New Skyrim mod turns it into Middle-earth: Shadow of War

The Skyrim modding community is a gift that keeps on giving.

2022 has been a phenomenal year for modding in Bethesda games across the table - be it the ability to climb ladders in Fallout 4 or implement precise hitboxes in Skyrim. However, a great deal of the breakthroughs in the latter have been in the animation department - be it crouch sliding, 360 combat, or proper AI to utilize a combo chain system.

Mod author syclonix's 'Shadow of Skyrim' is this year's first major mod to revolutionize the gameplay on a fundamental level without touching combat. Simply put, the mod adds the Nemesis System popularized by Monolith Productions' Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Shadow of War.

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Why the Nemesis System from Shadow of War works well in Skyrim

Much of Shadow of War's value as a standout role-playing game hinges on the uniqueness of its emergent gameplay. Like in most action-RPG hybrids, the player fights a lot of grunts as Talion. These weak rank-and-file enemies, however, can land a killing blow on Talion, upon which they get a promotion and become a unique, named Orc captain with a special combination of randomized traits, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses.

The implementation of this system in 'Shadow of Skyrim' is not entirely limited to the Orcish races. The mod makes it so that when an opponent kills the player, they similarly become unique and named NPC.

They may steal some of the player's gear, gain stat boosts, and receive a particular passive buff. In contrast, the player is sent packing into a random nearby spawn point with lost equipment and a unique debuff corresponding to the passive of their 'nemesis.'

Needless to say, the mod does not implement everything that the Nemesis System has on offer in Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The games depend primarily on the turmoil and chaos created in the power struggle between Orcish captains and their hierarchy in orc society.

In its original functionality, the Nemesis System thus becomes a vehicle to pad out the progression of the entire game - both in Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The mod does not attempt to include this expansive use of the system into its purview. As a by-product of its implementation, though, it solves one of Skyrim's long-standing flaws.

All Elder Scrolls games - known for the frequency of bugs due to the sheer weight of different things in motion in a save file - tend to go into game-breaking states at least once every playthrough. Whether to address this or not, these games have a lenient saving and loading system, complete with quicksaves.

This inevitably leads to a save-scumming loop, where players can simply reverse unfavorable consequences by intentionally abusing the quicksave and quick load system. The games even have a lore-friendly explanation of the save file system through the implied attainment of CHIM, explained first in Morrowind.

This problem, however, can be sidestepped by simply removing the player death mechanic. Several mods in the past have tried to remove save-scumming with a similar death alternative system, many of them inspired by Souls-like games.

Shadow of Skyrim eliminates the need to resort to save-scumming by introducing a death alternative that incentivizes the exploration of unfavorable turnarounds. The emergent possibilities presented by this mod alone inspire the player to see death debuffs not as an inconvenient setback but as a way to gain long-term benefits from their failures in a roleplay-friendly manner.

Upon defeat, a unique quest is created that points the player to take down their nemesis. Players can only remove the unique permanent debuff upon completing this quest, but on the other hand, this also provides the player with a permanent buff.

Shadow of Skyrim even adds its own balance changes to prevent abuse of the system by farming minor buffs:

• By default, in order to prevent cheap Reward Buff farming, you can only obtain Reward Buffs when defeating Nemeses equal or greater to your level (this can be turned off/customized in the MCM).
• If someone also kills your Nemesis, or if they die, the Player's Debuff will be removed, but no Reward Buff will be awarded since you didn't kill the Nemesis.