Morrowind strongly stands as one of the best role-playing games ever made, leveraging its uniquely crafted environment to draw players ever inward toward the spirit of a truly fantastical landscape. The game's undertone is severe, its thunderous symphony of beautifully orchestrated music guiding players through blight-stricken Vvardenfell. And yet, Morrowind is also one of the loosest, kooky games we've ever played – something with which Creative Lead Ken Rolston agreed in our 2014 interview.

It was 2002 that Morrowind first hit store shelves – quite literally, as digital downloads didn't much exist – and shortly thereafter that expansions Tribunal and Bloodmoon accompanied the RPG. Countless attempts have been made to reimagine Morrowind on various engines of newer descent. Lately, we've been paying attention to the Skyrim engine's Skywind, Morrowind engine's Morrowind Rebirth, and ground-up engine and remake OpenMW.

The above video walks-through the three major Morrowind remakes, explaining each of their goals and levels of completion. The full script for this video can be found below, should a quick read-through be more appealing than video format.

Bethesda Softworks' TES III: Morrowind is responsible for much of my love for bombastic fantasy environments and storylines within games. Morrowind had a sort of charm to it -- and some of this is admittedly nostalgic -- but the game felt big. Sure, having the view distance of bat contributed to that, but the resonance of a fantastical atmosphere truly made the game feel unique: Towering, domesticated silt striders used as a form of transport, airborne jellyfish (Netch), and the groan-inducing shriek of cliff-racers all felt like something out of an R. A. Salvatore novel.

And, for those of you who played Morrowind when it came out, hold onto your olds: It's been nearly 15 years. Ouch.