Enderal: Forgotten Stories: A Brave New World

The High Ones are certainly a terrifying foe, making no place feel safe, but surprisingly at the end of the day there's little power they have besides their ability to taunt you.

I've wanted to write a review of Enderal for a while now, for years even, yet it took for its release on Steam along the "Forgotten Stories" update for me to finally sit down to play through it last summer. It's a mod for Skyrim made by Germans, yet it's far more than just a simple mod. Enderal is an entire game, and you'd only know it as Skyrim by scant details. Hell, it's probably even better than Skyrim, offering up a deep, thought-provoking story about the human experience on top of gorgeous locations, memorable moments, a more fleshed out leveling system, and more. The story made me think so much that I devoted an entire section of this review to going over what it all equates to. It's undeniably something that deserves and demands to be experienced (all for the low price of nothing save for buying Skyrim Legendary Edition), yet most will likely never hear its name. So without further ado, let me tell you what makes Enderal, a story of a person who wanted to be free, so special.

The Goldenforst is what really captured my curiosity to explore the regions of Enderal. Why would a place so beautiful be so abandoned by humans?

I can't really talk about Enderal's story in detail without spoiling it, but suffice to say it's really something. Taking place on the world of Vyn (not Tamriel), Enderal may appear to be like Skyrim but there's no relation between them. It's also the sequel to Nehrim (a mod for Oblivion), which while it refers to the events of that game, I found it unnecessary to experience before this. Hell, all I know of the events of Nehrim is that the Lightborn died, and the opening cinematic of Enderal told me that too. The game takes place on the titular continent of Enderal, a strict theocracy based around a caste system called 'paths'. It's actually much less heavy-handed than you'd expect, and outside of the off-hand mentions and frequent cursing of the 'pathless', or outlaws, you'd hardly notice that you're living under an oppressive regime. There's really too much to talk about in Enderal's story, but the long and the short of it is that what Skyrim has in volume, Enderal has in depth. There are not a ton of quests, but each is essentially its own story, even the side ones. There's the obvious main quest that spans the entire game, but the "Forgotten Stories" update added two side stories/sagas, and there's a few character-driven stories too (these are surprisingly out of the way, I nearly missed them). Each offers their own unique tales, but make no mistake, they are rarely happy stories at the end of the day. However, the strength of Enderal's story is how contemplative it is, especially in regards to the main quest and two side quest lines. Each offers insight into the world at hand and clues as to the nature of things, yet these hardly seem like clues when you find them, only circumstance and illusion. The clues you find might not even exist, it's strange. There's never really a good or bad ending for any quest, with each ending feeling decidedly neutral, as is often the case in life. The ending seems to provide a choice: heroism or cowardice. However, by playing through the story it could be read any number of ways, like naïveté versus wisdom, faith versus doubt, optimism versus pessimism. It's a complex tale throughout, yet it's not hard to understand what you need to.

The Undercity of Ark is unquestionably a bleak place, as fitting for slums where sunlight is a rarity. It's also the location for much of the Rhalata questline.

Enderal is pretty atypical of standard western RPG storytelling. It's a grim story, filled with existentialism and feelings of powerlessness even as you play a traditional mythical figure. In that way Enderal acts as some sort of a branch between the video game power fantasy and real-world insignificance that is a hallmark of being human. Though your character gains great power and insight, they are ultimately incapable changing the outcome in any significant way, and I found this to be painfully human. And what's more tragic is that this inability to change events is not on any failure on your part, but by the choices of others. Whether seeking revenge, glory, or freedom, the goals and choices of other people directly impact your story. It's ironic then that you never set out to try to save the world, your only motivation, your only desire in life was to be special, and the monkey's paw that is the universe listened. What's more is that you are by no means unique in this desire, and one of my favorite smaller aspects of this was that you, not as the hero, but as a human being, have the power to make others feel special. It's an interesting twist given the feeling of powerlessness in the story, that you have the power to bestow that gift that you yourself and countless others desire, it's both somber and uplifting. Even though you're essentially powerless, you have all the power in the world to change things. Themes of existentialism abound as well with fate, the cyclical nature of history, whether personal choice exists, all of these are discussed throughout. However, while these could easily fall flat, I found them to be quite unexpected in their complexity within the game. In the end, it seemed to come out to a lot of conditional answers. Yes, these concepts exist (or do not), but only so long as we give them power. The obvious antagonists throughout the game are the malevolent spirits known as the High Ones, a literal devil in the mirror representing pessimism, spite, and the holdovers of previous generations. However, in the end they are not the ones who destroy, nor do they control the destroyers, they merely taunt and "illuminate" others to their truth. They are truly a frightening opponent, yet there's something almost pitiable about them despite their absolute malice. They are the voices and trauma of the failures of countless previous generations, and I'd imagine the thought of a generation being able to surpass them and succeed where they failed (in any measure) would be nothing short of maddening. However, the true existential master stroke is the ending, which ends on perhaps the dimmest note I've ever seen in a game before. Yet even here there's hope, and the ultimate paradoxical question presents itself: Do you trust others to make the right choices in your place? Removing control over fate from yourself to entrust it to others is quite a turn, especially in a genre about providing the player choice in everything, yet it struck me as true to life. You have to trust other people sometime. Neither feels like the right answer, but neither feels wrong either, and I think that speaks to the underlying strength of Enderal's story, that the philosophy is an integral part of it.

