One of the most sought-after and challenging modding tasks is a “total conversion”: creating a brand-new, custom campaign with the mod tools of an already-existing game, but the final product cannot be made money because of copyright (unless you’re using the gorgeously open source Doom engine).
The fact that you’d eventually be better off just creating your own independent game just serves to increase the allure of these Moby Dickian endeavors.
However, when someone succeeds in doing so, the outcomes can be very amazing. Check out last year’s massive success with the renowned Nehirim mod for Fallout: London or Oblivion.
I’ve compiled a list of some of the more intriguing upcoming comprehensive conversion projects for Bethesda games, since the company’s next full game after Starfield is probably years away—unverified rumors of Oblivion and Fallout 3 remasters notwithstanding.
Skyblivion
The project on this list that I’m most looking forward to is Skyblivion, which is a remake of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion utilizing TES 5: Skyrim. Importantly, this year is the release window.
Although there isn’t a firm date yet, it’s far less vague than the other initiatives, which are still far off. Because of the Skyblivion team’s remarkable amount of coordinated workforce and regular updates, I’m inclined to believe the 2025 release window.
Additionally, the game looks fantastic: It’s Cyrodil as I remember it, and the numerous improvements and modifications made by the Skyblivion crew all contribute to the nostalgic, dreamy high fantasy haze that I identify with Oblivion.
The Skywind
Similar to Skyblivion: Remake, which was released in 2002, Skywind is a project that uses Skyrim’s greatly enhanced Creation engine to recreate The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
Although Skywind hasn’t received nearly as much attention as Skyblivion, there’s no reason to be any less enthusiastic about it, except from the fact that it doesn’t yet have a release date.
The Skywind team appears to be just as well-organized, as evidenced by the regular release of video updates on the mod’s YouTube account. They also appear to have a firm understanding of the distinctive ambiance that makes Morrowind so great.
Vampire: the Masquerade – Reawakened
I think Vampire: The Masquerade: Reawakened is a great heart-pick and a bit of a strange duck.
The project began as an attempt to reconstruct the 2000 role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, a romance story that spans the Crusades to modern times and is frequently eclipsed by its still-niche sequel, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, which is one of my all-time favorite games.
The Reawakened team has changed their plans and is now creating their own new game in the same setting, a spiritual successor to Redemption rather than a direct remake, in anticipation of a legal challenge from Activision, which owns the rights to Redemption’s specific characters and story—VtM setting owner Paradox has approved the project.
Beyond Skyrim
Although Beyond Skyrim is not a complete conversion, it aims to expand and improve Skyrim, and its degree of ambition is on par with whole conversion projects.
Beyond Skyrim is a multi-team, multi-project endeavor to showcase the other provinces of Tamriel during the 4th period of Skyrim.
Among our Skyrim entries, it’s also the least certain bet: It appears that the official Beyond Skyrim website has not been updated since 2020, which is also when the team last released a playable version of the game: The only playable part of the mod so far is a standalone version of Cyrodil’s village of Bruma.
There is still hope, though, since developers from different Beyond Skyrim teams appear to be posting project updates on a daily basis to a special subreddit.
The Cyrodil team in particular appears to be making good progress. It might end up being quite memorable even if only one Beyond Skyrim squad crosses the finish line.
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Fallout 4 mods
Project Arroyo
I can’t help but be pleased with the first teasers for the Project Arroyo team’s remake of Fallout 2 in Fallout 4’s version of the Creation engine, even though I’m the type of sicko who would sooner die than give up the delectable 2D isometric art of Fallout 1 and 2.
In particular, they were able to capture the whimsy and color of Fallout 2, as well as the passage of time and the manner in which the planet has healed since the bombs landed in 2077.
Although Project Arroyo appears to be in its early stages, what we have seen thus far is encouraging.
Fallout 4: New Vegas
In Fallout 4, there were two competing attempts to recreate the Mojave Wasteland. Fallout 4’s setting, Project Mojave, would have demonstrated how the politics and society of the Southwest had changed since New Vegas.
Fallout 4: New Vegas, a direct recreation of Obsidian’s 2010 fan favorite in the more powerful Fallout 4 Creation engine, was the only game left when Project Mojave was shelved, revived, and then canceled again at the end of 2024.
Since its initial release in 2020, Fallout 4: New Vegas hasn’t exactly been releasing updates, but its devs are still tweeting on Twitter quite frequently, and if you want to get more engaged, they have the necessary community Discord.
