A mod called Skyrim Together has turned the formerly single-player experience into a multiplayer adventure many fans consider superior to Bethesda's own online title, Fallout 76. Since its initial release in late 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has remained one of the most popular games ever made. It's been released on everything from PC and last-gen consoles to current-gen machines and even the Nintendo Switch. While not without bugs and technical issues, Skyrim is still beloved as one of the greatest games ever made, and certainly a great destination for players to go on epic adventures for hundreds of hours at a time.
While generally hailed as a near-perfect game, there's one feature players wanted publisher Bethesda to add to Skyrim: multiplayer. While official multiplayer support never came to the game, Bethesda did develop a separate title, The Elder Scrolls Online, as well as the oft-maligned Fallout 76. While both titles have their supporters (with Fallout 76's free Wastelanders update looking to bring back lapsed players), the dream of "Online Skyrim" has remained elusive.
The online modding community saw the lack of multiplayer in Skyrim as an opportunity to create it themselves. While there have been many mods attempting to bring online connectivity to the realm of Tamriel, none have been as successful as Skyrim Together. When the mod first launched in early 2019, it was a buggy mess, but the independent team developing the mod has continued to work on it, improving connectivity, balance, and lag issues. According to YouTuber TheEpicNate315, Skyrim Together, while certainly not perfect, is in an improved state, and is continually being improved all the time.
Skyrim Together allows for up to eight players to hop in and enjoy the full open world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unlike other multiplayer mods, Skyrim Together prides itself on being easy to hop in and play, not requiring the in-depth internet knowledge that frequently serves as a roadblock for many players. Back when the mod was first made playable, the number of enemies would be multiplied based on how many players in any given location, but that proved to be an unruly solution, and now fewer enemies will be spawned, but they will have significantly buffed stats, thus requiring teamwork to take down.
While there is a tremendous amount of potential in Skyrim Together, it's still in need of significant improvement for it can truly compete with the likes of Fallout 76. The online lag is often crippling, and only about 50% of the game's quest are fully functional in multiplayer. Console commands are still enabled, which turns public servers into more hassle than they're worth. It's highly recommended that players stick to private servers with friends they know and trust not to turn themselves invincible during an impromptu PvP match.
Skyrim Together still has a lot of work ahead of it before the ambitious mod can truly live up to its potential, but the seeds of greatness are there, and the past year has seen vast improvements to nearly all facets of the experience. With more work, this could wind up being the absolute best way to play Skyrim in the not-too-distant future.
Source: TheEpicNate315