The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has provided years of gaming magic. Its anniversary edition on PS5 marked 10 years of journeying through the vast, rich, adventurous land of Tamriel. Since then, players have taken the game to the next level by enriching their experience through mods. These mods, which have grown more advanced throughout the years, offer everything from smoother character movement to more advanced spells and even all-new content for the game.
PlayStation 5 players, keep scrolling to dive into not only the best, but the most ambitious and worthwhile mods the game has to offer. Though they largely aren’t exclusive to the system, they’re all compatible and are sure to enhance your experience on Sony’s console. As a side note before getting started, it is recommended that you start a new game on the Anniversary Edition when using mods.
Updated by Peter Hunt Szpytek on October 10, 2023: This list was updated to include a video (featured below.)
NPC Perks, Spells, Enchanted Gear, Followers
Everyone has gotten to the point where their NPC followers are almost utterly useless. As the protagonist levels up, they tend to completely outclass their NPC followers, and/or these companions die in a ridiculous manner (like charging into 10 draugrs in a crypt). Players with the NPC Perks, Spells, Enchanted Gear, Followers mod won’t have to worry about this, however.
As the title would suggest, players have access to a plethora of NPCs that can be used as followers with this mod. Most have enchanted gear that they can share and are genuinely useful at high levels. This greatly improves the diversity of followers available to the Dragonborn, and won’t leave players yelling at their television when their companion is set upon by a dragon.
Fully Swapped Armors
The Fully Swapped Armors mod takes original armor that has alternate equipment creations and completely replaces the stats. At the same time, the pieces retain the same name and are embedded seamlessly into the user’s world.
It’s certainly a simple mod, but it can make a tremendous difference for those players who feel they have seen every piece of gear Skyrim has to offer. The Dragonborn will be happy with all the new armor selections that they have been presented with here. This includes Leather, Steel, Orcish, Elven, Steel Plate, Dwarven, Ebony, Daedric, Dragonscale, and Dragonplate.
Julihah’s Texture Pack II: Unique Farm Houses
The lack of variety among villages in Skyrim doesn’t only dull the immersion of the world, it can also be incredibly annoying. There is a real lack of diversity, and it is quite frustrating to walk from the potion shop to the general goods store and confidently back to the potion shop (having already forgotten what it looks like) thinking that this is the Jarl’s house.
Julihah’s Texture Pack II: Unique Farm Houses completely alters the outside of farmhouses and village houses to switch things up with the various towns across Skyrim. It is environment-specific, which means that, in colder regions such as Winterhold, they are built with stone rather than wood. While the Dragonborn may not be building new cities in Tamriel, this adds a subtle but valuable layer to the immersion of Skyrim.
Julihah’s Dungeon Pack I And II
There are two mods by Julihah listed here. This is because each contributes to the immersion of the gameplay experience in a similar way. Julihah’s Dungeon Pack I adds new textures to all imperial architecture. This includes dungeon walls, wooden structures, beds, and even candles and chandeliers! It all lends a more realistic, run-down imperial aesthetic to proceedings.
Julihah’s Dungeon Pack II, however, completely revamps the textures of caves. Typically, all caverns in Skyrim utilize a green rock look with little diversity. With this mod, each cavern in Skyrim will now look different, with various unique shades, colors, and shadows, helping to make each rocky adventure a brand-new experience for players. This will make finding those pesky Stones of Barenziah much more entertaining.
Helgen Rebuilt
The Helgen Rebuilt mod does pretty much exactly what would be expected of it. It completely restores Helgen to its former glory, before the Alduin attack at the beginning of the player’s journey as the Dragonborn. Besides just buildings, it adds NPCs, crafting stations, followers, soldiers, and everything else that a fully-fledged Skyrim town should have.
Note that the Helgen escape must have been completed before installing this mod. After that, with this new addition, a whole new section of Skyrim is available to sift through and interact with.
The Forbidden Sanctuary Anniversary Edition
This is an original Skyrim mod that has been revamped for the anniversary edition of the RPG. The Forbidden Sanctuary is essentially a huge player hub, with quests that are perfectly designed and create an incredible atmosphere for the Dragonborn’s rightful home. According to the lore, this sanctuary has been sent back in time by the Dragonborn through the dragon break, available after the hero reached the end of their cycle.
There is a huge armory packed with display cases for weapons and armor hoarders, massive open areas for exploration, and hidden artifacts that will provide fans with incredibly powerful spells fit for Tamriel’s savior.
Epic Enhanced Console Graphics
Many fans, when they downloaded Skyrim’s Anniversary Edition and loaded up their new character, ready to conquer Skyrim yet again, were disappointed by the lack of change in the graphics. Thankfully, talented modders have an answer to this: The Epic Enhanced Console Graphics mod.
The realism when booting up this mod will be shocking. The trees are replete with new life, fortified castles look more prestigious than ever, and the mountains and overall landscape of Skyrim truly come to life. Don’t be deterred by the fact that this mod was made for the PS4, because it transfers flawlessly to the PS5. Welcome to an entirely new Tamriel.
Phenderix Magic Evolved
It’s no secret that initially becoming a mage in Skyrim is extremely tempting. It’s slow-going at the start, however, as players are stuck using the same spells for multiple levels until they become powerful enough to use further magic. With the Phenderix Magic Evolved mod players gain access to approximately 400 spells, with which to decimate foes and aid allies as you see fit.
These spells truly diversify the mage class, no matter which path the journey takes. For example, some especially interesting spells allow casters to turn foes into chickens, pull them into space-time, and even allow melee players to utilize special magic-like powers. Whether fans are trying to become true Master Conjurers or simply want to crush their foes with new Destruction spells, a plethora of options are available with this mod.
