Although almost everyone has played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, many don't bother to complete the main questline and defeat Alduin, which is fair given how drab the story can be at points. Too many quests involve waiting for slow NPCs to make it through dungeons, and the story itself gets convoluted without the intrigue. The time travel elements of the Dragon Break at the Throat of the World are a little odd, and the story doesn't get its themes across very well, nor is it as fun as the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood quests and stories.

Luckily, modders have been hard at work for over a decade to address Skyrim's flaws and add a great deal to help it keep up with new kids on the block. One legendary mod author, Vicn, has been working hard to produce expansion-sized quest mods for some time now, which improve and build on lore given in The Elder Scrolls games. Although most famous for Vigilant, another quest mod helps build on the themes of Skyrim's main story and Dragonborn DLC. This mod is Unslaad, and it retroactively improves Skyrim's main quest to make something truly special.

Unslaad Makes Skyrim's Main Quest Worthwhile

One Of The Best Quest Mods On Nexus

Vicn's Unslaad is incredible by any metric and is currently sitting on just under 2 million s on its Nexus Mods page. Although it feels like the Painted Worlds of Ariamis and Ariandel from Dark Souls were ported into The Elder Scrolls series at first, it slowly unveils itself as the perfect ending for the Dragonborn, taking themes that Skyrim's main story introduced and expanding on them to make it feel complete. Unslaad does this by using the events of the main quest to show the Dragonborn the consequences of their actions, telling its story in a hauntingly beautiful manner.

Vicn is also known for making Vigilant, Glenmoril, and DAc0da, all DLC-sized quest mods.

When returning to High Hrothgar, the Dragonborn notices a doll sitting on the edge of a cliff, just behind the training yard. Upon picking up the doll, they meet an Alfiq (a talking cat), who tells them to leap from the cliff and be carried by the winds. After jumping from the cliff's edge, the Dragonborn is transported to the lonely castle of Unslaad, home to the half-dragon Ulliss, and from there, their impact on the world is explored, taking them from this lonely castle to a journey across time and even to the continent of Atmora.

It takes the idea that the Dragonborn, and the protagonists of The Elder Scrolls games in general, are "doom-driven," something Paarthurnax calls the player during the main quest. They search for answers and their version of what's right irrespective of personal doom or the dooming of others, and this is explored with both the Blades being revived as dragon slayers, rather than the emperor's personal guard, and the Dragonborn's pact with Hermaeus Mora to defeat Miraak. Both have a massive impact on the world and the lands of Unslaad, which the mod takes great pains to explore.

Unslaad Brings The Dragonborn's Story To A Beautiful Ending

It Elaborates On The Dragonborn's Ties To Hermaeus Mora

While Skyrim often feels like a game without end, Unslaad has always been the quest I do to mark the end of a playthrough, due to the feeling of finality its true ending gives. It should be noted that the mod doesn't have the most overt storytelling and requires quite a bit of interpreting, although its existential story does feel like the perfect ending for the Dragonborn. A theme of Skyrim's main quest is whether defeating Alduin, who is fated to eat the world to start a new one, is a right thing, possibly damning those in the next world, although it is poorly explored.

Unslaad means unending or ceaseless in Thu'um (the language of dragons).

In the main quest, this comes across as an odd comment by Paarthurnax rather than an entire theme, but with Unslaad, it feels like foreshadowing, especially with elements from the Dragonborn DLC and the impact Hermaeus Mora's deal with the Dragonborn end up having. While trying to save the world from Alduin and Miraak, Unslaad explores the idea that the world begins to suffer and degrade, exploring what should have been a major story point in Skyrim's main quest and making it all link together harmoniously.

It's difficult to talk about how Unslaad is a perfect ending for Skyrim without spoiling it, but the final section of the game does feel like a true ending, with the Dragonborn able to make a choice that will shape the future of Nirn. Unslaad's somewhat depressing, existential, and haunting story does have some great character moments too, specifically with a magic snowball, who was once a Khajiit, called Fluffy. This sense of whimsy stops the experience from getting too much to bear at times, especially because of how heavy it feels compared to base Skyrim.

Skyrim Modders Have Made The Game A Modern Masterpiece

And Unslaad Is One Of The Community's Crown Jewels

Many talk about the graphical and gameplay upgrades that modders have been able to produce, from the incredible lighting of Lux to the combat overhaul systems like MCO, but modders have some truly amazing stories to tell. Unslaad is one of them, and it makes the brave decision to fit itself neatly with a main quest that isn't well-loved, rather than doing something brand-new altogether. It expands on lore, themes, and makes the main quest, along with the Dragonborn DLC, fit into a neat and retroactively beautiful trilogy.

While amazing, Unslaad isn't the only amazing quest mod around, with Sirenroot giving players one of the best dungeon mods, showing Bethesda the kind of standard it should strive for when making The Elder Scrolls 6. There's a reason why Skyrim's modding community is famous, or in some cases infamous, and amazing mods like Unslaad keep the game's quality up with modern titles. It also raises the bar for what Bethesda has to do with Elder Scrolls 6, since most mods are free and made by people in their spare time as a hobby.

There is very rarely an incentive to beat Skyrim's main questline, but Unslaad, especially with its delayed start mod, can be just that. While you can complete the mod without beating the main story, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I advise that both Alduin and Miraak are defeated first to get the full experience. Unslaad requires some hunting around and exploring too, with a lot of elements not being overt, but this hunting is well worth the effort to experience everything this Skyrim mod has to offer.

Source: Nexus Mods, Caitlyn Buckley/YouTube,