New Skywind "Envision" trailer showcases some gorgeous landscaping

Skywind

Skywind is a very big, very ambitious modding project that seeks to bring the whole of Morrowind, the land of The Elder Scrolls III, into the newer, prettier realm of Skywind, also known as The Elder Scrolls V—or, more precisely, the Creation Engine that drives it. It's been in development for well over three years now, and as the new “Envision” trailer reveals, it's come a long way.

There's still much to be done, of course. The YouTube description says the video is “a tiny fraction of what we have been working on, and is just a taste of what is to come.” The West Gash is currently a focus of attention, and the “re-landscaped” version of that blighted wasteland looks absolutely spectacular.

Will it ever be playable? Hard to say. A lot of fan projects run out of steam long before they cross the finish line, especially big ones like this. I hope Skywind makes it: Morrowind is the most important Elder Scrolls game of all time, after all, and seeing it redone with sparkling new graphics would be pretty great.

The Skywind alpha is no longer available for download—the team has decided to keep the project internal until it's further along in development—but you can learn more about what's going on at tesrenewal.com.

The West Gash, before

The West Gash, before

The West Gash, after

The West Gash, after
Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.