Skyrim Enthusiast Transforms RPG Landscape by Reimagining Game in Unreal Engine 5

There are countless Skyrim mods available, and while I have tried quite a few, one gamer has gone a step further by porting the entire original game into Unreal Engine 5, significantly expanding the possibilities for future modifications.

Greg Coulthard released a video on his YouTube channel to showcase how the 13-year-old game looks within Unreal Engine 5. Honestly, I do not believe it looks better or worse in a strict sense, but it definitely appears more authentic.

However, visual enhancement is not Coulthard’s primary objective. The video’s description states: “All assets are Vanilla. My intention wasn’t to enhance graphics (other modders excel at that), but to enable reading of Skyrim’s ESM data file through a C++ plugin I created to automate landscape generation & object placement.”

I used to mod Skyrim extensively, but over the last few years, I’ve opted to enjoy it with the game’s built-in survival mode. There’s something special about the ambiance of the original, with its fog-laden forests and icy mountains. Still, an exciting, fresh mod does get me enthusiastic, and commenters believe porting the game to Unreal Engine 5 will undoubtedly pave the way for even more impressive mods.

“If modifications could be integrated with this, it would genuinely transform Skyrim forever,” comments awaykidd4237. “No more water seams, texture pop-ins, or low draw distances for grass and trees (sure, dyndolod is effective but not this effective), potentially expanding to support new categories of mods with vastly more opportunities for developers and players.”

Others believe the game looks significantly better now. “I think people anticipated GTA 6 level graphics (to be fair, I did too), and because of that they’re now unable to see how this still looks much improved over vanilla Skyrim,” states crqzed. “Textures appear sharper, particularly the water looks fantastic, the lighting is much more realistic, and the LOD enhances the experience. What do you think?”

It emerges that Coulthard has also adapted this for “Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4 and even…

“`Starfield,” thus there are numerous Bethesda titles you can explore in Unreal Engine 5 by yourself.

One community is also engaged in a significant Elder Scrolls endeavor: adapting the entire regions of Tamriel into Morrowind’s engine. A playable version of the Cyrodiil expansion has already been released.

If you’re here, check out our list of the easiest RPGs you can enjoy right now.

I’m Issy, a freelance writer you might occasionally find right here covering news on GamesRadar. I’ve always had a passion for gaming, but I discovered how to write about them while pursuing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student newspaper, The Boar. After graduation, I worked at TheGamer before leading the content team at Dot Esports. Now, you can find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many other outlets. I enjoy all things challenging, narrative-focused, and indie, and I primarily play on my PS5. Currently, I’m working through my backlog and thoroughly enjoying Dishonored 2.