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Seeing how The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has stood the test of time is amazing. Credit must be given to Bethesda for creating a beautiful and engaging open world with epic battles and never-ending mysteries to unravel.
With each subsequent year, the developers come up with creatively ingenious mods time and again. From entirely new campaigns to interface tweaks and ridiculous memes, the list of mods introduced for the game is endless.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, released a decade ago, is still one of the most played games in the series today. Throughout the decade, Bethesda Studios has come up with hundreds of mods for the legendary game alone. Here is a rundown of some of the best that the title has to offer.
10 best mods to take your Skyrim experience to the next level
1) Combat AI
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V and The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition
- Mod Type: Gameplay Tweak
- Released on: March 2022
This one is an underrated mod that completely changed the battle dynamics of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with smart enemy AIs. It gives the NPCs thinking capacity, which was lacking in the previous editions. It’s a free lightweight script that needs to be uploaded.
This gives enemy AI many behavioral changes, such as their ability to defend themselves using objects in front of them. A guard defending a gate will only stick to a certain periphery or simply a farmer defending his lone chicken to death, the changes brought in have given a transformative experience to the title's combat mechanics.
2) Becoming a Lord
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released at: End of 2012
A mod still under fine-tuning and further development, Becoming a Lord allows players to build cities from scratch.
First introduced after the release of the Heartfire DLC, they can create their own communities and hamlets filled with NPCs that can even take up certain tasks. This is a mod for anyone who enjoys base-building games like Clash of Clans.
3) Dark Brotherhood Resurrection
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V
- Mod type: Content Expansion
- Released on: October 24, 2012
In Elder Scrolls V, The Brotherhood was a group of lethal assassins that would carry out assassination contracts. These were a series of some of the best stealth-based missions that the franchise has to offer.
Dark Brotherhood Resurrection is a mod that expands upon the Dark Brotherhood quests. This particular expansion adds 22 additional missions to the storyline that are as immersive as the original ones.
4) Enderal: The Shards of Order
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: August 2016
Enderal: The Shards of Order is an overhauled mod of the Skyrim universe set in a completely new continent with its own lore and stories. This particular mod delivers a massive open world for players to explore in a non-linear fashion.
In addition, Enderal: The Shards of Order offers completely new gameplay mechanics and overhauled skill systems. This expansion provides a dark psychological thriller with believable NPC characters.
Though it has a few minor flaws in its gameplay mechanics, it’s still one of the best overhaul mods ever created in Elder Scrolls' history.
5) The Forgotten City
- Game: Elder Scrolls V and The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: October 3, 2015
The Forgotten City mod is a critically acclaimed expansion mod of the Skyrim universe, and the first in the franchise's history to win the National Writer’s Guild award. This particular one not only gives players a huge new city to explore but also has a captivating dark murder mystery to solve.
The Forgotten City mod has six to eight hours of non-linear gameplay, where players are tasked to investigate a murder set in an ancient underground city. This particular mod offers multiple story endings that feature many interesting NPC characters voiced by professional actors.
6) Wyrmstooth
- Game: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: 11 February, 2021
Wyrmstooth is a huge expansion mod for Elder Scrolls: Skyrim that adds a completely new questline after the title's main events. A fearsome dragon is menacing the ships of the East Empire Company, and the players are tasked to assemble a team of mercenaries and go on a quest to the island of Wyrmstooth to slay it.
The island features a total number of 15 side quests, a new home, and a gigantic dungeon to explore. The mod was originally uploaded way back in 2012 on Nexus, and later in 2016 on Steam. However, the developers had to remove the mods on both occasions after a brief stay.
7) Cutting Room Floor
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: June 21, 2016
The open world of Skyrim is jam-packed with thousands of game content. Yet, some of the creative content never made it into the final version of the game.
This is where the Cutting Room Floor mod comes in. It’s a mod that scouts deep into the game's archives and brings back never-before-seen quests, NPC characters, and items that didn’t quite make it into the final edition of the title.
8) Moon and Star
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V and The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: March 25, 2014
Moon and Star is an additional questline in Elder Scrolls V that involves a dangerous criminal who has escaped from Morrowind to Skyrim. In this expansion, players are tasked with tracking the criminal and taking him down.
It’s an inventive mod that comes with a new town to explore, a puzzle-filled dungeon wrapped around one main quest, four other branching side quests, and plenty of new weapons and spells to get one’s hands on.
9) Inigo
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V
- Mod Type: Gameplay Content
- Released on: August 25, 2013
The Elder Scrolls V is known for its brilliant cast of companions and followers. Inigo is one such character mod that follows the player’s avatar in quests and battles.
The world of Skyrim offers a ton of interesting followers to choose from, however Inigo stands out because the character is richly detailed with an awesome backstory, where he narrates stories of love, regret, and revenge.
Inigo is a lively companion to go out on adventures with. The character presents a tough and aggressive external demeanor, but has a soft and kind heart underneath.
10) Helgen Reborn
- Game: The Elder Scrolls V and The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition
- Mod Type: Content Expansion
- Released on: December 15, 2013
Written by the authors of Fallout: New Vegas, this mod is a new adventure that revolves around the town of Helgen. The game is about the unification of two old friends and their quests to rebuild and protect the town from enemies. This mod manages to deliver great stories and characters, and also lets players build their own town guards to defend the city.
Right in the beginning, players have to decide the fate of Helgen by choosing to be a part of either the Imperial Order or Stormcloak — they may choose to keep Helgen independent as well. It’s a whole new adventure from scratch, where players need to rebuild Helgen step-by-step and transform it into a grand city.
