Skyblivion Mod Provides First Glimpse of Remade Quests, Dungeons Will Be Handcrafted

Skyblivion is an ambitious mod project aiming to remake The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the engine of its successor, Skyrim, and the team behind it recently unveiled a fresh glimpse. While the new development diary discusses progress on various elements such as landscapes, interiors, and the UI, the most tantalizing subject is the quests.

The dev diary reveals that until close to the end of last year, quests were under development separately from the recreation of Cyrodiil’s landscape. However, updates to the creation tools have provided greater stability, and the team is now ensuring all 219 of Oblivion‘s quests work within Skyblivion. Almost half of the development diary is given over to the first public showing of a quest from the mod. Called Revenge Served Cold, the mission sees the hero seeking to avenge the slaughter of his wife at the hands of a goblin horde.

While some parts of the design remain unfinished, the quest does offer a look at how the Skyblivion team has gone about recreating the original game’s instanced dungeons. In Oblivion, dungeons often featured familiar layouts with minimal variation. The mod’s design team has sought to rework that approach, redesigning dungeons based on “specific location names, descriptions by NPCs, or quests that take place there.” The quest footage at the end of the video demonstrates that, showing of a winding, multi-layered old mine riddled with alternative routes and hidden secrets.

Skyblivion is one of two total conversion mods aiming to recreate past Elder Scrolls adventures in Skyrim. The other is Skywind, which is remaking Morrowind. Neither project has even a tentative release window.