Nehrim: At Fate's Edge

I've heard about several Total Conversion mods for various Elder Scrolls games over the years, and decided to finally try one myself.  Nehrim: At Fate's Edge is one, made by a small, devoted German team and built on the Oblivion engine.  They did a lot more than just build a new map, though - they completely reprogrammed the class, race, and leveling systems, and did some tinkering with the skill trees, too.  Their stated mission was to make something more like Morrowind, or the Gothic series, at which I have to say they succeeded.

My point in this post isn't as a game review, though.  The main changes made to the leveling system are that 1) you level up by gaining experience, not increasing skills, and 2) the game doesn't level with you; you have to be a certain level to travel to certain areas without getting killed by the first monster you meet.  Because of this, zone names clearly list the recommended levels for being there.  Despite this, no one has created a map that shows the various zones and their level requirements.

So I did.

(Click for a larger view)

The exception to having listed levels is most of the Northrealm - there isn't too much up there to explore, but since the zones don't supply their own levels listings, I've estimated based on my experience.

Besides the leveling system, the Nehrim developers did a very good job designing an interesting story and very carefully building an intricate world.  They designed some new creatures...

... did some interesting things with physics...

... and created some gigantic interior spaces.

I only have two real complaints with the game.  Being German developers, they hired German voice actors, which, while very professional and authentic, works a bit better in theory than in practice for the English translation.  Conversations are subtitled, like in Oblivion, but cutscenes are not, and there are a lot of those: other characters standing around arguing in German while your character is frozen for the duration.  I'm sure it would add to the plot and immersion, if you can understand them, but my German is not that good.  Because of this, I had to get most of my understanding of the plot from following Journal updates, so I could have missed out on a good portion of it.

My other complaint is that they dramatically overuse a "cave-in" plot device to move the main quest line along.  At least once per Act, you will be required to go underground to do something seemingly simple.  Expect a cave-in, followed by further complications.  It happens every time.

In conclusion:  I enjoyed the game.  The gameplay changes were well implemented, and the plot was engaging and well-written.  I just wish I understood more of it.  And don't get too attached to anyone; people in Nehrim die like they're in Game of Thrones.

As a last note, while SureAI has done some previous works with the Morrowind engine, their upcoming game, based on Skyrim, looks to be worth the wait as well.