Redux is a combination of a quest and alternate start mod, replacing the usual Helgen intro and the required Dragonborn path with an entirely new story. This is intended to frame your playthrough in a better way than always being the Dragonborn but also trying to, for example, be an evil character or a thief.
The problem with archetypal hero stories that Bethesda tends to write is that it's at odds with the role-playing part of an RPG, and can cause major dissonance between what the game thinks your character is and what you're trying to play them as.
The synopsis of the new questline that takes its place, although the Dragonborn and dragons remain an optional side path that you can pick up at any time, is that you have been marked by a mysterious being known as The Ynahlum. Setting out into the world, this begins a search for answers about what she truly is and what role you have to play.
It is a personal story meant to work with all kinds of player characters, and ties into the factions you ally with.
How is this different from any other alternate start mod? This was never intended to compete with other alternate start mods, so if you feel what Redux does isn't substantial enough or you don't want to switch out what you've got already, that's okay. You don't have to download it.
Redux is trying to do its own thing with a new storyline to work better with your adventures through the world. I'm not trying to supplant other mods or become "the next best thing." This is a unique experience that won't be for everyone.
A quick, spoiler-free review from someone who's just finished the mod. I played through the version packaged with ezPG, but I've left this comment here because it's Redux's content I'm talking about.
The good Generally, this is a pretty good alternate main quest/pre-main quest/alternate start (it's potentially all or any of these things) in terms of sheer quality. I enjoyed playing through it, and I was interested to see where the plot was going to go next. The mod is quite polished, and credibly feels like a semi-professional production through most of its runtime. The voice acting in particular is quite good, both in terms of acting performances, but also in terms of audio quality - not always a given in the modding world.
I like how the story is structured, and the fact that it takes you on a neat little tour around Skyrim as you try and unravel what's going on - many of the locations you visit are ones that sit somewhat neglected in normal playthroughs, or aren't places you'd particularly expect to be sent. It does a good job of showing you around Skyrim, which should be the goal of any quest that seeks to be an introduction to a new game.
A lot of people seem to have technical problems getting this mod running. I had no such problems, and didn't encounter any bugs or glitches either. I was able to get from start to finish without having to use console commands once.
Finally, I should give note to the very credible sense of unease and creepiness threaded throughout the story. It wasn't always perfect, but the mod does a pretty good job of building a sense of mounting dread, which isn't easy. Kudos!
The middling The dialogue writing is... so-so. The writer is clearly interested in telling a slightly deeper-than-average narrative, and this does come across in how scenes are written. Unfortunately, I'd say they only succeed about 60% of the time.
Some lines are just a tad too gradiose, some jokes don't really land, some of the exposition dumps are a bit tedious. It's certainly not awful, and there's good stuff in here, but I think it could be better.
I also need to give a nod to the pacing, which was mostly fine until it wasn't. The ending kind of came out of nowhere - it could have used some more building up. Not a huge problem, more a minor letdown.
The bad I have essentially two serious gripes to put here. The first one is really straightforward:
There's a custom-made cave map towards the end of the storyline that is fucking awful. It looks bland and uninteresting, is mostly completely empty, serves no purpose except as a transition area, and absolutely tanked my framerate. The framerate lag stayed with me after I left the cave, until I rebooted the game completely. I have no idea what caused this, but it was by far the lowest point in the entire experience. Thankfully, it's a very short sequence, but it was far below the quality level of everything else in the mod. I can only assume it was an experiment in designing cells or something.
My second gripe is a bit more nuanced, and it's about the overall story. This part's going to be hard to write without spoilers, so watch out; this might get wordy.
The plot at the core of Redux is a mystery plot. The player starts the game with a mysterious problem to solve, and spends the runtime of Redux chasing after a solution, chaining between possible leads and gathering information until they close in on the answer. This is a perfectly fine structure, but it has one glaring problem.
In Redux, the player learns nothing of substance about the problem at any point. There is no satisfying conclusion, no explanation of any kind. This is a story where things will happen, and NPCs will say "Oh my god, thing happened, how mysterious". You'll then get a quest to go find out more information about the mysterious thing that happened, which will lead to a book or report that says "Sometimes, this mysterious thing causes other mysterious things. It's happened before. It was scary then, too.". No further elaboration, on to the next lead in the daisy chain for more non-information.
