Modding Skyrim used to be a personal project, a balancing act of conflict-resolution, compatibility testing, and constant troubleshooting that got more complex the larger the number of added mods became. That changed with Wabbajack, a tool that allowed experienced modders to share their meticulously crafted modlists with the masses, available to download at the click of a button. With Wabbajack, fans can now tap into the expertise of seasoned modders, something that was unimaginable just a few years prior. Wabbajack—and hosted modlists in general—have transformed Skyrim modding from an individual pursuit to a community one.
One such marvel is LoreRim, a Wabbajack-hosted Skyrim modlist boasting over 4,000 mods. LoreRim's newest 4.0 update, titled "The Final Chapter," is its most stable version yet. Fans of ultra-modded Skyrim eager for something new to sink their teeth into may find just what they are looking for in LoreRim, one of the most feature-rich modlists on the platform.
Oblivion Remastered's Mods Have a High Ceiling to Shatter Compared to Skyrim's
Mods for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered are releasing in record-breaking numbers, but Skyrim is likely to retain the crown in the long run.
How LoreRim Redefines the Skyrim Experience
Requiem's Gameplay Improvements Form the Basis of LoreRim
Requiem - The Roleplaying Overhaul forms the foundation upon which LoreRim is built. It's a massive mod that fundamentally changes how Skyrim plays. Most notably, Requiem de-levels Skyrim’s world, removing level scaling from all NPCs, enemies, and items. On top of that, it rebalances everything from Alchemy to stamina regen, subtly making changes in nearly every aspect of the game. Skyrim becomes cold, harsh, and unforgiving. In Requiem, it feels that way.
How LoreRim Differs From Other Modlists
Most Requiem-based modlists—Wildlander being a notable example—tend not to use very many Skyrim gameplay mods for fear of breaking the delicate balance of Requiem. This isn't a bad approach by any means; Requiem introduces more than enough changes to turn Skyrim into a completely different game on its own. More gameplay mods won't make it better; they would just turn into something else. LoreRim, however, is made for players who want more. It wants to build on top of Requiem's balance and gameplay loop, not be content with it. Most new mods, however, don't play nice with Requiem, which is another reason why so few Requiem lists bother with them. LoreRim's major pull is that it not only considers those mods, but balances them to work with Requiem.
Anyone can throw together a list of 4,000+ Nexus mods links in a spreadsheet, upload it to Wabbajack, and call it a Skyrim modlist. But to actually balance it until all those different mods and their thousand different dependencies and conflicts are resolved in a coherent whole takes skill. To do it to Requiem, of all things, is nothing short of incredible. The amount of custom patching it takes to make it all work together beggars belief.
Features That Make LoreRim Stand Out
In order to get LoreRim, players will need to commit to getting the Skyrim Anniversary Edition, downloading 350 GB worth of mods, getting a Nexus Premium account (optional), and emptying out 650 GB worth of storage for the download and installation folders. This is no small ask. Limited bandwidth, storage space, and even time investment are all key factors that dictate whether a modlist download is worth downloading. Knowing in detail what is on offer can make that decision easier, however.
Though there is a full list of all mods included in LoreRim's load order library, it doesn't really give a full picture of what the modlist offers, at least not to a casual player. Here is an overview of some major changes LoreRim introduces to Skyrim and how they all come together.
Combat Changes
Combat revolves around stamina management and smart positioning. Everything and everyone is deadly, including the player. Skyrim becomes a brutally difficult version of itself. If a character gets smacked in the head with a club, it hurts! It doesn't matter if the club is held by a bandit or the Dragonborn. Because of this, fights are fast and brutal. It only takes a few good swings to take down an enemy, and similarly, getting surrounded by two or more enemies is a recipe for disaster. There are ways to mitigate this, of course, and even become nearly unkillable, but this is the base layer combat builds off of.
