Recent reviews by Švihadlo bez švihadla

This game from 2018 is ahead of it's time in almost every way.

Source: It's 2022

"...But all of that was merely a diversion, so that no-one would notice something else. The death of the Light-born has set something into motion. A clockwork, having long stood still, it's gears now once again slowly began to turn..."

What is Enderal: Forgotten Stories and why have I never heard of it you may ask. Short answer - it's a masterpiece. However, judging by your decision to read this review, I suppose you want to hear more than that. Enderal is in fact a total conversion for TES:V Skyrim. In reality, it's much more than that and calling Enderal a mod is an understatement.
What this game offers is it's own unique and rich world full of great beliveable characters, lore and story.
Enderal came out in 2016 under the name of Enderal: Shards of the Order and then, three years later, got it's own DLC and a new name: Forgotten Stories.

I should note that Enderal is free on steam and can be played by anyone owning a legal copy of TES V: Skyrim. (No DLCs are necessary.) It is developed non-commercially by SureAI, the team behind the renowned Oblivion mod "Nehrim: At Fate's Edge"

One thing I noticed when playing is that Enderal is very well aware of Skyrim's biggers flaws such as (frankly) the main storyline. Yet Enderal turn these flaws into it's greatest strengths. The world of Vyn (gaming world) feels so much more alive, characters are well-written and at times, they challenge your beliefs and your attitude toward a situation.
Simply put: Enderal's story feels like reading a book - it doesn't stop being interesting. Almost everything you do is somehow tied to the main story.

The playable world is full of interesting quests to complete, sights to see and characters to interact with. The environment consists of lush green forests, verdant meadows, autumn golden valleys and sunny coasts fit for a solid open world game.
The landscape is crafted in a way to show the player most beautiful sights. There are countless towns, villages, caves and ancient ruins to keep you entertained along the way.

Because Enderal and Skyrim shares the same engine. The gameplay, movement and inventory management is very similar. First off, I should note that this game is quite dialogue heavy, some conversations can take quite some time. That's just something you want to be ready for. I myself do not mind this, but I understand there are some players who don't feel the same way.

When it comes to combat, at first it may seem like a copy-paste from skyrim. You can use sword and shield, magic, bow etc etc. However, don't be fooled by the first impression as you may regret it later. The combat in Enderal is much more difficult and complex than in Skyrim. Got overwhelmed by a pack of wolves? You're done. Early game of Enderal is very challenging and you have to treat your every step with care. At times I got an impression that I'm playing a survival game which may or may not occure to you but for me, it was a big plus. The means of how you can fight an enemy are well designed and there are a lot of ways of how you can approach the target.
Enderal introduces a very different way of leveling and managing your perks. You can combine two or more skill trees together and tailor your own "profession", so to speak. Another welcome addition are unlockable talents - abilities that provides help in a fight by variety of buffs and changes so that you can even base an entire playstyle around one.

You combine all that and you have a solid gameplay. Roleplaying is certainly Enderal's strong suit. Bottom line is - if you enjoyed Skyrim, there's a pretty high change you'll enjoy Enderal too without feeling it like a repetition.

The Gods are dead. Is there a better place for the game to throw you into than a strongly religious country with a Theocratic goverment? I don't think so. Welcome to Enderal, a country ruled by the Holy Order. The Order has shut down most of the trade routes due to the risk of spreading "false" rumors of the Light-born's death over to Enderal. Suffice to say, the country has seen better times for sure. Common folk suffer a disease called the Red Madness, dead rise from their graves... something is brewing.

Allow me to explain why I named this review the way I did. This game doesn't follow your typical storyline of one great good versus one big bad. Enderal offers a dark, thought-through psychological storyline and the main part is that you face an invisible threat, you can't punch your way out of problems and because of this, you often feel powerless, unable to do the good because there is no good you can do. Every choice leaves you asking if you've done the right thing. I can't count how many times I felt like everything has gone to 𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔱 only to find a spark of hope that's ultimately extinguished by even more despair. You basically feel every moment, you dread for every situation, for every character close to you.

