When we talk about survival games, images ofMinecraft,Ark,Valheim, and nowPalworldare what come to mind, not iconic RPGs likeSkyrim. But it’s always been among the greatest in the genre thanks tothe modding communitythat is still going strong even a decade later.
There are a few key things a survival game needs - hunger, building, crafting, and resource gathering. Some take it further with temperature, injuries, and exhaustion. With mods, Skyrim ticks every box and then some.
If you want to put together an authentic survival experience, here are some of the must-haves; Campfire, Diseased, No Fast Travel, Go To Bed, Chasing the Dragon (toxicity and addiction meters for potions), Frostfall, and iNeed (hunger).
The game is already set to the backdrop of a perilous, snowy wasteland. Ravaged by war and the return of long-thought mythical dragons, wandering the main road is ill-advised. Even if bandits weren’t hiding out of sight and wolves weren’t prowling so close to town, the freezing, ever-present winter would be enough in some corners of the province to snuff out your fire. Unless you’re the player. Queue Frostfall and Campfire.
These two mods are staples at this point. Frostfall adds hypothermia, meaning that cold water is a death sentence and you have to camp to survive the night. As the sun sets, the snowy white blankets of Skyrim become a graveyard, demanding you find shelter or pitch a tent if you ever want to see another morning.
The harsh winters of the Nordic homeland go hand-in-hand with Frostfall, using Skyrim as a foundation for all the trappings of the survival genre that only embellish the RPG side.
It’s no surprise thatBethesda added an official survival mode to the Skyrim Special Editiongiven how much life it breathes back into the game.
Survival mechanics aren’t the driving force behind the modded experience. It’s a hurdle that brings another layer of depth to Skyrim’s exploration. With mods like No Fast Travel and iNeed, you can’t just open a map and teleport across the country on a whim.
With hunger now a present threat, sleep mandatory, and the cold constantly bearing down on you, preparation is key. You need to bring supplies and be ready to chart the most efficient path to make the most of what you bring, scavenging on the way to ensure you’re strong enough to survive the fight lurking at that taunting white marker, turning previously dull fetch quests into grand adventures.
It’s a key part of fantasy that we often ignore. You’ve probably heard a million people ask a million times why Frodo and the Fellowship didn’t just fly on the back of the eagles to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. There’s probably some elaborate explanation from Tolkien-heads, but the honest answer is that it’d make for a dull read. By travelling on foot and horseback, the adventure comes to life.
The best part of reading The Lord of the Rings is seeing Sam and Frodo alone, hunkered down in caves, eating the little scraps they have left, wondering if they’ll survive the journey. These scenes of despair along the road make the moment when they finally let go and drop the ring into Mount Doom all the more cathartic. That’s what survival mechanics bring to Skyrim, stripping back the mundane routine of fast travelling to make even the most bland quests exciting.
Suddenly, climbing the 7,000 steps to speak to the Greybeards isn’t a boring, mindless walk with a few lacklustre enemies dotted along the way. It’s a monumentally difficult expedition that demands perseverance. It finally makes the climb live up to its reputation, immersing you in the world in a way that just isn’t possible without these survival enhancements.
If you want to take the survival experience even further, try these: Simple Taxes, Skyrim Reputation, Soaking Wet, Pumping Iron, Not So Fast, and Expanded Carriage Service.
It’s been over a decade since Skyrim launched but transforming it into a survival game has kept it fresh. The routine we fall into playing it again and again is upended as we are forced to grapple with the consequences of the world itself.
It’s the greatest hardcore survival experience because it captures the spirit of fantasy storytelling and enhances an already excellent game. All of the hardship of surviving the elements with the adventure and richness of exploration that Skyrim brings.
Survival Week at TheGamer is brought to you by Nightingale -available on PC in early access February 20
Survival Week
Welcome to the home of TheGamer’s Survival Week, a celebration of all things, well, survival. Here you’ll find features, interviews, and more dedicated to this popular genre, brought to you by Inflexion Games' upcoming open-world survival crafter, Nightingale.