YMD2 Combat Overhaul
It’s no secret that Skyrim does not have the best or most creative combat. It is essentially swing, shoot, or block without much nuance in between. This mod revamps the whole system through a variety of improvements and additions, such as sweep attacks, parries, timed blocks, realistic staggering reactions, and much more.
The YMD2 Combat Overhaul mod is by far one of the best combat mods created specifically for PlayStation, and it isn’t even close. If you play Skyrim day in and day out, or even once in a blue moon, this is an absolute essential to make sure you enjoy the best action Tamriel has to offer.
Immersive Movement
Veteran players will know how unnatural the movement in Skyrim feels. As beloved as the game may be, it’s a little flawed in areas, and this is one of them. Enter the Immersive Movement mod. This mod, though simple, takes the number one spot simply because it alters every second of the adventure in this vast and innovative open world. To say it adds a layer of authenticity to the protagonist’s movements is an understatement.
Players will feel like a powerful Dragonborn should, regardless of build. Simple robes and clothes will genuinely feel light, heavy armor will make them feel like a true knight, and over-cumbering the player with wasteful materials will be a true challenge. The many battles ahead will immediately begin to feel more authentic and an awful lot more enjoyable.
Immersive Citizens – AI Overhaul
Skyrim’s AI was pretty bad when the game launched back in 2011, and it hasn’t gotten much better since. NPCs, in particular, are notoriously easy to exploit due to their terrible artificial intelligence. Well, not anymore. Immersive Citizens is an ambitious mod that aims to overhaul the AI of most of the game’s NPCs and make them react to situations in a more realistic manner. This applies both in and out of combat.
Once you install this mod, you’ll notice that NPCs travel more often than usual, have better schedules, and will behave differently depending on the day of the week. The improved AI also does a better job of reflecting the NPC’s profession, with blacksmiths feeling more distinct than farmers, to name just one example. Just as its title suggests, the most primarily affects citizens, so don’t expect to see major improvements when it comes to followers. It’s also worth noting that Immersive Citizens isn’t compatible with a lot of mods that change the layout of cities and villages. Make sure to check the compatibility page before you install mods like that.
Fast Alternate Start
Although iconic, Skyrim’s opening section is an absolute slog to play through, especially once you’ve already done it a few times. Unfortunately, Bethesda never added a way to skip the tutorial, but you can still do so thanks to this mod. Fast Alternate Start is pretty much what it says on the tin. The mod allows players to skip the boring stuff and jump straight into the action from the get-go. No more carriage rides. No more Helgen.
Once you install this mod, you’ll be able to create a new character right away and start your adventures in one of several locations scattered throughout Skyrim. If you want to stick to the vanilla experience, you can start at the Guardian Stones near Riverwood and progress normally from there. Alternatively, you can start off as an adventurer in a tavern, as a member of one of Skyrim’s many guilds, a vampire, a werewolf, and more. Fast Alternate Start doesn’t feature quite as many options as the PC mod Live Another Life, but will still do a good job of making your next adventure feel fresh and interesting.
Obsidian Weathers
Obsidian Weathers is the most popular Skyrim weather mod currently available on PS5. The mod features around 90 new types of weather complete with lighting and sound effects. In addition, the mod reworks some of the old weather systems to bring them up to par with the new ones. The reworked storms sound particularly realistic and fittingly ominous. But the best part of the mod is that it makes a lot of the new weather systems and climates exclusive to specific regions in order to increase immersion.
Obsidian Weathers was designed to be the first and last weather mod you’ll ever need. As such, Obsidian Weathers isn’t compatible with other mods that perform a similar function. You can use certain storm mods with the proper patches, but other weather overhaul mods are not compatible. The good news is that you can use Obsidian Weathers with all interior lighting overhauls since this mod only affects exteriors.
Magical College Of Winterhold
The College of Winterhold is one of the most unique locations in all of Skyrim, however, the place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in ages. Who knew mages were such a bunch of slobs? Don’t worry, though, because you can use this mod to turn the renowned college into the perfect home for the intrepid mage. Magical College of Winterhold is a very fun mod that improves the famous school of magic in pretty much every way imaginable. We’re talking new decorations, cleaner quarters, additional crafting stations, storage, and more.
The primary goal of this mod is to make the College of Winterhold feel more magical and less…”Nord.” To that end, the mod author got rid of much of the useless clutter and replaced it with magical decorations, unique books, enchanting stations, and various other knick-knacks. The Archmage’s quarters also received a nice facelift and were redesigned for practicality. It’s recommended that you install Magical College of Winterhold before starting a new game. It will work with an existing save file, but you may end up running into some weird bugs.
The Great Cities
There are plenty of mods out there that overhaul Skyrim’s big cities, but small cities and towns rarely get any love. Luckily, there is one mod out there that overhauls these locations. Somewhat ironically, this mod goes by the name The Great Cities and it’s actually a compilation of several smaller mods, each designed to improve minor cities like Dawnstar or Falkreath. While you can download each of those mods separately, it’s a lot more convenient to just get the entire pack.
In addition to making these locations bigger and busier, The Great Cities also introduces a bit of unique flair to each of them by adding new structures, locations, decorations, and more. Since the mod only uses existing assets from the base game, you can expect all the modifications to be completely lore-friendly. The Great Cities only modifies exteriors, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues if you’re running mods that change interiors. However, The Great Cities won’t play well with other mods that modify the same locations, namely, Dawnstar, Falkreath, Dragon Bridge, Rorikstead, Morthal, and Winterhold.