Enderal is to Skyrim, what The Lord of the Rings is to The Hobbit.

Rarely does a game keep my attention for long but this has had me hooked without break for over a month and a half. Brilliant writing, a fantastic story, and dungeons beyond anything in the base game by far (Old Hatolis is incredible).

Enderal's gameplay loop is similar to Skyrim's, but with enough subtle changes to make it unique. Building your class throughout a playthrough, perk-by-perk, has me sat here thinking about my *next* playthrough and I haven't yet finished my first.

It is absurd that this game is free. I feel like I have stolen it.

One of the best games I've ever played - for free.
The worldbuilding in Enderal is really good and there are even books to follow the events in the world around Enderal/Vyn. Landscapes look phenomenal and are well thought out, such as effects in certain areas - mali/bonuses/weather and just beautifully designed areas. The towns and villages have substance and the world has many interesting places to explore. These locations are picked up again and again by the characters in the game and are also worked into the game very well through the story. The main story is dark but exciting - at least as far as I've played so far. The side quests you play are also original and take you through the areas of Enderal alongside the main quest. The story of Enderal is full of twists and turns that come unexpectedly and this is exactly what made me so addicted to wanting to know what comes next.
The level progression system takes a bit of getting used to at first, but in my opinion it's better than in Skyrim where it's enough to use a certain skill over and over again. So you have to think about a build and decide as early as possible in the game what “type” of character you want to play: stealth archer, battle mage, heavy or light armor, etc.; everything has relevance, and therefore a certain difficulty.
I have played a Nexus collection (Path of the Prophet) which reworks and improves the basic mechanics in Endereal (graphics, difficulty, QoL, a few extra resources etc).

To summarize, incredibly good game with lots of exploration, good difficulty and excellent storytelling. 10/10.

It has great main story quest, better than 95% of AAA games, but it is Total Conversion Mod made by fans!
Also inventory, skills, character development, environment is very interesting and original.

Bethesda should learn from them.