Skyrim Modder Brings 80s Synthwave Vibes to Tamriel

The land of Skyrim is a pretty beautiful place, but sometimes those 2011 visuals can feel as though they’re in need of a bit of radical overhaul in order to feel fresh.

After all, laying your eyes on the same visual cues time and time again as you roam from city to city, chow down some grub or nurse a bad case of rockjoint can get a bit tiresome.

Luckily, if you’re a fan of retro vibes, a new mod might offer exactly the Skyrim you’ve been waiting for as you sit staring at your vaporwave background and comb your mullet.

Wish You Could Play Skyrim in VHS Quality? Well, Now’s Your Chance

The mod that delivers this change is called ‘80s Wave Reshade Preset’ and is the work of modder Kreuzfeuer817, who was probably wearing aviator shades while working on it.

Naturally, the goal was to make Skyrim look as 80s as possible, turning your PC or console into the squarest of VHS recorders that’ll kick out the game in the kind of quality that people from that decade used to think of as cutting edge.

That’s a pretty lofty task for anyone’s first Skyrim mod, but Kreuzfeuer817 has chosen to stay humble regarding their creation saying: “it’s a joke and I most likely will not update it.”

As sad as this may be, the current product looks pretty on point from the screenshots.

Credit: Kreuzfeuer817 on Nexus Mods.

Or, if you want a more traditional reshade, you could plump for modder NutnOff’s ‘Rune ENB’, which aims to bring “a good balance of fantasy and realism” to the game’s visuals.

It does this by adding powerful godrays, in addition to more effective snowy weather and fog, making things feel a little bit more grounded than they do in the vanilla game.

On the other hand, if you want something a bit darker to remind you of some sections of The Witcher 3 or Elden ring, modder l00ping’s ‘GRIM ENB’ could be just the ticket, injecting the game with a “grit-soaked, dark-fantasy look.”

So, grab your reshade of choice, jump in and make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the wacky world of Skyrim modding.