Also, a vaguely Hugh Hefner-inspired fishing magate called Franny

Image credit: The Beyond Skyrim team

The modders behind Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil, the massive modding project aiming to add a post-Oblivion-crisis version of the Imperial province to the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s map, have given a lengthy tour of the latest city they’ve whipped into shape. As teased the other week, that city is Anvil, and it’s certainly home to some quirky folks.

Just in case of confusion, what makes Beyond Skyrim different to both Bethesda’s Oblivion Remastered and recently delayed Oblivion remake mod Skyblivion is that it’ll be introducing a fresh cast of characters and stories to familiar locations from the fourth Elder Scrolls game. After all, by the time of Skyrim, Martin Septim and his contemporaries are long gone.

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Aside from the fact that existing Skyrim map expansion Beyond Skyrim: Bruma offers a great early taste of what this group of modders can pull off, what’s intrigued me most so far is the project’s mission to wind forward time and tell new tales. After all, Oblivion’s a nice game to retread, but I’ve seen the narrative it has to offer plenty of times at this point.

However, having watched a good chunk of that livestream embedded above, where the Beyond Skyrim team show off some of the stories and characters they’ve worked into Anvil, my feelings are a bit mixed. The city itself looks brilliant, having been expanded and given an architectural feel which blends Cyrodiilic vibes with the deserty aesthetic of neighbouring province Hammerfell.

The layout still invokes plenty of nostalgia, while Beyond Skyrim’s team look to have arguably leant more towards zany comedy with the side characters and quests who pop up to newcomers than the notoriously eccentric Oblivion did. Upon first entering the city, you come across and encounter with two drunken sailors swimming in the town’s pod. A guard jumps in to arrest them, and these two loinclothed lads sprint off through the city; according to the devs, the idea is that you might pursue their nearly-bare bottoms and do some sightseeing. Or, maybe you’ll move on and talk to an Argonian named Left-Hand who randomly demands you tell him what 4833 x 76 is.

Maelorn, an older version of one of the two elven twins you might remember from Oblivion, is less on the weird side, since he just asks you a riddle and then reminisces about his life since the days of The Elder Scrolls 4.

Anyway, what grabbed my attention the most was a quest involving a kid called Jinol, which kicks off in Anvil bazaar about half an hour in. It’s simply called Child Labour, and is about, er, that. Jinol wants your help setting up a business selling saltwater from the docks door-to-door, so you recruit other kids to act as runners. So far, so quirky little quest in terms of premise. The idea’s that you gradually realise that you maybe shouldn’t just be going along with trying to make a buck off some kids doing work an adult should be doing, at least if the Elder Scrolls’ world is being kept a bit more on the ‘fantasy’ side of the ‘medieval fantasy’ coin.

There is one character, a merchant named Pavia Tara, who calls you out and asks if you’ve considered the ethics of your actions. However, at the moment the modders seem to have reduced her to being a one-dimensional scolding Karen, even if she does weave a bit of small business vs big business chatter into her rant, mirroring the city’s wider themes.

There’s a spot of tonal whiplash there, alongside the quest’s very on-the-nose name. Then, we meet Franny. Basically, you and Jinol go and meet the owner of a big fishing company, Francis of Anvil. He lives with multiple wives in a house the devs say was at least in part inspired by the Playboy mansion. Franny literally goes "Child labour, why didn’t I think of that", and offers to buy out Jinol’s business. You help the kid decide whether or not this grown, multiple-wife guy gets to save money by relying on child labour.

The quest is mostly played for laughs, and I certainly don’t think the goal is to make light of what remains a real issue in our own world. Plus, the modders have aimed to make the kids essentially act like mini-adults. However, I’m not sure the quest strikes an effective balance between wacky/edgy humour, and making the player confront the morals behind what starts out as innocent fun.

As things go, it hasn’t put me off Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil entirely – I’m still keen to see what other sorts of tales the modders have weaved into their work. But it wouldn’t be the first time a mod has mishandled controversial or delicate themes in an attempt at crafting fresh narratives, and while Jinol’s water distribution service isn’t anywhere near the worst examples, it is something I hope gets revisited. Maybe when they go back to swap all the placeholder AI voices for real ones.