There are few mods quite so legendary as Skyblivion, an attempt to recreate Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion within the engine of its offspring, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It’s been in development for years now, with many people following its progress and eagerly anticipating its release. Unfortunately, according to the developers, the mod is still years away from completion, though they did release some new footage and it looks like it’ll be worth the wait.
The video, a new developer diary, shows off how far the mod has come in the years it’s been in development. It looks glorious, with several areas of the game apparently having been recreated from the ground up. In the trailer, we saw the Fall Forest, Blackwood (which looks spooky as heck, thank you very much), and the city of Leyawiin (which has been redesigned based on concept art from Oblivion that allegedly had to be cut for technical limitations).
The length of time probably doesn’t come as a surprise considering it’s effectively a whole game being developed by unpaid modders working on a volunteer basis. It’s an amazing undertaking for art, and considering how good the art actually is, it’ll be worth the wait once it does finally come out. If Bethesda ever tries to remake Oblivion (which doesn’t seem likely), they’d have to work hard to top this project.
At least half of Skyrim’s appeal seems to be an easy starting point for modding projects. While the game itself is getting very old by game standards now, its engine is still being used to create new experiences for gamers. Something about Bethesda games just makes for a great stage for giant mods that expand on the universe somehow. Skyblivion is just one of many massive mods for Skyrim that expand on the series lore or recreate locations elsewhere in Tamriel.
