Of all the versions of Skyrim that have been released, Skyrim VR might be the most interesting. While being able to transport oneself into the snowy reaches of Skyrim is an appealing draw for countless Elder Scrolls fans, Skyrim VR didn't quite get the love that it deserves from Bethesda. Luckily, it's fairly easy to fix the issue for those that are playing on PC, as just three mods can make it far more immersive.
Ensuring that Skyrim VR is as immersive as possible is an essential piece of the puzzle, too, as it's easy to be pulled out of the experience when things aren't easy to interact with. The issue with vanilla Skyrim VR is that it's just Skyrim when fans are expecting something that brings the world to life. With that in mind, here are three mods that can rectify its biggest issues.
Skyrim's VRIK Mod Brings Players Fully Into the World
One of the most glaring flaws with vanilla Skyrim VR is how it handles to the player's body. Instead of giving players a proper form, out of the box players are just a floating pair of disembodied hands. Obviously, that's enough to create a bit of a disconnect between players and their virtual bodies, but VRIK rectifies this by giving players a true physical form, arms and all.
There's something far more immersive about looking down and seeing one's body on the screen. It makes it feel like the space is far more lived-in and realistic, as the player's motions are mirrored on screen. It's difficult to say just how much more effective it is at selling the experience without being in the space, but it makes VRIK a must-have mode for any Skyrim fans.
HIGGS VR Makes Skyrim's World Interactable
One of the other major flaws of Skyrim VR is how it handles world objects. While it's still possible to grab things in the vanilla version, it's similar to how it works in regular Skyrim, where objects just float around the player. However, the mod HIGGS - Enhanced VR Interaction fixes the issue. With HIGGS installed, players are able to pick up and interact with most of the items scattered around the world, as well as loot items off of enemies without opening their inventory menu.
Being able to pick up and interact with objects is an important part of feeling immersed in any virtual reality world. In fact, it's a bit baffling that HIGGS was necessary in the first place. That aside, though, HIGGS is an absolutely essential element for an immersive Skyrim experience, letting players pick up pretty much any interactable object they find out in the wild.
Dragonborn Speaks Naturally Lets Players Talk to NPCs
The third and final key mod is simply dubbed "Dragonborn Speaks Naturally," and it does exactly what it says it does, allowing the player to speak to NPCs using their own voice. The mod uses Windows' voice recognition to match what the player is saying with one of the available dialog options, letting the player speak to NPCs as if they were in the world.
Of course, the effect is a bit strange. It takes a moment for the technology to work and recognize what the player is saying, so there's a bit of an awkward pause to account for. Plus, players are still forced to use the available dialog option. However, in our own testing, we found that it's possible to put a spin on the line without too many issues, so long as the player is using some key phrases found in the dialog option.
Those 3 Skyrim mods are really all players need to make the VR version feel more realistic. There are still going to be the token Bethesda glitches to account for, but the mods provide a solid base to build on. From here, players can expand the world with more armor sets, weapons, and pretty much anything else that they want to see added.
Skyrim VR is available now on PC and PSVR.