If there's a predictability to Enderal's storytelling, it's that you know when the end is near when things look like something from a nightmare.

This is going to be pretty short as Enderal's gameplay is very much the same as Skyrim's, though with a lot of tweaks. The power-creep is much slower in Enderal, and leveling is much more restrictive, essentially preventing jack-of-all-trade builds and encouraging you to make a class and stick with it. You can definitely do all-rounder builds, but they're going to be ultimately weaker and perhaps less effective than dedicated ones. This isn't just due to perk points, you actually need to buy training manuals to improve your skills, and you have only a few times you can improve your skills per level (split into main and support skills). However, there's still a lot of cool stuff you can do with character builds, and the perk trees, while average-sized, have a lot of genuinely good ones. Blacksmithing is also much more satisfying and complex, requiring you to have the specific blueprint in your inventory along the materials to craft the item. You can also craft special artifacts and other miscellaneous things like backpacks (of varying sizes) to improve carrying capacity.  Healing is more diverse than in Skyrim, where using healing spells was a no-brainer unless you were doing a strict zero magic build. Here you build up an arcane fever by using healing spells and potions, and the more fever you have the greater the penalties. There are perks and ways to counteract this, but in all honesty unless you're investing points it's not the best idea, better to stick to food (which is a lot better). Spells are divided into tiers on top of the several schools (some of which are supposedly illegal but I never tried them being a goody two shoes), so firebolt I is weaker than firebolt IV. It's a good deal more challenging than Skyrim, but it's a game that makes the challenge feel very much worth it.

Enderal's class system, while not as open as other RPG leveling systems, does allow for a slew of classes from the grounded to the wild to be made. Want to me a basic fighter? Done. Want to be a werewolf alchemist that summons ghosts to help in combat? Done.

Enderal is undeniably a gorgeous-looking game, whether it be from the characters (who look a lot more lifelike than Skyrim's somewhat wooden people), the awe-inspiring environments, or the lighting. There's a ton of diversity amongst the various mountains, valleys, forests, coasts, etc. to see in Enderal, and each looks like concept art come to life. Even the dismal and unsettling areas there's a feeling of beauty to them, which was pretty notable. It's one thing to see these places in screenshots and showcase videos, but entirely something else to see these places look identical in person. It's almost unsettling how dreamlike and picturesque the environments of Enderal look, almost as if there's something either false or fabricated about it. Heck, were it not for all the dangerous people and critters about, Enderal could be a pretty memorable hiking game, and because of the lack of fast travel (outside of scrolls and transit) you're sure to see a lot of it. However, the game is pretty good about not sending you to the same place twice, which is a relief. The music is really good too, with some fantastically creepy music. Beyond the simple background music there's also a stunning number of bard songs. These are all pretty dang cool, covering a whole range of emotions, with my favorites being 'The Crimson Star' and 'The Black Guardian'. Voice acting is generally pretty good in the English translation, but it has its fair share of hiccups. Fortunately these are just background characters, but it was jarring whenever I heard them. The main cast has a great deal of personality, and while I found some of them to be a tad much, the vast majority of them really buttered my bread.

There's just so many places in Enderal that demand to be photographed. Occasionally it can essentially amount to fancy window dressing, but the level to which the spirit of the concept art has been adhered to is nothing short of remarkable.

Enderal was a rare game for me, for once I finished its story I felt strangely empty, but in a good way.  Its harrowing horror story was unforgettable, both for its eeriness and dreamlike atmosphere on top of its themes of existentialism. If Skyrim wasn't your cup of tea, Enderal is, both in terms of difficulty and maturity. It's a shame that video games aren't as widely regarded as an artistic medium, for if Enderal was a book it would be a damn well-regarded one. There are few single-player adventure RPGs that have stuck with me as much as Enderal has, and it makes me wonder what's next for SureAI. Nehrim should be coming out on Steam at some point this year, and I'll be sure to play it when it arrives. If you're looking for some thought-provoking existentialism, then don't pass up on this game.

Next up is a film that was among my favorites as a kid, I'm talking about Scooby Doo on Zombie Island!