Skyrim's enemies have smarter AI, a stamina meter, and the ability to freely use the same spells, potions, and abilities that players have access to. Because the world is de-leveled, encountering overleveled enemies is common, so avoiding them until the player is strong enough is recommended.
There is a weapon stance system where every weapon comes with four stances, each accompanied by a unique moveset and different bonuses. Combat also features parrying and dodging, though they are both locked behind the relevant perk trees (Block and Evasion). A target lock system functions as a means of making third-person combat flow better, especially because attack commitment works differently than the base game. Once a character commits to a swing, they have to follow through with it, removing the floaty feeling from combat.
Expanded Gameplay Systems and Quality-of-Life Additions in LoreRim
LoreRim isn't only about combat; some other notable additions in its comprehensive list of changes are:
- Trade and Barter: Trade economies evolve according to the trader's location and preferences. A fence won't buy items at full price, and a thriving general goods trader will try to fleece at every turn. Weapons will be cheaper to buy from Adrianne Avenicci than from Eorlund Gray-Mane.
- Alternate leveling: Oblivion-style leveling system, where players need to sleep to spend level up points in the relevant skills.
- Traits: Dungeons and Dragons-style traits for better role-playing.
- Missives: Witcher 3-style missives and notice board quests that give players fetch and slay quests to make the early game leveling go smoother.
- Deities: Gamifies deity worshipping. Following the tenets of a specific Aedra or Daedra and praying to them while being their follower increases affinity with them, unlocking special powers and abilities that cannot be obtained anywhere else.
- Survival mechanics: Everything from camping and hunting to fatigue, hunger, and cold management.
Some notable QoL upgrades include:
- Wheeler: LoreRim includes an Oblivion Remastered-style quick action wheel to assign favorites, as well as multiple hotkey settings for everything from powers to potions so that players are never forced to open the menu at any point during combat.
- SmoothCam: Third-person camera angles can be adjusted and repositioned to more resemble modern ARPGs.
- Quick Loot SE: It's possible to see what's inside containers without having to open them; simply hovering over them displays everything that's inside.
- SkyClimb and SkyParkour: There is a climbing framework baked into the game, which makes it so that almost all ledges are climbable now. Awkwardly trying to force climb a mountain face is slightly less awkward now.
- MoreHUD: All items have a contextual window that pops up whenever they are observed closely, displaying all relevant information.
Visual Improvements in LoreRim
Everything from the cities to the pebbles on the side of the road has received a major visual uplift. All Skyrim NPCs look better, with higher-res textures. The lighting is massively upgraded to seem like it's reactive to the environment. Forests come with new trees, and the grass is completely redone. All of this is wrapped in another layer of post-processing through a custom-made high-performance ENB that can also be adjusted.
Can You Run Lore-Rim on Your PC?
A major limiting factor that puts a lot of players off modlists is the heavy system requirements. Due to Skyrim' s notoriously poor optimization and Creation Engine's limitations, there is not a lot modlist authors can do to make the game run any smoother with thousands of mods installed on top of the base game. Playing a heavy modlist on anything short of the mid-to-high-tier current generation GPUs is asking for trouble.
LoreRim requires a relatively powerful PC to run, with RTX 3070 being the minimum requirement. This means anyone with an older gen GPU and less than 8 GB VRAM wouldn't have a smooth time running this modlist. For the PCs that can run it, however, it's a surprisingly stable experience, with very little FPS stuttering, especially using the Default profile in Mod Organizer 2. For those who are able to run LoreRim, it's undoubtedly worth experiencing.
LoreRim was tested using an i5-13600KF, 32 GB RAM, and RTX 4070 on a 2k monitor. On Ultra 1440p, FPS was stable around 40 FPS, with occasional dips to low 30s. On Default 1440p, FPS was stable at 80 FPS, with occasional dips to low 70s. No crashes. Puredark's DLSS or Lossless Scaling can be used to boost FPS at the cost of input lag.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 83%
- Released
- October 28, 2016
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
- Engine
- Creation Engine
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
