If you haven’t heard of Keizaal Online, there’s a good chance that’s about to change. Er, and… not just because you’re reading this article. The Skyrim mod, which brings players together in a single instanced setting, just hit a terrific benchmark—and it looks like it’s only going to keep rising.
We talk about Steam CCUs a lot these days because they can tell us a fraction (only a fraction!) of a game’s potential success or lack thereof. Keizaal Online isn’t a Steam game, obviously. But a CCU of its own is starting to take the Elder Scrolls fandom by storm, by virtue of… well, more and more of us signing on to enjoy this timeless realm together.
Not A Rerun
Keizaal’s lead developer, Oren, helped release the above trailer a little over a month ago. At the time, the mod touted “over 100” active players. That number has now been struck down sixfold, with over 600 active players logged on at once, per Dexerto. It’s a “synchronized, persistent Tamriel,” as Keizaal’s official website reads; and not in the Elder Scrolls Online sense, but in a fully roleplay-focused, live-your-own-adventure, sort of escapade. In short, it’s my jam.
As of this writing, there are 645 players logged into the game. What this means in practice is that, if you’re one of them, you can bump into 644 player-written characters. There are no NPCs—the players are taking up every profession, every quest, and effectively building a Skyrim that is more emergent, more bursting with narrative potential, than anything Bethesda’s wonderfully talented writers could muster. All it takes is an extreme commitment to the bit; no pressure, playerbase, but everything that happens, every word that’s spoken, is on you.
Wait, No NPCs at all? Oren can explain:
“We did that to further the emotion, because we want to achieve a serious role play server. That means trading happens between players. That’s why there’s a big emphasis on the economy… there’s no vendor NPCs that you can buy and sell stuff from.”
“The goal of Keizaal Online is not to… rerun the main story of Skyrim,” says Oren. Instead, it opens the floodgates to a new era of storytelling in a 15-year-old game. Joining is easy; you just add yourself to Keizaal’s Discord server, download a custom launcher, and you’re already just about done.
Now that Keizaal’s popularity is booming, the devs are leading with a roadmap for the shape of things to come. But there’s plenty to keep people occupied—I always admire an RP community with a calendar, and I don’t want to miss the Dragon Break or the Grand Games!
A New Metro Game Is Coming, And A Build Has Reportedly Leaked
It would be the fourth Metro title released, and the first since Exodus.
