Finally, the Skyrim Together Reborn co-op mod is available to download through Nexus Mods. As you might have already guessed, it aims to achieve a very specific goal: to introduce cooperative multiplayer to Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, tested with up to 30 players.
If you have deja vu, that’s perfectly normal. We first covered Skyrim Together over three years ago when the mod was about to enter closed beta status. However, the ambitious project was abruptly cut short by a scandal when the public learned how modders had used stolen Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) code.
As confirmed in the official FAQ, Skyrim Together Reborn has been remade from the ground up by a new team who are also adamant that this version is vastly improved. For example, there is now full synchronization of NPCs, monsters (including dragons), quests, inventories and equipment, projectiles, magic, stealth, locks, riding and transformations (into vampires or werewolves).
The dialogues are synchronized by the party leader. Whenever the party leader talks to an NPC or makes a dialogue choice, the others will hear and see the same.
Of course, one of the major changes is that the game will no longer load a save file on death. Instead, the player character will respawn nearby. If the player character dies in a dungeon or interior, they will respawn at the start of the dungeon/interior. Additionally, characters automatically pay any outstanding crime bounties when they die, ensuring they won’t be assaulted by guards upon respawning. There is also an option in the server settings where respawning costs some gold.
Skyrim Together Reborn’s default difficulty level is Expert. The creators recommend keeping it as high as possible, given that the game was never balanced to be played with more than one player. For the same reason, it is not recommended to use NPC followers.
PvP is disabled by default, although there is a server setting that can enable it. However, keep in mind that PvP will not be balanced in any way.
Skyrim Together Reborn can only be installed on Steam’s Skyrim Special Edition version 1.6, which launched with the 10th Anniversary Upgrade last year. However, the mod makers do not advise using the mod pack that comes with it or any other mod for that matter if you can help it. This is because they are out of sync and could potentially cause stability issues. Graphical mods should generally be fine, though, and if you really want to install mods, there’s also a server setting that enforces a mod policy so everyone should have the same mods installed in the same order.
Although the mod is considered a 1.0 release, the team also wants to implement additional features such as player markers/waypoints on the map, synced weather, and a scripting API. However, the team hopes other contributors will join in to help now that Skyrim Together Reborn is open source.
