Enderal - Review @GameStar.de

The German mag GameStar - a few years ago the world's biggest PC game magazine - posted a very enthusiastic review of SureAI's Skyrim total conversion Enderal. I'll post more details than usual because this is the first published review for this game.

GameStar's test is accompanied by a 15 minute long video in which their editor in chief and two other editors explain why they've decided to review a free mod and which standards they'll apply. Their answer: Enderal's quality is on par with other full price AAA RPGs. They'll apply their normal review standards for a 50€ game, without any bonus. GameStar didn't review mods in the last couple of years. They want their review to be seen as sort of a reward for the developers.

Here are a few translated quotes from the article:

Enderal's biggest USP compared to Skyrim is the story. While it's only more or less an attachment in Bethesda's classic, it plays a key role in Enderal. The first ten minutes prove this impressively. The intro is disturbing and poses a lot of questions. [...]
Who wants to save virgin vampirewomen while riding a dragon is wrong in Enderal, though. It doesn't make epic heroic deeds its focus, but rather personal fate and the human abyss [This half of the sentence is in plural in the German text - ed.]. It discusses questions about religion, idealism and ethics.[...]

GameStar explains that although some of the dialogs seem a bit excessive at times, Enderal succeeds in finding the sweet spot in the mix of story and quests. The main storyline is "wonderfully told".

An enthralling story needs a believable world around it though [...]. And the Enderal devs overcame this challenge too.[...]

This was flashed out a bit in the video. The editors said the whole world feels handmade. Not even the dungeons leave the impression of being made with a construction kit. The world oozes with attention to detail.

The verdict:

Heiko Klinge:

Enderal is great RPG-art on world class level. The start is so dramatic, fast paced and - gameplay wise - exciting that even masters of the craft like Bethesda and CD Projekt are welcome to take several leaves out of [SureAI's] book. And after that Enderal serves a magnificent adventure from start to finish, which hardly leaves anything to be desired. [...]

 The only mentioned weeknesses are:

• quick travel is unconvincing 
• balancing is only okay
• a couple of technical issues

A summary of the good stuff:

• great story, deep characters, all with background story
• good quests with a lot of diversity
• no level scaling
• 6 difficulty levels
• graphics upgrade compared to Skyrim
• superb sound track
• professional voice acting (GER / ENG)

The Rating:

89%, 2% deducted for technical issues, means 87%.