Carved Brink takes The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition somewhere wonderfully strange

Image credit: Haem Projects / Carved Brink, via Nexus Mods

Skyrim has some strange places tucked away beyond the ordinary roads and ruins, but Carved Brink seems particularly determined to make you question where you've wandered off to. Created by Haem Projects, the team behind Project AHO, this substantial quest expansion opens a path into Peryite's realm and the mysterious Faceted Stones. Floating landscapes, unusual creatures, and settlements inhabited by goblins turn the adventure into something far removed from another trip through a draugr-infested Nordic crypt. And frankly, sometimes you just want your fantasy adventures to get a little weird.

Haem Projects built more than 40 locations into the experience, along with two major questlines, additional side stories, and a large cast of fully voiced characters. Exploration and attention to conversations, books, and journals matter here, because the adventure isn't designed around constantly following quest markers. Players need a character of at least level 10 to begin, but there's no SKSE requirement or elaborate dependency stack to assemble. Originally released in 2019, Carved Brink remains a compelling example of what happens when modders decide Skyrim's world isn't quite strange enough and start building their own.