Top Mods To Download For Skyrim Anniversary Edition On Xbox

We all remember back in 2011 when the trailer for Skyrim came out, the hype was astronomical and all my friends and myself at the time couldn't wait to get our grubby little paws on Bethesda's new entry in the Elder Scrolls universe. The game was met with critical acclaim and quickly became a household staple skyrocketing to tens of millions of units sold. Bethesda capitilised on the popularity of their game releasing the Special Edition in 2016 which improved the overall graphics and included all of their DLC, Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn.

A couple years later they released the Anniversary Edition which included loads of community made mods that were hand picked to be implimented directly into the game. To this day Skyrim remains one of the world's most well known and beloved RPGs and even though PC is synonymous with modding, the Xbox port of the game also contains some strong contenders to change up the way you experience the title and the mods we've chosen are all free to download and use, so let's get into a curated list of must-have mods for Xbox players.

Graphics & Visuals

Timeless as Skyrim may be some of the visuals are starting to show their age, we've hunted down some solid picks to revamp your next playthrough and keep things looking fresh.

Vivid Weathers Definitive Edition:

This mod adds over 500 new weather and effects to experience throughout your journey, from snowstorms and blizzards to thick fog and distant rain. The experience is adjustable allowing you to tweak interior brightness, night brightness, contrast, saturation and bloom. Cloud textures have been tweaked to make them appear more realistic and varied during your travels, if you're looking to experience the harsh landscape of Skyrim to it's fullest this is a must.

Dawn Waters:

Ever wanted the rivers, waterfalls and lakes to look more lively and vibrant? Then this is the mod for you, it applies a cosmetic overhaul which adds all new water textures as well as foam, rapids and waterfall improvements. Subtle splashes have been added when jumping into water as well creating an immersive feeling as you trundle through a muddy river in a dank dungeon.

Noble Skyrim:

The Noble collection of texture packs are incredibly modular and allow you to tweak exactly what you'd like. Keep in mind that these overhauls can be quite heavy on the Xbox, even the Series X so we recommend keeping Cities, Landscapes and Small Towns and Villages as your chosen three, they give all the architecture a cleaner and more modern look and you'll be surprised at the changes it makes.

Immersion:

Nothing feels better than when you get lost in the Skyrim sauce, those brief moments when you walk into a fire-lit tavern after being out in a raging snowstorm can cause you to feel like you're really there, with these mods we aim to improve the depth of the game and make it feel more alive.

AI Overhaul:

This mod seeks to create a more believable experience with the many NPCs in the game, they now follow better schedules, sleeping at reasonable times, idling and working in a more human manner and have a more "mind of their own" feeling to them, it won't feel like you're an actor on stage with a bunch of robots as your accompanying acts anymore!

Guard Dialoge Overhaul:

Guards will no longer be one trick ponies, spouting the same lines you heard in the beginning of the game at the end of the game. This allows them to slowly start treating your player character with more respect as you complete quests and gain more renown and fame. It's an amazingly simple and effective mod that makes your actions feel more worth it.

Realistic Conversations:

NPCs will now apply proper social logic when conversing with you and those around them, they'll be less likely to greet and face you from a continent's distance away and express themselves more naturally. Their facial expressions have been overhauled to make them appear more alive and pertinent to whatever is happening around them.

Weapons, Armor & Combat:

Combat is the name of the game in Skyrim and you'll often find yourself in life or death situations with hostile fauna, monsters and people. These mods add some variety to the weapons and armor you'll find yourself and other's using and breath some new life into the game.

Old Kingdom - Weapon Overhaul

This mod creates new textures and meshes for all the existing weapons in the game as well as adding new variations, shinier metal weapons glint in the sun whereas darker options have more depth. Unique weapons have also received some love and the mod author has ensured that they truly appear unique and different from their more common counterparts.

Old Kingdom - Armor Overhaul

All armor in the game get's an overhaul with this mod including dawnguard and dragonborn armor sets. The textures and meshes have been updated and curated to make them appear more modern, different and interesting. Additionally unique armor sets were given updates so that they have more interesting appearances, they'll no longer look similar or the same as other more common sets.

Realistic Ragdolls And Force:

Combat feels much weightier with this mod installed, arrows will no longer push bodies like they're getting hit by a truck, magic won't send someone flying at mach 10 into the next dimension and rag dolls feel more natural in melee combat, the force of your final hit will dictate how the body reacts, an overhead with a war hammer is significantly more powerful than a power attack with a dagger for example.

Enhanced Blood Textures:

Bloodier combat is the name of the game here, blood pools and decals have much higher resolutions as well as kill move animation spasms which make combat feel grittier and more violent, the mod author also ensured that some enemies have variation, for example spiders have green blood and dwemer constructs spurt black oil after being defeated, it really adds to the experience and makes it feel more believable.

Quality Of Life:

Skyrim is an old game, and even at release was riddled with bugs and broken interactions, fixing these really helps to improve the overall experience and make it as seamless as possible.

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch:

The big kahuna of stability is the Unnoficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, it addresses hundreds of gameplay, quest, NPC, object, item, text and placement bugs. It's also designed to be compatible with as many other mods as possible meaning it's a no brainer adding this to the top of your load order, it really helps the game out and you'll be able to enjoy Skyrim with as few hitches as possible.

Conclusion:

In the end Skyrim is a magical game that captured the hearts of millions of players worldwide, these mods help to implement modern features into the game and make it feel new and exciting again, we hope that you enjoy the mods we've listed and your new game start truly feels new and improved.

Go forth and claim the mantle of Dragonborn, because even on Xbox these mods breathe new life into Skyrim.