Speaking of characters, this game turns another Skyrim's flaw into Enderal's biggest strength. Real beliveable characters with actual character arcs, human flaws and realistic dialogue. As I mentioned before, Enderal's characters are well-writen and often challenge your intentions and choices. This includes both romance options. But out of all characters the game has to offer, two in particular has stuck inside my mind: Jespar Dal'Varek and Grandmaster Tealor Arantheal.

Forgotten Stories DLC:

Enderal's free dlc contains multiple new storylines, all containing new items, soundtracks and locations. The Rhalâta storyline is the beating heart of this DLC and it alone makes this game worth it.

Honestly speaking, I can't get enough of Enderal's soundtrack, calm and battle music alike. The piano motif that appears in most of Enderal's soundtracks really help to capture the soul of this game. Marvin Kopp is a legend.

Now that we're nearing the end of my review, you may wonder that it's too positive to be true and honestly, I don't have any major negative points towards this game simply because there is nothing that could negate all the good stuff to the point of turning the game away. So if you own Legendary copy of Skyrim, I recomend you to play Enderal: Forgotten Stories, you will not regret it as the experience is simply too wonderful.

Enderal: Forgotten Stories is one of few games that has earned a special place in my heart and even bound by the limitation of Bethesda's engine, developer team SureAI has created truly a masterpiece.

+ Compelling story
+ Interesting and beliveable characters
+ Challenging gameplay
+ Incredible soundtrack
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- Bound by Bethesda's game engine

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the best role-playing games ever made. This fifth addition to the Elder Scrolls franchise offers the player so much more than an incredible open world with hundreds quests to complete, sights to see and characters to interact with. The game takes place in a nordic-themed province of Skyrim. With the Special Edition comes three DLCs (more on those later).
If you're playing or thinking about buying Skyrim in 2020, I highly recommend installing a few mods that "elevates" the game from 2011 to more superior version.
I'm going to break this review into a few parts and give my conclusion at the end.

The province of Skyrim is divided into nine diffrent holds, each with it's own asthetics and feel. Upon completing prologue, the game thows you into this giant open world. From there, you can do pretty much anything you desire. The landscape is crafted in a way to show the player most beautiful sights. There are countless towns, villages, caves and barrows to keep you entertained along the way.
The environment consists of frozen tundras, dense forests and endless marshes and many more, and with the extra touch of dynamic weather makes it realistic as well as creative.
In such a vast open world, the map lets you fast-travel at any discovered place which is rather good for some, but I found myself travelling with a horse more enjoyable since it makes the game more connected and real.

The population of Skyrim is well varied and diverse, however because there are so many characters, you may get a bit annoyed by often repetitive dialogues. Do you prefer quiet forest town of Falkreath or majestic sights on a city of Solitude? I'm sure you will find your own favourite place. For me, I still prefer the Cloud district in Whiterun, but this is all probably a bit over your head.


I found the gameplay rather good, it does a good job in variation of quests and NPCs. The main campaign is exciting to follow and the option to join various guilds and organizations makes the game unique in every playtrough. The game have two main campaigns, the first one revolves around the recent return of the dragons and the second one is about an on-going civil war. I must give a credit to Bethesda for making both sides of the conflict equally interesting with pros and flaws.

Unfortunatelly the late game suffers from rinse and repetitive side-quests with a simple objective such as "kill this group of bandits" or "delve into danger for this trinket". But what does help the game is the sheer variety of enemy with their own strengths and weaknesses that you have to avoid or exploit. What does make these quests more exciting are RNG of what you will encounter on the way, but the design of the caves presents its own problem.

There are a couple different skins of cave they use, but every cave in the game is designed the same way, delve deeper and deeper through narrow corridors, fight a boss, get a loot chest and get out. This is where the gameplay falls short for me, not even mentioning the endless Dwemer ruins.

