From sailing ships to plundering treasure to battling conquering foes, the idea of being a pirate in gaming has been realized numerous times. There are many pirate themed video games out there, from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag to Sea of Thieves, which have proven plenty popular. However, when it comes to The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, piracy is seldom a subject that comes up. That is, until now, with a new mod that will allow players of the Bethesda open world epic to grow their sea legs.
Created by JamesDogg, "Wanderer's Heart" is a brand-new custom add-on for the Special Edition of Skyrim that gives players the option to buy their own ship, hire a crew, sail the seas, and board other vessels to do swashbuckling antics with enemy sailors. A trailer for the mod shows exactly what fans can get up to, and it really sells the idea of being able to role-play as a pirate, especially the last 30 seconds which features a sea shanty sung in a somewhat drunken manner.
In general, it looks like an interesting mod, and it shows that there are still some ideas that can be explored in the game. While The Elder Scrolls series is not known for such a theme, there are a number of nods to piracy. As an example, Skyrim features the Dead Man's Dread, a legendary ship that belonged to the pirate Cyrus. There are missions as well that require taking on a ship's captain or blundering booty.
JamesDogg does mention that the mod may have some unusual effects, adding that the "sea horizon is weird" and it also requires the "Dynamic Animation Replacer" and "Nemesis" add-ons to be installed prior. Other than that, it looks to be another successful addition to the game. With so many great Skyrim mods available, the already pretty expansive world is given new depths and tweaks to really improve the vanilla format.
As for the fate of the series, Bethesda is currently working on Starfield, its upcoming sci-fi game that's also the studio's first IP in decades, with The Elder Scrolls 6 coming at some point after that launches.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Nexus Mods
