The Best Skyrim VR Mods

Just like any other Bethesda game, Skyrim has retained most of its player base with the addition of mods. With endless creative tools, gamers can modify the core-game experience. Mods help transform the continent of Tamriel into something far more magical than what the original game developers thought was possible.

To fully use Skyrim VR mods, users need to do a little more work than usual because Bethesda doesn’t officially support mods for this game version. However, most VR mods will work if you install Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) and a reliable mod manager.

This article will showcase the top 15 best Skyrim VR mods in no particular order.

Flora Overhaul

In Skyrim, gamers tend to spend a lot of time in the wilderness. Exploring the lands of Tamriel received a serious upgrade with the Flora Overhaul. This mod adds new tree, grass, and plant models. The snowy regions get increased show density. Simply walking through the wilderness will now feel like a completely new experience.

Sky UI

If you tried playing the base Skyrim VR experience, you are familiar with the clunky interface. Toggling through the inventory is an arduous experience in first-person view. Sky UI offers a much more streamlined version of the inventory interface. Thanks to it, you will have a much more pleasant experience while finding your fortified conjuration potion.

Realistic Lightning Overhaul

When it first launched, hardware limitations prevented Skyrim from having the best exterior and interior lighting. This mode completely rectifies this. With it, even a few candles will illuminate a room realistically. Another great thing about Realistic Lighting Overhaul is that it uses no post-processing power. It won’t slow down the performance of your PC and even improves overall performance.

Smilodon

Melee combat is arguably one of Skyrim’s weakest points. As time goes on, this combat system looks more are more aged. Thankfully, Smilodon introduced a range of improvements to re-invent Skyrim combat. New attack animations, improved enemy AI, and generally faster and more responsive action make playing a melee build a viable option in VR.

Immersive Speechcraft

No one can deny that Skyrim NPCs seem charming at first. However, after interacting with them thousands of times, their limitations become painfully obvious. Immersive Speechcraft breathes new life into them by introducing new dialogue options with meaningful options that can significantly impact how you negotiate, order, or even provoke them.

This mod requires SKSE installed to work.

Open Cities

Nowadays, loading screens in open-world games look kind of out of place. This mod removes them entirely and allows you to travel between locations without interruptions. Thanks to Open Cities, dragon battles don’t get interrupted and cause you to ruin your immersion. The overall flow of combat and traversal is much more seamless.

Keep in mind, though, that you need the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP) installed first for this to work.

Sounds of Skyrim

Sound design is critical to building an atmosphere when creating a vast fantasy world. While the original Skyrim release was praised for its soundtrack, Sounds of Skyrim builds on the initial offering in a gigantic way.

More than 460 new effects make the environments feel more authentic. The attention to detail is impressive since you can expect to hear different sounds based on location and time of day.

Simple Realistic Archery

Archery outright sounds like one of the things that will be super fun in VR. The best way to experience it is with Simple Realistic Archery mod. You can assign different arrows to different buttons and even change the position of your quiver. This highly customizable approach allows gamers to finely tune their moves to help them achieve a more fun and immersive archery experience.

MageVR

As you can expect from the name, this Skyrim VR mod focuses on enhancing the spell-casting aspect of the game. MageVR allows you to cast different spells with your hands without selecting them from the menu. Having to rely on muscle memory takes some adjusting, but once you master it, you won’t be able to cast spells in any other way.

HIGGS – Enhanced VR Interaction

The base Skyrim VR game lacks many crucial features for a good VR experience. While it might not seem impressive initially, like some previous entries on this list, HIGGS is a must-have mod. Additions like hand collision, picking up objects with both hands, and moving bodies around are impossible without this mod.

PLANCK – Physical Animation and Character Kinetics

PLANCK works best when used alongside HIGGS. It enhances HIGGS’s features by fine-tuning them even further. Actions such as throwing objects or holding someone’s hand feel much more natural. Melee combat sees even more improvement. Gamers can now use grabs when interacting with enemies to stop them from performing their attacks.

Onyx – VR Weathers

For the longest time, Bethesda claimed that weather effects such as volumetric lighting must be disabled in Skyrim VR to preserve the game’s stability. Luckily for the community, Onyx VR Weathers balanced the lighting so that plants and animals throughout the game look more natural. The most impressive thing about this mod is how it makes the game look at night or during a storm.

VRIK Player Avatar

RPG gamers tend to spend a lot of time on character creation. All this work is wasted in base Skyrim VR, as two floating hands represent your character. VRIK Player Avatar mod renders the entire layer model and all the necessary animations to make the player’s movement look as natural as possible. Additionally, you can enjoy fully customizable hand gestures, weapon holsters, displaying cutscenes in first or third person, and more.

Locational Damage

Since Skyrim VR is all about immersion, you should consider this combat-related mod. For example, you can deal extra damage if you land a headshot. Archery and melee combat now seem far more realistic as gamers are given additional reasons to execute precise movements with the Locational Damage mod.

The Forgotten City

Skyrim was always renowned for its storytelling. While there have been several attempts to create immersive side quest mods, none have been as successful as The Forgotten City. This colossal mod adds a brand new city to Skyrim. Along with it comes a murder mystery campaign with several endings based on player choices.

This mod also adds many side quests, puzzles, and original music. Installing and playing this mod should be a no-brainer if you are a true Skyrim fan.

The Dragonborn Comes

Choosing the right mods can make your adventures in Tamriel a transcendent experience. However, just remember that many of the mods have base requirements. While they shouldn’t be deal-breakers, ensure you meet the installation requirements to get to your questing without a hitch. The last thing you want to do is spend hours trouble-shooting mods.

Have you tried any of the Skyrim VR mods? Tell us all about your experiences in the comments section below.