Been playing some Skyrim - namely some mods that were recommended here, VIGILANT and The Forgotten City so far. The later was fine, nice concept that doesn’t work well in Skyrim - might check out the indie game version of it.

VIGILANT however… Now that’s a diamond in the rough, a heavily Dark Souls inspired Skyrim story that reinterprets a lot of the background material - and has genuinely engaging in-universe books. The strongest parts were where it went beyond either Souls or Skyrim’s style - the cryptic in-setting books that are actually relevant, the memory sequences of ancient souls’ greatest triumph or torment - a1nd the weakest were the various expy armour sets from other franchises stopping it from really settling into its own aesthetic (not that I didn’t collect them all). A near railroad of a story, but the different choices made really do dramatically change the details, if not the end result (which itself is part of the story of reclaiming something from a vast and uncaring cycle of time and powerlessness… I think).

Just started Glenmoril, the sequel, which takes a different tack by having the prologue establish important ties to a few characters before getting all Bloodborne-ey. The mod maker’s clearly experimenting more with it, and it’s cool to see.