Morrowind: Rebirth has received one of its largest updates ever with the launch of version 5.0. The mod overhauls Bethesda's classic open-world Action RPG with both quality of life improvements and new content to make the old experience feel brand new once again.
While casual creators work on releasing a mod here or there for other games, this project is massive in the scope of its undertaking. As The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is considered by many to be the best in the series, players now have the ability to reexperience the game as though it were made only recently. This update features the remapping of the open world, the addition of new equipment and rebalancing of existing gear, new creatures, and interestingly, new music as well.
The announcement was made by the primary modder for the project, trancemaster_1988, on May 24. Aside from the fun inclusion of new items and changes to the game, there are also countless bug fixes included as well.
A fundamental part of the new release was the time-consuming but necessary restructuring of the “Morrowind Rebirth archive,” which was useful in the beginning but now contains too much bloat that could interfere with the fine-tuning work that we see here now. In doing so, redundant meshes, textures, and icons were removed permanently.
One of the most contemporary additions to the game through the use of the mod are Player Homes. More recent games in the Elder Scrolls series have Player Homes as an option to acquire, and Elder Scrolls Online has featured these as well in a prominent way, adding new locations with almost each release of an expansion or smaller DLC pack.
With the release of the update, players can now choose from 5 distinct properties, but are currently limited to only one house per character and save. The options are:
- Caldera Darkstone Manor for 75,000 gold
- Balmora River's Edge for 50,000 gold
- Vivec Strider's Rest 50,000 gold
- Sadrith Mora Fungai Hill 35,000 gold
- Ald'Ruhn Arwin 30,000 gold
Each home includes a set of furniture and decorations that can be replaced or kept and then added to.
Players should take a moment to examine the patch notes for a detailed list of everything else that has been added into the game. There are new areas, overhauls of existing places, and old locations have been “filled out” with more clutter, meaning that locations feel more “lived in” now than before.
While many would believe that this marks the end of the Rebirth mod, trancemaster_1988 is clear in stating that far more is planned for the future in terms of both bug fixes and new additions to the game. This update, despite being monumental in size and effort to make a reality, is only part 1 of 2.