I played through most of this mod thinking this was just a slow burn. That eventually it would get to the point, to some underlying reason, some meaning to anything that had happened. But it never did. It just ended. Having completed the mod, I'm still none the wiser as to why my PC was saddled with the original problem in the first place, or what any of it meant. The antagonist's motivations are just as opaque as they were at the start.
I have this feeling this was an intentional choice on the part of the writer in an attempt to capture some grand, dark, eldritch horror vibes. But the lack of any kind of resolution or explanation makes the whole thing feel flat, like it was all just for its own sake. Some events in the story feel like they happen just because the author thought it was a cool idea, and not because it necessarily develops the story at all.
The conclusion While I don't dislike Redux, and would generally recommend it to someone just looking for something different for their next playthrough, I'm afraid I can't quite recommend it wholeheartedly. The lack of overall goals or depth in the (otherwise well-written and well voice-acted) plot make it a very pretty, but paper-thin experience.
so I chose to be selfless in the end and now im stuck in eternal abyss and everything around me is dark, and the quest seems to be finished. any idea how I can get out?
nevermind quick fix is moveto player click on general tullius id in vanilla skyrim then load general tullius in the game just like the lady in telmythryn she was broken glad i save if she still broken ressurrect her then presto near the ash spawns if having issues like me bypass the bug on only pc hope it helps people have simular situation like me
I really tried to like this mod, but the more I played the worst it felt I must state that I've played it twice, second time on unmodded skyrim Fight with Darkscales inside an Inn always ends with a disaster. I have no idea why they would not at least force player outside to make less problems to themselves killing someone inside a city in skyrim while being argonians Ynalum not appearing before me at certain point of quest No interaction mark on V in the Manor Quest not updating when Runestone is picked up, there is no foreshadowing that player must escape trough alternate route instead of just walking out If you (without slightly valuing your time) decide to follow V to her hideout she would just disappear after reaching whiterun hold and reappear surrounded by scourges near her hideout Nor Quintus nor V would follow players inside their hideouts if player get inside first V's voice acting seems to be the weakest compared to other EZPG NPCs I've met Messageboxes with passages like "you decided" are just anticlimatic for immersive experience. It's not you, author, who must decide my course of action, it's for me to decide and it's a cornerstone of immersive sim gameplay, especially considering this approach being very inconsistent with the rest of the game Same goes for uninterractable assets in added locations, like countless black books, commentaries on mythic dawn and daedric dagger V can't leave the ice bridge in unmarked cave and just wait till navmesh transport her further Dialogues with single response line are just forcing the role and emotional characteristic on the player In the final confrontation you can just ignore the suggestions to bring allies and the whole script about sacrificing others seems utterly detached
First of all, it seems I didn’t get the right ending : mine directly began with character creation at the end of the cave in Helgen. I’ve read in previous comments that it’s mainly a compatibility issue with other alternate starts mods but I remember disabling Live Another Life before playing Redux.
Also (spoilers ahead) during the quest where I go to Morthal to investigate the light, after reading the journal I’m teleported to another cave. Problem is : the objective says “speak with the Ynahlum” but… I’m definitely the only one in this cave.
I’m not sure at all if it’s related but I’ve never encountered her before, I don’t even know what she looks like… I don’t think it’s normal at this point of the story.
Also, I don’t think it changes a lot, but I’m using the Steam Workshop version.
Anyway, as far as I’ve gotten, the story is very well-written, I feel like I have much more role play options than the vanilla. Great mod, thank you so much for creating it. Good luck with your other creations!
You have a patch that's conflicting with the intro quest. Someone else reported this, although I can't remember the exact mod off the top of my head. That's definitely not intentional.
You're the second person to report her not appearing in The Precipice. Without knowing your load order, I can't say what the cause is, but it's a conflict with something else you have installed. To get around this, you can use console commands to spawn a copy of her.
First, enter "help ynahla" into the console. Get the first NPC id and then do "player.placeatme [ID] 1" without quotation marks. Talk with her to progress, but if she still appears again, click on her and use "disable" to get rid of the duplicate.
Also for those who have the same intro issue, the only patch I’m using is Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch so I suppose this is what causes it.
