Skywind is a non-commercial fan-made mod project from The Elder Scrolls Renewal team. Skywind specifically brings The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind up to date with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim graphics. Morrowind is from 2002. Skyrim is from 2011. Initially that would've made for a nine-year engine upgrade. But the team recently implemented the enhancements brought on by 2016's Skyrim Special Edition, giving ye olde land of Morrowind a 14-year engine upgrade. They're not just porting Skyrim's engine into Morrowind. They're rebuilding Morrowind from scratch—by using the Skyrim engine.
Anyway, they're doing a great job. Morrowind doesn't have as vertically challenging topography as Skyrim. Plus, back in 2002 when Morrowind first came out, draw distances weren't nearly as far as they are with today's tools. This admittedly makes Morrowind seem a bit flat by comparison, even when taking under consideration the big dang volcano sitting at the heart of the map.
Morrowind will always have a special place in my heart. During the golden age of '90s isometric RPGs, I have to admit I took a pass. I never took notice of computer RPGs until Bethesda married the functionality of first-person role-playing with the good looks of Morrowind's Creation Engine.
This Call of the East trailer begins with classic introduction of "They have taken you from the Imperial city's prison, first by carriage, and now by boat. To the east. To Morrowind." Hearing those words out loud sure gives me some feels.
There's no telling when Skywind will be publicly available. If you think massive and massively capable video game developers are squirrely about release dates, imagine a globally scattered team of off-duty developers. It's done when it's done, basically. But just check out the rather impressive work done so far. And when the theme song kicks in, wow. Gorgeous. Keep up the good work, The Elder Scrolls Renewal team.
