Skyrim on Quarantine Mod Creates Immersive In-Game Social Distancing Experience

Skyrim on Quarantine Mod Creates Immersive In-Game Social Distancing Experience
Credit: kotobus870 via Nexusmods

Bethesda initially released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in November 2011, but modders continue creating new content for the original and Special Edition.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing people to stay inside all over the world. NexusMods held “Stay Home. Make Mods” contest to encourage gamers to stay inside and make mods for their favorite games.

Modder kotobus870 created a “just for fun” mod called “Skyrim on Quarantine” that “puts Skyrim on quarantine so you can be on quarantine while on quarantine.”

The Skyrim on Quarantine adds a face mask on every NPC on the game, except for the Orc, Khajiit, and Argonian races. Guards in each location wear gas masks.

As the Dragonborn walks around villages and towns, characters out in the open will try to maintain social distancing. According to current guidelines, this is around six feet. If the Dragonborn tries to approach people, NPCs will actively avoid them.

Not all NPC characters are walking around. Thanks to the new lore of the mod, everyone has been ordered to stay at home unless necessary. Now every store is closed since the majority of characters are at home. The most common characters players will see walking around are guards.

As for the technical details regarding the mod, face masks don’t act as helmets or accessories. The masks are implemented as head parts and cannot be removed. Beards were removed from all NPCs, so they don’t glitch through or interfere with the masks. Players can temper a gas mask on a workbench.

Of course, this is not a lore-friendly mod. This mod is intended to add a bit of fun into the game for players stuck at home for the time being.

There is an important note behind installing this mod. “This mod will break most quests including main quest because NPCs will stay at home and don’t do anything else. Install alternative file with only cosmetic changes if you want your game to be playable as normal.” The modder kotobus870 has two files available in the “Files” tab: “QuarantineMode” and “QuarantineMode – cosmetic only.”

With all mods, they should be installed on a New Game, and not a current save game, or else there may be issues when trying to complete quests later on.

The Skyrim on Quarantine mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available now for free on NexusMods. The mod is only available for PC players.

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