If you thought it took a long time to play The Elder Scrolls V then you should consider the man-hours required for its development. Alexander J. Velicky, a hobbyist hoping to secure a job at Bethesda, spent 2000 hours of his last year creating an entire total conversion for Skyrim. If you then include the 100 contributors, Falskaar has quite a lot of care invested in its development. You can check out its trailer below.

In short, Falskaar is a total conversion of Skyrim, notable for:

  • 26 new quests, 9 of which comprising its main story arc
  • A large, a quarter to a third of Skyrim's area, new environment to explore
  • Two new spells, a new shout, and many new items and equipment
  • An original 14-piece soundtrack and full voice-over
  • Compatible with just an up-to-date base install of Skyrim: no extra mods and no DLC required.

Braving a torrent of "doing it wrong" comments, I must confess I did not spend much more than a dozen hours with The Elder Scrolls V. It was entertaining and worthwhile to purchase but ultimately unable to become a habitual experience. Others I know, on the other hand, sunk months and years into the title. Falskaar, itself, expands that experience by about 25 further hours.

I do not expect to see a select handful of people for the next few days.

If you wish to fall off the grid, yourself, then download Falskaar for free if you own Skyrim. If you do not own Skyrim, it is currently reduced in price by 30% for the Steam Summer Sale.