Unfortunately, this mod contains one bad ending (there are only two endings, so you have 50% chance of getting the bad ending), where you are stuck in a place and cant go back to the skyrim map and you must reload. And I dont get why would the dev do this. This mod is supposed to be only the starting chapter of the Dragonborn's grand adventure. The dragonborn is supposed to keep living after the events of redux and become what he truly destines to be, a dragon slayer.
Not really no where does it state uts a statt to the deagonborns adventure the only refwrence to the dragon born in this kods deacriptions is stating being the Dragonborn is optional
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The problem with archetypal hero stories that Bethesda tends to write is that it's at odds with the role-playing part of an RPG, and can cause major dissonance between what the game thinks your character is and what you're trying to play them as.
The synopsis of the new questline that takes its place, although the Dragonborn and dragons remain an optional side path that you can pick up at any time, is that you have been marked by a mysterious being known as The Ynahlum. Setting out into the world, this begins a search for answers about what she truly is and what role you have to play.
It is a personal story meant to work with all kinds of player characters, and ties into the factions you ally with.
How is this different from any other alternate start mod?
This was never intended to compete with other alternate start mods, so if you feel what Redux does isn't substantial enough or you don't want to switch out what you've got already, that's okay. You don't have to download it.
Redux is trying to do its own thing with a new storyline to work better with your adventures through the world. I'm not trying to supplant other mods or become "the next best thing." This is a unique experience that won't be for everyone.
The good
Generally, this is a pretty good alternate main quest/pre-main quest/alternate start (it's potentially all or any of these things) in terms of sheer quality. I enjoyed playing through it, and I was interested to see where the plot was going to go next. The mod is quite polished, and credibly feels like a semi-professional production through most of its runtime. The voice acting in particular is quite good, both in terms of acting performances, but also in terms of audio quality - not always a given in the modding world.
I like how the story is structured, and the fact that it takes you on a neat little tour around Skyrim as you try and unravel what's going on - many of the locations you visit are ones that sit somewhat neglected in normal playthroughs, or aren't places you'd particularly expect to be sent. It does a good job of showing you around Skyrim, which should be the goal of any quest that seeks to be an introduction to a new game.
A lot of people seem to have technical problems getting this mod running. I had no such problems, and didn't encounter any bugs or glitches either. I was able to get from start to finish without having to use console commands once.
Finally, I should give note to the very credible sense of unease and creepiness threaded throughout the story. It wasn't always perfect, but the mod does a pretty good job of building a sense of mounting dread, which isn't easy. Kudos!
The middling
The dialogue writing is... so-so. The writer is clearly interested in telling a slightly deeper-than-average narrative, and this does come across in how scenes are written. Unfortunately, I'd say they only succeed about 60% of the time.
Some lines are just a tad too gradiose, some jokes don't really land, some of the exposition dumps are a bit tedious. It's certainly not awful, and there's good stuff in here, but I think it could be better.
I also need to give a nod to the pacing, which was mostly fine until it wasn't. The ending kind of came out of nowhere - it could have used some more building up. Not a huge problem, more a minor letdown.
The bad
I have essentially two serious gripes to put here. The first one is really straightforward:
There's a custom-made cave map towards the end of the storyline that is fucking awful. It looks bland and uninteresting, is mostly completely empty, serves no purpose except as a transition area, and absolutely tanked my framerate. The framerate lag stayed with me after I left the cave, until I rebooted the game completely. I have no idea what caused this, but it was by far the lowest point in the entire experience. Thankfully, it's a very short sequence, but it was far below the quality level of everything else in the mod. I can only assume it was an experiment in designing cells or something.
My second gripe is a bit more nuanced, and it's about the overall story. This part's going to be hard to write without spoilers, so watch out; this might get wordy.
The plot at the core of Redux is a mystery plot. The player starts the game with a mysterious problem to solve, and spends the runtime of Redux chasing after a solution, chaining between possible leads and gathering information until they close in on the answer. This is a perfectly fine structure, but it has one glaring problem.
In Redux, the player learns nothing of substance about the problem at any point. There is no satisfying conclusion, no explanation of any kind. This is a story where things will happen, and NPCs will say "Oh my god, thing happened, how mysterious". You'll then get a quest to go find out more information about the mysterious thing that happened, which will lead to a book or report that says "Sometimes, this mysterious thing causes other mysterious things. It's happened before. It was scary then, too.". No further elaboration, on to the next lead in the daisy chain for more non-information.
