The Wheels of Lull

Central NPCs in the mod called Chronographers. They self-identify as Fabricants, like those from the Tribunal DLC for Morrowind or the Clockwork City in ESO – but friendly.

Originally uploaded for old Skyrim in October 2014, this mod is not quite as well-known as “Moon and Star” in terms of Nexus downloads and endorsements, but it’s certainly much bigger and more ambitious. If anything, this mod seems determined to build a unique experience quite different from the vanilla game.

The story takes its cues from existing Elder Scrolls lore like the Thalmor and the legacy of Sotha Sil (one of the Tribunal gods of Morrowind), which is why it did at times remind me of the very steampunk Clockwork City DLC in Elder Scrolls Online – though of course this mod predates that DLC. But eventually you will delve into the very secret “inner workings” of Nirn that go well beyond established lore.

Gameplay-wise, for a lot of the quest, your aim seems to be to explore a twisted, often steampunk sequence of dungeons, finding keys or levers that allow you to progress to the next area. The mod will also give you some unique items and powers, and you have to puzzle out how to use them to unlock new areas or to defeat enemies that often can’t be killed via conventional, vanilla weapons or spells. That’s why it really didn’t bother me that this really is not a pacifist-friendly mod at all. In a way the boss fights are the mod and yet it’s still about playing differently. I can’t fault the modder for not leaving in a pacifist solution when it felt like he contributed so much else that was so radically unlike anything I’d ever seen in the game. Also, there are actually a number of enemies that you just can’t kill and will have to either stealth or run like a maniac to try to get past them.

But sometimes trying to make something truly different leads to problems. For example, an early quest leads to a boss that is absolutely huge – maybe ten times as tall as anything seen in the vanilla game. Unfortunately, nothing I fired at it seemed to do anything because, as I realized only when I read the walkthrough later, the game isn’t expecting anything to have a hit box that tall, and so I had to aim at the boss’s FEET to get the hits to register. I also couldn’t help feeling some of the challenges were unnecessarily or unintuitively repetitive. For example, having found a key or lever I repeatedly had to go back past physical hindrances I’d already been through once in order to get to the relevant door they opened. For some of the boss fights, the mechanics were interesting to figure out also counterintuitive in that even when I’d actually found the right solution, I thought I hadn’t because it seemed to me that the boss was just respawning or not taking damage. I really missed some cue like a boss health bar to let me understand (without reading the walkthrough) that I had to perform the mechanic repeatedly in order to finish the job.

While the exploration held my attention by its distinct and varied locales and puzzles, they didn’t always really make a lot of sense, as such: I wasn’t always aware of a very good reason WHY I had to come just here, do just this sequence of things, in order to achieve my quest objective. At the same time, the mystery sort of created its own kind of weird logic or non-logic. Both your allies, your enemies and the places you’re in definitely have a unique “feel” to them and many are quite striking.

Also, be aware that this isn’t the kind of mod you can just pick up and use to level your new character. Not only do you have to be level 30 to complete it, but you may also end up leveling skills you weren’t planning on.

Pacifist Potential: Doesn’t really feel… relevant, so I’ll forgo rating this mod in that respect.

Final verdict: Epic, unique and challenging, but sometimes frustrating. Very different from vanilla Skyrim. Be prepared to read the Walkthrough. 9/10.