Even after ten years of being available, it doesn't seem like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is dwindling in terms of its sheer popularity among gamers. With the Skyrim Anniversary Edition having recently come out, Bethesda's open world epic is, once again, on the cultural consciousness. On top of that, the dedicated modding community is still hard at work creating all manner of add-ons that increase the longevity of the game, implement tweaks and bug fixes, and sometimes alter the very visuals of the game itself. Now, a new mod has just come out which does the latter, but in a way that is reminiscent of another popular franchise.
According to a recent report, modder Kanjs has uploaded several mods for Skyrim, specifically the Special Edition which came out in 2016, which give it a different visual style that features a cell-shaded look. Even without seeing any images, many fans will already be thinking of Borderlands, and that is exactly what this user's graphical add-on is going after. With Gearbox Software's comical shooter being noted for its unique look, Kanjs has taken inspiration from the series to create this mod.
The report links to multiple Nexus Mods pages which feature numerous assets that users can download, including armor, characters, creatures, weapons, and more, all of which have that Borderlands look about them. While there are plenty of Skyrim graphics mods which alter how the game looks, there aren't many that are reminiscent of a completely different franchise, but the screenshots alone do make the Elder Scrolls entry look really interesting. There's even a video which shows off the mod.
What's also quite intriguing is that this is not the first time a game has been modded to look like Gearbox's action series. At the start of the year, it was announced that a mod for Cyberpunk 2077 also made the game look like Borderlands, which sort of suggests that the latter game is so unique in how it presents itself, that there are people in the community that would like to see it in other titles. It remains to be seen what other games will get the Borderlands treatment down the line.
As for Skyrim itself, while many are currently enjoying the Anniversary Edition, though there are some bugs that players are running into, the fan base is largely anticipating the next game in the RPG series. While Bethesda is making Starfield a priority over The Elder Scrolls 6, it's still something that many fans are eager to hear more about. That will apparently have to wait, but fans can still check out Kanjs' mod, and the many other Skyrim ones, in the meantime.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Editon is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: DOS Gaming (links to Nexus Mods pages within)