shown do just that, the scale of transformation achieved often pales in comparison to this next one.

Have you ever walked around the cold mountains of Skyrim and thought to yourself “gosh, dragons and snow are cool and all…but I really wish I could be on a giant spaceship right now.”

If you have then, we have JUST the mod for you! Aethernautics by modder Trainwiz (with some improvements made by Guardly) is one of the most interesting, if not baffling mods we’ve come across. It takes of you completely away from Skyrim’s original conceit of medieval fantasy, bringing you to the modern final frontier: SPACE.

The mod’s main quest has you trying to repair the Aethernautics spaceship to use for your own adventures. The ship itself can double as your home.

The ship itself allows you to travel to other planets like the Sotha Sil and Masser, one of Nirn’s moons. Of course, this mod allows you to get your own space helmet and suit, courtesy of the last Dwemer aethernauts.

If traveling to moons doesn’t strike your fancy, then maybe you’ll like calling down ORBITAL STRIKES. Your spaceship will make quick work of any bandits or NPCs who look at you funny. Oh, and there are also laser gun weapons to equip because of course there are.

Enderal

Playing one game is fine, but I’m sure you’d love to play a game within your game. If so, then Enderal is the mod for you. Enderal by SureAI is meant to be an entirely new game based on Skyrim that provides a new gameplay experience. The mod offers nearly one hundred hours of content (!!) with has professionally voiced storylines. It took nearly four and a half years to complete which is around the average time a full AAA game takes to make.

The main focus of the mod is exploring all new lands like the lush forests of the Heartland, the wide meadows of the Suncoast, and the tropical coasts of the Powder Desert. All of the areas are built on Skyrim’s core architecture and gameplay but done in an entirely revamped way.

SureAI didn’t stop just there–they also hand-crafted specific animations for cutscenes and dances within the game. The combat has also been completely rebalanced which gives newcomers even more options.

The mod’s trailer (11) is extremely impressive and feels like it came directly from a AAA game studio. If the near thousands of hours Skyrim has to offer isn’t enough for you and you’re itching to try an entirely new game within Skyrim, then you owe it to yourself to check out Enderal. It’s so big that Enderal has even gotten its own DLC expansions. DLC FOR A GAME WITHIN A GAME.

And there you have it! Have you tried out any of the mods we mentioned? What are your favorite mods for Skyrim? Be sure to click the “Giveaway” tab above to enter our monthly giveaway for your chance to win a free console of your choice, plus more!