As QuakeCon kicked off yesterday, I was surprised and delighted to see a familiar name pop up repeatedly in Bethesda’s stream. No, not Todd Howard or Marty Stratton, nor any famous Bethesda characters like Doom Guy. It was Kinggath! Kinggath is a modder strongly associated with Fallout 4, and his contributions, particularly with the Sim Settlements and Sim Settlements 2 mods, are almost essential to the game’s experience.
Kinggath’s Role at QuakeCon
In the first few minutes of the QuakeCon livestream, Kinggath’s name was mentioned several times, as he’s now working on official creations for Bethesda. The initial project unveiled is an expansion for Skyrim’s Bard’s College—a feature in the game that, while intriguing, was left quite underwhelming in its vanilla iteration.
Revamping the Bard’s College
Yes, Bethesda included a Bard’s College in Skyrim, populated it with quests, but astonishingly did not allow players to become a bard. This oversight will finally be corrected with Kinggath’s expansion. The Bard’s College update introduces a major storyline and authentic bard experiences. “The mountains will come alive as you play your instruments on the open road. Use them to earn coin by playing for an audience or to inspire your allies in combat.” Notably, the expansion also allows for bard battles, where players can learn insults and retorts to engage in wordplay duels, enhancing their prestige and coin.
New Projects on the Horizon
Though the Bard’s College expansion isn’t free—it costs 1,000 Creation Credits (roughly $10 on Steam)—it promises to reinvigorate an often-overlooked aspect of Skyrim. If you prefer a Kinggath creation you can play for free, you’ll need to fire up Starfield. However, his new “Doom-inspired miniquest” isn’t available yet. Titled “At Hell’s Gate,” it teases iconic Doom elements like the unmistakable Doom Guy armor and the classic shotgun. We’ll have to wait for a release date for this exciting project.
For more details and a glimpse of the trailer, keep an eye on Bethesda’s official channels and stay tuned for upcoming updates. QuakeCon continues to be a thrilling event, especially with seasoned modders like Kinggath pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from beloved games.