I played through most of this mod thinking this was just a slow burn. That eventually it would get to the point, to some underlying reason, some meaning to anything that had happened. But it never did. It just ended. Having completed the mod, I'm still none the wiser as to why my PC was saddled with the original problem in the first place, or what any of it meant. The antagonist's motivations are just as opaque as they were at the start.
I have this feeling this was an intentional choice on the part of the writer in an attempt to capture some grand, dark, eldritch horror vibes. But the lack of any kind of resolution or explanation makes the whole thing feel flat, like it was all just for its own sake. Some events in the story feel like they happen just because the author thought it was a cool idea, and not because it necessarily develops the story at all.
The conclusion
While I don't dislike Redux, and would generally recommend it to someone just looking for something different for their next playthrough, I'm afraid I can't quite recommend it wholeheartedly. The lack of overall goals or depth in the (otherwise well-written and well voice-acted) plot make it a very pretty, but paper-thin experience.
Edit: I found the issue, I had your all one mod installed and somehow had redux active with it, or that was the mod I used for Redux and I forgot
I must state that I've played it twice, second time on unmodded skyrim
Fight with Darkscales inside an Inn always ends with a disaster. I have no idea why they would not at least force player outside to make less problems to themselves killing someone inside a city in skyrim while being argonians
Ynalum not appearing before me at certain point of quest
No interaction mark on V in the Manor
Quest not updating when Runestone is picked up, there is no foreshadowing that player must escape trough alternate route instead of just walking out
If you (without slightly valuing your time) decide to follow V to her hideout she would just disappear after reaching whiterun hold and reappear surrounded by scourges near her hideout
Nor Quintus nor V would follow players inside their hideouts if player get inside first
V's voice acting seems to be the weakest compared to other EZPG NPCs I've met
Messageboxes with passages like "you decided" are just anticlimatic for immersive experience. It's not you, author, who must decide my course of action, it's for me to decide and it's a cornerstone of immersive sim gameplay, especially considering this approach being very inconsistent with the rest of the game
Same goes for uninterractable assets in added locations, like countless black books, commentaries on mythic dawn and daedric dagger
V can't leave the ice bridge in unmarked cave and just wait till navmesh transport her further
Dialogues with single response line are just forcing the role and emotional characteristic on the player
In the final confrontation you can just ignore the suggestions to bring allies and the whole script about sacrificing others seems utterly detached
First of all, it seems I didn’t get the right ending : mine directly began with character creation at the end of the cave in Helgen. I’ve read in previous comments that it’s mainly a compatibility issue with other alternate starts mods but I remember disabling Live Another Life before playing Redux.
Also (spoilers ahead) during the quest where I go to Morthal to investigate the light, after reading the journal I’m teleported to another cave. Problem is : the objective says “speak with the Ynahlum” but… I’m definitely the only one in this cave.
I’m not sure at all if it’s related but I’ve never encountered her before, I don’t even know what she looks like… I don’t think it’s normal at this point of the story.
Also, I don’t think it changes a lot, but I’m using the Steam Workshop version.
Anyway, as far as I’ve gotten, the story is very well-written, I feel like I have much more role play options than the vanilla. Great mod, thank you so much for creating it. Good luck with your other creations!
You're the second person to report her not appearing in The Precipice. Without knowing your load order, I can't say what the cause is, but it's a conflict with something else you have installed. To get around this, you can use console commands to spawn a copy of her.
First, enter "help ynahla" into the console. Get the first NPC id and then do "player.placeatme [ID] 1" without quotation marks. Talk with her to progress, but if she still appears again, click on her and use "disable" to get rid of the duplicate.
Also for those who have the same intro issue, the only patch I’m using is Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch so I suppose this is what causes it.
edit in an idiot just reread level 10 got it need to be level 10
Unfortunately, this mod contains one bad ending (there are only two endings, so you have 50% chance of getting the bad ending), where you are stuck in a place and cant go back to the skyrim map and you must reload. And I dont get why would the dev do this. This mod is supposed to be only the starting chapter of the Dragonborn's grand adventure. The dragonborn is supposed to keep living after the events of redux and become what he truly destines to be, a dragon slayer.