Arguably the best part of the Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim in its current state is the dedicated community of modders behind it. As the game ages, thanks to this community and the ease of modding through the creation kit, new mods keep the game fresh and beautiful.
The hub of these mods is arguably the Nexus website, which hosts mods for all sorts of compatible PC games. Each week I select a handful of noteworthy, new, or exciting mods to showcase.
Lately, the modding community has made great strides when it comes to character animation. This week there are two different notable animation mods to go over. The first is called Jump Behavior Overhaul by mod author Retrospect.
The jumping animation in the base game is, not the most well done by today’s standards. This mod aims to fix that, and it does an excellent job. These animations are some of the most well done I’ve seen on the Nexus thus far. Not just animations, it also adds variance to the jump based on your character’s equipment.
The next mod on the list is EVG Animation Variance by Everglaid. This mod aims to use both vanilla assets and new animations to add variety to NPCs. These animations are added based on NPC personality, conditions, or even just randomly to breathe fresh life into the game.
When the mod author was asked why this mod wasn’t combined with another titled Conditional Idles, they had this to say:
“I don’t know. This is more about spicing up vanilla, making it not look so samey- think of it like trying to make a badly tiled texture look better. There’s potential, you just need to tweak it a little. Conditional Idles is more like adding new things or new animations to explore, also uses other mods as hooks to add content. This is staying vanilla. probably.”
Taking a break from animation based mods for a moment, the final mod for this week is Capital Whiterun Expansion. This mod by Surjamte is an expansion for the city of Whiterun, that aims to change the city into the trading hub it is in the lore. The list of features is expansive, even going so far as to add in new buildings, quests, and even a new player home.
That about wraps up the mods in this showcase. Each week, a new set of three outstanding mods are handpicked so you always have something new to add to your load order. Make sure to check back here for the latest Skyrim modding information.
