Enderal: Forgotten Stories

Enderal: Forgotten Stories is a total conversion mod for Skyrim. It borrows its core gameplay, but everything else is not only new and original, but far surpasses what Skyrim accomplished. 

Visually, the game is stunning. I constantly found myself stopping to take screenshots or just admire the environment. The fact that it was all done on top of Skyrim's Creation Engine makes this all the more impressive. With a couple extra mods to fix some NPC appearances, the game really shines with its presentation. 

As far as sound design goes, the soundtrack is on par with Skyrim's. Other audio and effects are nothing to write home about, and mostly borrow from Skyrim's existing sounds. 

The gameplay is like a refined version of Skyrim, with all the frustrating broken parts removed. It starts slow and challenging, and continues to offer a challenge well into the final acts of the game. The "Shouts" from Skyrim have been replaced with "Talents", and man are some of them creative. The skills system is more reminiscent of traditional RPG's where you get a skill point per level up to spend on perks (like increased damage or other more unique effects), then a certain amount of points to spend on skills like 1-Handed or Elementalism. On top of all that, there's several hidden class combinations that provide additional unique perks when you put enough skill points in two synergistic classes. I very much enjoyed the more careful design to Skyrim's "just max everything" approach. 

Then there's the story and writing, which blows Skyrim out of the water and rivals the storytelling of great RPG's like Pillars of Eternity. It's difficult to get into the specifics without spoilers, but it follows the struggle of humanity against their own nature and a mysterious entity hellbent on their demise. The game features way more dialogue and roleplaying than Skyrim did. I often found I'd have entire play sessions where I didn't partake in a single combat encounter. On top of all that, it is FULLY AND PROFESSIONALLY VOICED, which is absolutely INSANE for a mod. There were a couple lines that could have used touching up, but overall the actors and the sound guys did an amazing job, worthy of a AAA release. 

If you enjoyed Skyrim or enjoy more mature storytelling RPG's, this is the game for you. I played ~80 hours and did a fair amount of side content, but there's still likely another 20-30 hours of content I could work through if I want to revisit. 

In an Attempt to keep myself short: I fell in love with this totally conversion mod from the Very beginning in 2016. Enderal: Forgotten Stories is now the "mature Product" and you realise how much hard Work, Professionalism, Passion and Love are behind it. The whole Story is very engaging and appealing; Prom, with plenty of Depth and Psychology and very different than you might think. Thanks to the really great Work Of all The voice Actors, all the Characters are full of Liveliness; They seem incredibly "genuine" and possess a Depth that few Games can come up with. You learn to like, love and hate them; You fever with it, you suffer and rejoice with them. The Whole thing is accompanied by an insanely matching, beautiful Soundtrack, which brings Goosebumps with it and really immerses you in the respective Mood. In fact, you like to sit down in a Tavern, just like that, to listen to the straight Bard-Skyrim himself has never been able to do this with me. The different Landscapes of Enderal Regularly invite me to explore and have been created with Attention to Detail. I can only talk about the Gameplay itself for myself. It takes getting used to in the Beginning from the Skill System (especially compared to Skyrim), but I like it a lot by Now and wouldn't want it any other way. For me, Enderal has succeeded all round and is a great, if not THE best totally conversion mod ever. The complete SureAI team has pulled out the Best from the Skyrim Engine, creating a World of Intrigue, Hardship, Feelings and Traditions that are more than worth experiencing. I can only encourage everyone to do Enderal: Forgotten Stories, and it's also free-I'd be willing to pay Money for it. Thank you SureAi and Co. for this Masterpiece!

Product received for free Enderal: Forgotten Stories-Skyrim 2.0 main Game free, Soundtracks free, Novels free! Game World: + Graphics is once again prettier than Skyrim + large, artfully designed map + lots of places to rock + great Soundtrack + varied (Opponent types, Dungeons, regions, cities, villages, ...) + interesting Characters with absolutely grandiose setting and Exciting Dialogues + Performance is in the positive Area ... Sometimes Framedrops ~ Fast-Travel unfortunately restricted to Scrolls (-Point) and to Myraden (flying Dragon) (+ Point) because it is simply a cool idea ~ a few non-disturbing Bugs/Glitches ~ AI companion part wayfinding Disorders scope: + many Gameplay Improvements over Skyrim (E.g. new Combat animations, bed bags sleeping bags needed for Resting, cooked food plays an important Role, ...) + SkyUI integrated in the first place + hundreds of Hours, as already in Skyrim + Achievements + many Quests, Stories, Weapons and armor + complex Talent trees + four new Lineages (Races) + extensive Settings menu + complex, revised Magic + Minigames ~ skill level rises only through special Books (not as in Skyrim by using appropriate Weapons, Armor, magic, Etc.) History: + very good Narrative + German Setting is unprecedented + Urge to Explore since the first Minute Of play + meaningful Dialogues with Decision-making possibilities + "hidden" Sympathy System difficulty: + for Beginners and For Experienced, i.e. for Everyone + Each Quest Has its own Difficulty level (1-4 Asterisks) + good Balance PS: I will spend hundreds of Hours in this World again. A few Bugs are here and there, but aren't really worth mentioning. All in all, a near-perfect Total conversion. This Review I will continue to update the more Experience I gain in Enderal. Conclusion: This Total Conversion is the most wonderful Mod I've ever been able to play for Skyrim. Thanks to the Developers of SureAI for all this Work. Enderal: Forgotten Stories is a Must-have for any Skyrim player! A clear Download Recommendation!