Any good Skyrim mod recommendations that aren't just visual overhauls? The game still holds up but I want something with actual mechanical depth or new gameplay systems rather than just better textures and lighting. I've tried SkyUI and Compass Navig

I've been diving deep into mechanical overhauls lately because I kept getting tired of mods that just made the game look prettier without changing how it actually played. A few that genuinely change the gameplay loops rather than just cosmetics: Vigilant is a masterpiece — completely different faction system, new gear progression, and quests that feel like they came from a totally different design philosophy than the vanilla campaign.

You should definitely check out Tamriel Rebuilt if you want actual new content rather than just reskins — it's a massive project adding entire provinces that weren't in the base game, and the quests are written to feel like original Bethesda material rather than tacked-on additions. For mechanical depth specifically: Ordinator Overhaul is probably one of the best rebalance mods I've found. It completely rewrites perk progression so you can actually specialize meaningfully (like a pure stealth build that doesn't get punished for not being a jack-of-all-trades). Also check out Wildcat — it makes the combat more deliberate and less "spam every button" since enemies have directional awareness and actual stances, which changes how you approach

Enclave Reborn is definitely one of the better ones for pure scale — the size of the base camp alone makes it feel like a completely different game for a few hours. If you want actual mechanical depth, I'd look into SkyUI Add-on Survival Mode or Ordinator - Ordinator rewrites almost every skill tree to make them meaningful again instead of just 'level up and get

You're already on the right track with Vigilant and Enclave Reborn — those are probably the two biggest mechanical overhauls that don't feel like they break the game's identity. If you want actual gameplay systems, I have a few favorites:

For combat depth, look at Orbis Cores (Overhaul of Combat Basics) or SkyForge if you want to actually craft gear with stats rather than just find loot. Apocalypse also adds realistic damage scaling so high-level characters don't one-shot everything — it makes the game feel harder in a good way.

If you want new gameplay systems, Vymir's Immersive Campfire is underrated and turns camping into an actual activity instead of just

Enclave Reborn is a fantastic choice but honestly if you want mechanical depth I'd point you toward Vigilant first — it has a fully voiced DLC-sized questline and rebalance that feels like Bethesda would have made a real expansion for the game.

For new systems, check out Campfire (the survival/base camp mod) or Ordinator which completely rebuilds every perk tree into something actually interesting to build toward. There's also Vigilant Questlines by a different dev team if you want more dungeon content that feels like it was designed 2011-era Bethesda — the dungeons are handcrafted with unique mechanics rather than just retextured vanilla cells.

If you're willing to go bigger, The Forgotten

Oh man, I spent about 200+ hours digging into this last year and there are some genuinely deep ones out there beyond the usual visual stuff.

If you want mechanical depth: Ordinator is probably the most underrated overhaul on this thread — it completely rewrites the leveling system to make every skill tree viable, adds meaningful profession progression, and actually changes how combat flows without breaking vanilla immersion. It's a total rebuild of the RPG loop rather than just texture swaps.

For new gameplay systems: Campfire is basically Skyrim with an actual survival/crafting layer that feels native rather than bolted on — you can set up base camps, forage, craft gear from found materials, and the world actually reacts

Vigilant is probably the best one out there for what you want -- it's basically

Vigilant is definitely the gold standard for this -- basically a whole new faction with its own continent and progression system that feels like it was made by Bethesda rather than added on as a patch. There's also Vigilant - The Aetherium Wars if you want to extend the story into post-game content, which I think is one of the most coherent follow-up mods out there

Oh man, I went down this rabbit hole about three years ago when I got bored of just reshade and ENB stuff. A few that genuinely changed how I play: Vigilant is a must -- it adds an entire DLC-sized faction with actual mechanics (encampments, crafting systems, the Enclave's own questline) rather than just new models. For mechanical depth specifically, check out Ordinator - it overhauls almost every combat skill tree to be more meaningful and actually rewards playstyle choices instead of just giving you bigger numbers at level 50.

If you want entirely new systems: The Immersive Survival mod suite adds a drinking/hydration mechanic that feels weird but you get used to, and the Tough

The game's been around so long that visual mods have become the default answer to everything, but there are some genuinely meaty mechanical changes if you dig past the top of the Nexus.

Vigilant is probably your best bet for a full rebalance -- it adds about 20 new dungeons and overhauls almost every NPC's combat behavior from "walk into blade" to actually using tactics, blocking, and flanking. It also creates factions that have actual goals rather than just standing around waiting for you to talk to them.

Enclave Reborn is great if you want a faction with its own questline, but honestly the new thing I've been playing with lately is Immersive Citizens -- it changes how NPCs interact with

Vigilant is huge — it's basically a new campaign -- but if you want mechanical

Oh man yeah vigilante is literally the gold standard for this. It completely reshapes how you approach dungeons and I keep going back to it years later because the actual gameplay loop changes, not just the colors. If you want something that adds a whole new faction/questline Vigilant is definitely your best bet -- the level of polish on those questlines rivals vanilla production by a long shot