After over 10 years of Skyrim, games have collectively visited Riverwood and helped its inhabitants with their problems billions of times – be it by retrieving precious family heirlooms or engaging in a little bit of slander to help a complete stranger win over a girl’s heart. If you’re still playing Skyrim after all these years, I’m sure you have a soft spot for the riverside lumber town. The best way to spice things up on your next visit to Riverwood is by modding the hell out of it, and the following mods will help you do just that.
10. Riverwood Flowering
Check Out This Mod Canonically, the Dragonborn escapes Helgen on the 17th of Last Seed, which is right at the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn. But what if you want to experience a more Spring-like beginning to your adventure? Riverwood Flowering can help give the first town on the Dragonborn’s path a springtime aesthetic by covering it in blooming flowers. This mod is designed to work with the Leaf’s Rest player home mod for maximum enjoyment.
9. Beginner’s Shack in Riverwood
Check Out This Mod I’ve always disliked how you’re basically forced to buy a house in Whiterun if you don’t want to carry a ton of stuff around until you find a better home. This Beginner’s Shack in Riverwood – created by prolific home designer Elianora – can serve as the perfect basic home for a fledgling adventurer who doesn’t like city life and needs a base of operations a little bit sooner. The home is designed to cover all your basic needs without feeling inappropriate for a humble adventurer freshly escaped from the executioner’s chopping block.
8. Northbourne NPCs of Riverwood
Check Out This Mod The NPCs of Riverwood are some of the most memorable in the game – if only because they’re the first the average player meets. Northbourne NPCs of Riverwood gives all of these familiar faces a total high-poly makeover for increased realism and attractiveness. It comprises male and female NPCs of all races, including all-time favorites like Sven and Faendal, their beloved Camilla Valerius, and the undercover Blades Grandmaster Delphine.
7. Unique Locations – Riverwood Forest
Check Out This Mod One of the most important and well-loved mods for TESIV: Oblivion was Unique Landscapes, a fantastic overhaul of Cyrodiil’s natural beauty that’s a must-have if you’re playing the game in the 2020s. Unique Locations – Riverwood Forest gives the woods surrounding Riverwood the same treatment, transforming the landscape with new hills, ruins, waterfalls, and trees. The affected area goes from Helgen to Pelagia Farm, including the road from Riverwood to Bleak Falls Barrow. The next time you visit the town, you’ll be greeted by a thick forest and all-new areas that’ll challenge everything you know about Riverwood’s surroundings.
6. CD’s True Forest of Riverwood
Check Out This Mod If you want an even thicker, more varied forest around Riverwood, this mod by Crazy Dave is the way to go. True Forest of Riverwood aims to make the forest surrounding this humble lumber town feel wild and untamed with new trees of varying types and sizes, smaller flora, and many immersive details like fallen trees and tree stumps. At least now you’ll know where the lumberjacks got all those logs we see in the lumber mill.
5. Anna’s Riverwood Cabin
Check Out This Mod After going on countless adventures and earning some cash, your Dragonborn may want to retire to the mountains for a quiet life – and what better place than the friendly town of Riverwood? Anna’s Riverwood Cabin offers the Dragonborn a modest home in the outskirts of town between the towering mountains and the fresh crystalline river that gives the town its name. On the inside, it’s much like every other Riverwood home, except it has every crafting station the Dragonborn could need – plus plenty of storage space. One of my favorite parts is the terrace overlooking the river, where you can sit down to enjoy a loaf of bread and drink some wine while enjoying the view.
4. Riverwood Keep
Check Out This Mod Alternatively, your Dragonborn may have gotten accustomed to big halls and ostentatious décor after becoming personal friends with so many Jarls and influential figures. As the world’s savior, it’s only fair for them to have their own fortress. It should be easily defensible from the many enemies made along the way and filled with luxury rivaling Solitude. Lazz’s Riverwood Keep mod introduces a glorious castle running along the river a couple meters downstream from the town. Not only does it look majestic from the outside, but it houses everything from a throne room to a loft with a pool. There are also accommodations for all your servants, followers, and any children you might adopt.
3. JK’s Riverwood
Check Out This Mod JKrojmal is probably the most famous name in the Skyrim urban modding scene, thanks to a long catalog of overhauls and minor improvements for almost every settlement in the province. JK’s Riverwood was one of the first, and it remains among the best overhauls for this riverside town. This mod makes Riverwood feel more absorbing and realistic without straying too far from the vanilla Skyrim style. The materials and the architectural style remain the same, but there’s a lot more to see – and it’s easier to make your way around town, too. If you enjoy this mod, check out JK’s Riverwood Trader for the whole package.
2. Kato’s Riverwood
Check Out This Mod If you’re not afraid of straying from the vanilla style, Kato’s Riverwood is a fantastic overhaul that’ll make the town feel more alive and even a little bit festive. This mod focuses on adding decorations and clutter all around town to make it feel lived-in and less barren than in vanilla. I get it’s a small town where everyone works most of the day, but nothing stops them from keeping their surroundings attractive!
1. Riverwood Redeveloped
Check Out This Mod Riverwood is only a small town in the mountains. Still, after the complete destruction of Helgen, you’d expect a lot more business and prosperity to be diverted to this neighboring town. Riverwood Redeveloped imagines a slightly more advanced town with improved infrastructure, better roads, and more solid defenses against outside threats. While definitely not on the same level as Whiterun or Riften, this mod makes Riverwood more livable. It introduces many beautiful places tourists and locals would love to visit, and overall, it makes every trip through Riverwood more enjoyable and immersive.
