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While not exactly news I havent found a thread on this topic so here we go.

Enderal is the latest offer from the modding team SureAI which has so far produced full conversion mods for Morrowind, Oblivion and now Skyrim, all about five years after the original game. Such is SureAI's rep that Enderal was listed as a contender for mod of the year for every year since 2012, even though it has only been released to the public in the last couple of months. While a little unfair to other modders from the time the hype is justified, Nehrim, the immeidate predecessor to Enderal was ocnsidered superior to its parent game Oblivion in nearly every way. Enderal was set a high bar as a result, thankfully it has not disappointed.

When playing Enderal, or Nehrim, you have to remind yourself that you are not playing an original game, but a total conversion mod for the elder Scrolls, you might otherwise forget. Enderal is extremely well polished, I would say better polished than Oblivion at release. It is fully voice acted in two languages, English and German, has an original landscape characters, monsters and more and completely redoes the character system restoring a system of skill statlines.

Game immersion is first rate, even above the level offered by Skyrim. Two things that most proved this were the taverns and temples. Tavern bards have large repertoire of songs, some of which are hummed by other characters as they work or children as they play. Nearly all the songs are lore or even quest related. i have sat in a tavern listening to a bard while drinking mead taking careful note of the warnings offered. Including a song about the Black Guardian, or beware beware the Whispering Wood. Should I travel there I will heed the bards song as the clues might help me traverse its mysteries. The first time I went to a temple the priest preached a sermon from the pulpit , it felt far more alive that other games where a temple was just a quest dispenser or healing nexus.
I know I have only just scratched the surface, and have travelling from Riverville to the city of Ark. Enderal only has one real city but it feels like a large place indeed, with zone after zone full of content. I do wish there were fewer larger zones, but it is a marginal complaint Ark like the rest of the game feels big. actually its only about the same size as Skyrim, which is small as sandbox games go nowadays, but all the map is handcrafted steeped in its own lore and filled with sidequests and things to do and content to explore.

You can find Enderal here:
http://enderal.com/

More info:
http://sureai.net/games/enderal/?lang=en

Avoid the official trailer if you want to avoid content spoilers, also avoid most video reviews.

Looks great, might give it whirl over Xmas when off.

Heh, I think I posted about this yonks ago in the Skyrim and "what are you playing right now" threads.

So much better than the base game, but that's to be expected from those devs. It reminded me a lot of the Gothic series, but with American RPG mechanics. If you have Skyrim, and a machine which can run it, I'd highly recommend it.

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Heh, I think I posted about this yonks ago in the Skyrim and "what are you playing right now" threads.

I did a search for 'Enderal' and found a brief comment by you about it being the game you are playing now.
Then I made this thread.

Enderal may have been mentioned by some on a Skyrim thread, I might have mentioned it myself a few years back or when I reviewed Nehrim. But it deserves a thread of its own.

 Wyrmalla wrote:

So much better than the base game, but that's to be expected from those devs. It reminded me a lot of the Gothic series, but with American RPG mechanics. If you have Skyrim, and a machine which can run it, I'd highly recommend it.

Skyrim even at vanilla was so awesome I cant quite go that far. But Enderal is certainly a AAA game in its own right. I am glad that someone has backed SureAI for a professional contract to make their own games in their own engine. I for one will buy them. SureAI make what in my opinion are Gothic/Elder Scrolls hybrid, which is a dream matchup and I look forward to what they can do on their own.