Many long-time Elder Scrolls fans would be inclined to agree that, compared to older titles like Morrowind and Daggerfall, Skyrim is a significant downgrade in the realm of roleplaying, something that the Requiem mod serves to fix. The game offers far less immersion, and overall skill leveling and combat aren't all that difficult for even the most casual players. Skyrim Special Edition (SE) doesn't change that, primarily serving as a graphical overhaul, but fortunately, Skyrim's dedicated modding community presents a few different options for overhauling Skyrim's RPG aspects, perhaps the most ambitious of which is Requiem.
Although Skyrim SE is no longer the most recent Skyrim rerelease thanks to Skyrim Anniversary Edition, which came out in late 2021, it's still the go-to for hardcore Skyrim fans. This is primarily because Skyrim Anniversary Edition broke many mods upon release, and the majority of these have yet to be repaired and updated. Thankfully, there are ways to roll back Anniversary Edition to Skyrim SE for those who still want access to the game's entire mod catalog, though this comes at the cost of losing access to the Bethesda Creation Club items included in Anniversary Edition.
One major mod that was only recently updated to Skyrim SE is Requiem - The Roleplaying Overhaul, which completely alters Skyrim's leveling system, skills, items, combat, and magic to give players an experience that aligns more closely with iconic fantasy RPGs like Morrowind and Baldur's Gate. Given that the Requiem mod almost entirely reworks the framework of Skyrim, players will be required to make a new save file upon installing it. The installation is relatively simple through a mod manager such as the Vortex app, but there's quite a lot to learn about Requiem's changes to Skyrim, and it may be overwhelming to players who are just trying it out for the first time.
How Requiem Overhauls Skyrim's Roleplaying Mechanics
In vanilla Skyrim, enemies scale with the player's level. For example, bandits can be encountered throughout the entire game, with different tiers of bandits appearing more frequently as players gain strength. A bandit outlaw is level 5, while a bandit marauder is 25. In Requiem, bandits and other normally dangerous Skyrim enemies are always the same level. A level-one player might survive a random bandit encounter but will likely have no chance going up against a dragon. Enemies also get more apparent benefits from their equipment. A wizard sporting heavy armor will be much more difficult to take down than one who simply wears robes.
Skill points and perks are also redone. In Skyrim's Requiem mod, players start with little to no proficiency in most skills. Whereas in vanilla Skyrim, players could at least manage an occasional successful pickpocket or lockpick attempt without investing in that particular skill line, Requiem makes it far more challenging to act as a jack-of-all-trades. Heavy armor will even drain the Dragonborn's stamina while they're not moving if players haven't leveled up the corresponding skill tree enough. Said skill trees have also been reworked to provide more lore-friendly descriptions, new spells and combat abilities, and diverse branching pathways. The UI has likewise been changed to be more immersive, with popups appearing in the form of first-person narration so that players can more properly step into their character's shoes.
Item drops, cooking, alchemy, enchanting, hunting, and racial traits have been completely redone thanks to Requiem, too, and both quest rewards and items found in chests are almost entirely randomized to give players more incentive to explore. Speaking of exploration, fast travel is disabled - as is the case with many difficulty-focused Skyrim mods like Survival Mode - making it even more pertinent for players to manage their item weight carefully. Carrying too much gold while far away from a town can be disastrous, and picking a fight with a high-level enemy when there's nowhere safe to run is even more so. However, dungeons and other areas no longer respawn enemies thanks to Requiem, meaning that it's that much easier to claim a sturdy base of operations. Anyone growing tired of Skyrim Special Edition ought to consider giving it a try.
Source: NexusMods