Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
The team of Elder Scrolls fans behind Skywind -- a mod that promises to merge the world of Morrowind into Skyrim -- have shared some new trailers of their work recently. All of them, including the most recent one posted above, are well worth watching whether you're a latecomer to the franchise or an ardent fan of the classic 2002 RPG.
A sad reality of modern gaming is that while many of us can look back at pixels with fondess and nostalgia, it's much harder to look at early 3D game worlds and models with anything approaching the same sentiment. Maybe it's because we're not quite far enough removed from those visuals, or because a lot of their shortcomings are still present in "ugly" contemporary games, but even beloved classics like Morrowind can be exceptionally hard to go back to. We've been spoiled by 3D models of increasing fidelity to the point that ten year old games just look like hot garbage. That's what makes Skywind (and Morroblivion before it) such an interesting and important project for past, present, and future fans of The Elder Scrolls. Being able to experience those worlds again (or for the first time) without having to force yourself to get over that ugliness barrier... Well, it's huge.
Unfortunately, so is the scale of this project. Skywind is truly a massive undertaking, and it will be some time before it's finished. Read more about the mod, download the Alpha version, and learn how you can contribute to its development here.