10 Skyrim mods you should try in 2022

By Ellis Asher - [Cover image By Bethesda]

Outside the world of journalism and politics, my second love is the world of The Elder Scrolls, and like most other long-time Skyrim players I've played more than my fair share of mods.

Here's my top 10 Skyrim Special Edition Mods for this year.

Number #10: Immersive Hud - Gopher

Starting off with a small quality of life mod, Immersive Hud offers exactly what it claims, delivering more immersion by hiding a customisable amount of HUD elements at any one given time.

The mod can be set up so that things only appear when you need them, for example you can hide your crosshair when using a sword, as at close ranges it won't be of any use and would only break your immersion.

It's not going to win a game of the year award any time soon, but i think you'll find Immersive hud is one of those mods where you may not fully appreciate it when you play with it, but will miss it when it's gone.

Number #9: Zikoru's Swords Collection - Zikoru

What would Thor be without his hammer? Captain America without his shield?

As the dragonborn you deserve a weapon equally as fitting.

Zikoru has you covered with his collection of one-handed and two-handed swords.

The textures come in 2K, and each one of the available weapons is craftable at a forge.

Number #8: Dovakiins Vault SSE - Elianora

Elianora's housing mods are some of the best available, so it's no surprise that one of her mods makes an appearance on this list. Dovahkiins Vault offers a great answer to the question of "what do you do with all these artefacts of great power?"

Since you probably don't want to be carrying round all sixteen~ish daedric artefacts, and you'd dread to think of who's hands they could fall into if you pawned them to Belethor, locking them away under the protection of the Greybeards, Paarthurnax, a 7000 step staircase, a dragonborn and that damn frost troll seems like a good alternative.

Number #7: Immersive Sounds - LazyGecko

It's thought that we get about 13% of our information through sound.

Immersive Sounds offers a refreshing take on the same old sound effects we have been hearing for the past 10 years.

This mod modernises the sound design of Skyrim, but the real benefit will often come to seasoned players who have been hearing the same effects for a while.

The new audio puts the wonder and mystery that comes with a fantasy world back into the game.

Number #6: Simple Dual Sheath - SlavicPotato

Cool? Immersive? Realistic? Yep, Simple Dual Sheath has it all. Whilst the mod does only add one mechanic, which is fully aesthetic, the ability to holster weapons and actually have them remain on you whilst you use others is great for those who prefer a hybrid playstyle.

Number #5: Noble Skyrim, A 2k Pack - Shutt3r

For those of us not running Skyrim on a PC borrowed from NASA, 2K packs provide more than enough detail. In my opinion the Noble texture pack walks the line as close as one can get to photo realism whilst still maintaining the feeling that this is a fantasy game.

Number #4: Static Mesh Improvement Mod - Brumbek

Skyrim is a ten year old game, and as innovative as it was for the time, it can be a bit dated.

SMIM adds depth and dimension to the otherwise flat looking props.

SMIM brings the 2D into the 3D, in 2022 this is a must have for those who are now accustomed to more than 2 dimensions.

Number #3: Realistic Lighting Overhaul SSE - The Realistic Lighting Team & Sydney666

The number 3 spot was a difficult choice between Syndey666 and The RL teams' RLO or Enhanced Lighting and FX by Anamorfus .

Both provide much needed changes to lighting but in the end i chose RLO.

One thing to note is that RLO will make your game a lot darker at times, and at other times lighter, being a realistic lighting overhaul, you will lose the unnatural ability to see a mile ahead in the dimly lit caverns of Skyrim.

Number #2: Flat World Map Framework - Caites

Haven't you ever thought it weird that seemingly at will, the dragonborn can see the whole province from the sky?

Well that ends today if you install the Flat World Map Framework by Caites. Whilst admittedly, this is a tricky mod to set up the first time due to the way the game uses markers, FWMF provides an immersive and realistic map, whilst still getting across all the needed information, I'd argue even better than the vanilla map.

As the name suggests the mod doesn't just give you one single map, but rather acts as a framework for the many maps that several authors have contributed to be chosen at the dragonborn's discretion.

Number #1: Lucien - Joseph Russell

Before I get into why this mod is at the number 1 spot, I'd first like to give a mention to SKSE by Ian Patterson, Stephen Abel, Paul Connelly, and Brendan Borthwick and SkyUI by the SkyUI Team, as many of the mods in this list, and in general, depend on them to function.

If you were to ask me who my favourite Skyrim character was, I would probably say Lucien. He fits in so naturally within the environment, and with such depth you'll think Bethesda wrote him themselves.

Coming with his own story, a boat load of features, and even more charm, Lucien has enough on his own to boast about. But if you put him with others, specifically with certain followers, he will begin to interact with them.

Now this is limited to the modded NPCs or NPCs that have had their audio spliced and edited to create conversations, but just the idea of being able to have a follower, on a journey in his own right, interacting with others and his environment, makes Lucien feel so real that I just had to put him as number 1.

That's all for now, all mod links provided go directly to the nexus page of the original author(s).