Gameplay Journal #3

The game modification I played for this week was Enderal, a total conversion mod of Skyrim. It uses Skyrim’s base assets and functions to create an entire new story and world, with new characters and creatures. It improves on Skyrim’s graphics (particularly on character models) and introduces new areas to explore and quests to complete. In terms of both environment and story, it felt just slightly more linear and not quite as open-world as Skyrim, but I still enjoyed it. As a functional/practical mod, I thought it did a good job of repurposing the Skyrim feel into something that could almost be a separate game entirely.

Enderal is a great example of Schleiner’s concept of the parasite. “Game components can be remixed, re-skinned, broken down and passed on to other cultural transformers. Serres writes of the Parasite, ‘Everything passes through his hands, because, more or less, everything is transformed in his hands’”(53). This quote explains exactly what this mod is; a “re-skin” of base Skyrim assets, rearranged and transformed into a new experience. Using Skyrim’s as a host, Enderal’s developers generated new forms of gameplay with their creation of a new map, with stories and challenges not found in the original game.

ESO’s Enderal Walkthrough Pt.1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEDN-7CiO-w

Sources

Schleiner, Anne-Marie. The Player’s Power to Change the Game: Ludic Mutation. Amsterdam University Press, 2018.