When it comes to combat, the concept is fantastic. You can sneak up and slit someone's throat, you can battlecry and charge them with your warhammer, you can stay back and snipe from a distance; you get the idea. But unlike the previous Elder Scrolls games, Skyrim's poor execution of magic spells is really just that - a poor execution. Novice spells mostly boils down to holding right-mouse button and the fact that you have to swich to a spell before casting in a first place makes it unnecessarily complicated.


The main plot revolves around the return of the dragons. In the first act, you will quickly discover that you are destined to be the one, who will put an end to the dragon crisis - the last Dragonborn. If that wasn't enough, there is also a civil war going on between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks. You will be forced to choose your side and lead your brothers and sisters to victory.
Of course this is only a minor part of what Skyrim holds, there are much more. The game will slightly change based on your choices.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim special edition also comes with three DLCs which are worth mentioning as they expand and build the world around us even more!

Dawnguard DLC:

This is my personal favourite of all three. The Dawnguard DLC brings a new conflict to Skyrim, not a political conflict, but a war between vampires and vampire hunters. The Dragonborn can join one of two new factions: Whether he'll fight for Volkihar clan and end the tyranny of the Sun or join the Dawnguard organization and take the fight to vampire lords is entirely up to you. What the DLC brings is a brand new story line, new amazing characters, locations, gear and much more!

Dragonborn DLC:

This DLC takes place on the island of Solstheim, you are able to experience new quest line on this island full of wonders, meet new characters, venture into new dungeons and villages, explore new culture and even tame a dragon! I highly recommend diving into this DLC once you've completed the main campaign, although it's not necessary.

Heathfire DLC:

This DLC doesn't add new epic zones to conquer or new foes to defeat, but it allows you to settle and build your own little residence. Get married, adopt a few children and live a happy life. Definetly a DLC that is meant to be played as you go along with everything else.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows the classic Skyrim Dragonborn theme. What's so special about it is that whenever you fight a dragon or any other enemy, there is a chance for this theme to play in the backround among other epic soundtracks. Let me tell you that these will surely wake a warrior within you.
Apart from epic drum themes, Skyrim has a lot peaceful themes too specially made for travelling across a freezing tundra.


I feel like I need to mention this. Skyrim has one of the greatest modding communities that exists. The fact that mods are so easy to install to Skyrim is all the way better. You name it, there is a mod for it. From basic retexture mods to DLC-sized content mods, the modding community has it all!
I highly recommend you to open your browser and search for a few mods that could improve your game such as SkyUI, Immersive characters overhaul or Static mesh improvement.


When I first started this game on legendary edition, I was carried away by the world design and the characters, I especially like how characters don't treat you like a greatest champion right from the beginning like other games tends to do.

Overall I would say this game is a timeless masterpiece. Skyrim is such a blast to play with endless replayability, but there are some issues to the game that can eventually be solved by a help from a mod. If you prefer singleplayer RPG games, I heavily recommend this game for you!

+ Story and world building
+ Endless replayability
+ World design
+ Enjoyable DLCs
+ Immersive Mods
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- Often repetitive dungeons
- Combat system could be better
- Too much cut content

https://store.steampowered.com/app/489830/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim_Special_Edition/

♥♥♥♥ it

I AM NOT CRAZY!

I am not crazy! I know he swapped those numbers. I knew it was 1216. One after Magna Carta. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just - I just couldn't prove it. He covered his tracks, he got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? He's done worse. That billboard! Are you telling me that a man just happens to fall like that? No! He orchestrated it! Jimmy! He defecated through a sunroof!
And I saved him! And I shouldn't have. I took him into my own firm! What was I thinking? He'll never change. He'll never change! Ever since he was 9, always the same! Couldn't keep his hands out of the cash drawer! "But not our Jimmy! Couldn't be precious Jimmy!" Stealing them blind! And HE gets to be a lawyer? What a sick joke! I should've stopped him when I had the chance!
And you, you have to stop him! You -