Visuals 8/10 Can be brought to a 10/10 if you install some mods that replace the vanilla skyrim creatures, weapons, and armor with unique ones from Enderal. I strongly recommend Enderal Weapons and Armor Overhaul.
Graphics 10/10 I'm coming from LE, "old Skyrim", so this game looks absolutely stunning compared to that)
Voice acting 10/10 Surprisingly better than Skyrim in many ways. Tealor Arantheal's VA brings the character to life. His performance is so good it's as if he's right there in front of you when he speaks. He's just one example, but everyone in the game is truly phenomenal, even the inconsequential NPCs.
Gameplay 5/10 Can be brought to an 9.5/10 with mods, I strongly recommend this. Read on to see what I suggest after putting in 140 hours at the time of this review. (104 were on the old, non-Special Edition version)

The entire production of this game feels like it was made by a AAA studio, and honestly trumps anything Bethesda has released in the last decade (outside of FO:NV). The voice acting is absolutely top shelf. The subtleties in the world design are noticeable, and appreciated. And the story... It's just so damn good. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.


The following paragraphs will detail the gameplay, some mod recommendations, and give you a brief, spoiler-free overview of how the story is.

Right away I'll start with an analogy about the story: if you like things along the lines of Inception, Shutter Island, The Matrix, or Full Metal Alchemist, then you will absolutely love the story of Enderal.

Moving on to gameplay: If you're going vanilla (no mods), then Enderal is basically Skyrim but harder. I suppose that's okay, but you should definitely add mods to it in order to get the best experience. Specifically SkySA, True Directional Movement, The Ultimate Dodge Mod, and a timed block mod of your choice. The mods I aforementioned make the game feel like a modern action RPG that plays very similar to The Witcher 3, Shadow of War, and even Sekiro/Dark souls if you so choose.

You level up by doing quests, killing things, and crafting items, among other activities. When you reach the next character level you get a memory point, 5 learning points, and 4 crafting points. You don't level up skills the same way as in Skyrim. Instead, you need to purchase learning books & crafting books from vendors (pretty much any vendor), and then you spend the points that you currently have in order to use the book, thus leveling up your skills. So you're given a big incentive to find ways to earn money, in order to buy the books you need to level up the skills you want. Learning points are spent on your combat skills, crafting points are spent on your crafting skills, i.e Alchemy, Lockpicking, Sleight of Hand (pickpocketing), Handicraft (smithing), Rhetoric (speech), and Enchanting.

Perk trees are spent inside this meditation room that you can enter at any time from anywhere. You walk up to the perk you want on the wall then it functions like in Skyrim. You spend the perk on what you want by aiming at it. As for the perks themselves, it's mostly what you can expect from vanilla Skyrim, but there is certainly a bit more creativity with these.

Something new that they do is Affinities. Once you reach level 19, and have enough perk points invested in a two synergistic perk trees, (10 each iirc) then you will automatically unlock an Affinity. An Affinity is a specialized class that offers unique bonuses to your character. There are 20 in the base game if I recall correctly.

So altogether you'll have to actually spec your character properly, i.e, have a character build. This actually is a fantastic change as it makes each playthrough/character different, as each style of character offers a unique approach to game play. Check out the Affinities page on the SureAI wiki to get a feel for what I'm talking about.

The story of Enderal is nothing short of incredible. It's been nearly a week since I finished my first playthrough (104 hours, on the non SE version of the game), and I'm still reeling from the ending. The philosophical questions of interpreting reality, and human consciousness are primary themes in the story. And I should add that, principally, it's a very dark story.

As for what the story is actually about, you should just let the game tell you. Nevertheless, I'll give a brief summary. You, the player character, are born in the country of Nehrim, and you play as a half-Nehrimese person who is attempting to flee your home country due to some... "events" that befall you. That's all I'll say for now, as the first 10 minutes-or-so lay everything out perfectly, and anything more would be a spoiler.

Regarding being half-Nehrimese: the other half of your ethnicity will be one of the four playable races, these are Kilean, Qyranian, Aeterna, and Arazalean. Basically, a Breton, Redguard, High Elf, and a Nord, but that doesn't matter. The race you choose only effects your starting skills, and alters some of the interactions you have with characters and NPCs.

You'll be taken through the main quest at a modest pace, all the while having no idea what's really going on, even when you think you do.

Even when you think you do.

But, by the end of the game you realize the truth about all the events that lead up to that point. Or did you? After all:

"What is reality anyway?"
-Unknown