With the arrival of the revolutionary Seasons of Skyrim by the mighty powerofthree Skyrim modding has changed forever.
At least that's how it feels for me. For years we have been telling each other that Skyrim will never have seasonal changes. There have been wonderful overhauls, such as the ones created by AceeQ and mobiusbelmont, but dynamic changes, unironically, change everything. Today I want to put together a small list of seasonal mods that tickle my fancy.
Turn of the Seasons by Tate Taylor and Jelidity
The first seasonal landscape overhaul to come out, it is still the one to keep. Even if you have other mods replacing the trees and/or groundcovers, it also adds most beautiful layers of ice on the rivers come winter.
Seasonal Wildlife Distribution by Monops
As you travel through the wild, you will now meet different animals, depending on the season. It is one of those subtle, but very helpful additions to build immersion. Especially if you don't use Fast Traveling.
Frostfall - Seasons by BrinaSair
This mod came out back in 2018 (and Frostfall itself was first published in 2012, but let's pretend we're still young). Yet it is still an absolutely excellent survival mod. Now that we have visual representation of changes between the seasons, it's even better to have a gameplay impact from them as well.
Seasonal Landscapes by Mefariah
A comprehensive overhaul of Skyrim with lots of patches for maximum compatibility. Even better in combination with...
Seasonal Landscapes Unfrozen by Mefariah
Bringing summer, spring, and fall to the ever frozen northern regions. The Sea of Ghosts might be relentless, but it shall not stop winter from ending.
There have been a great deal of stunningly beautiful weather mods, Climates of Tamriel, Mythical Ages, Wander - being some of them. But a lot of them did not have season support, until now. Check the mod page for the full list of supported weather mods.
Fantasy Environmental Effects by Holaholacocacola
While not directly season related, this mod increases the importance of being aware of your surroundings, including the weather as well as the dungeon type. For example, Dwarven Ruins are hot and steamy, and they make the Frost spells less effective. Or if you are out in the rain and know a few Shock spells, those might come especially handy.
Seasonal Alchemy by Charamei
What are the seasonal changes for, if the plants grow regardless of the season?
Seasonal Alchemy Add-on - Critters and Fungi and Farms by HamsterSensei12
Farmers finally caught on to what this 'winter' thing is!
A Matter of Time HUD Clock Widget - Edit for Seasons by PaganoWagano
In case you are like me, and still have trouble memorizing the months, or simply in case you just want the words to be there.
Seasonal Foods - CACO add-on by boringvlln
If you'd like to feel a bit more connected to the small town farmers or big city innkeepers, imagine how the world keeps going when the main character is off to do some dragon slaying. Farmers collect apples and bake pies in the fall, butchers cure meat for the long winter, Nazeem visits the Cloud District... Some of these things might even be true.
Seasonal Foods - Tea Coffee Cocktails by boringvlln
How can you just not have any coffee in a game?
This has been by no means a full list of any kind. There are tree mods with seasons support, such as Happy Little Trees, Seasonal Aspen Trees, Blubbos other aspen replacer, Ulvenwald Lite - Vanilla Replacer. As well as other weather and landscape mods, etc. Perhaps I'll cover them next time.
Take care and may you enjoy the passage of time - both in game and in real life.
All images (apart from the last one) are taken from mod pages, therefore belong to mod authors, as do the mods, ofc.