It is one of life’s greatest privileges to witness the completion of a masterpiece. Imagine Michelangelo putting the final taut lines on David. Imagine shooting the final scene for Mulholland Drive. Now stop imagining. You’re here. You’re seeing it. Muffinwind Rebaked is done.
Muffinwind Rebaked is a remake of Muffinwind, a classic 2006 mod for Morrowind that integrates a new 20ish-hour narrative with a bunch of new quests. It is, you can probably tell from the name, a comedic work, but that doesn’t mean it’s not serious. “This is (I hope) a funny mod, but that does not mean it is a joke mod,” writes CowGuru, “it’s a mod with jokes in it. The tone I hope I’ve achieved is Discworld, not Monty Python.”
The original Muffinwind is a well-loved and classic mod, and has a lot more care and love poured into it than you might immediately assume on hearing the name “Muffinwind.” It’s got branching quests, entirely new characters, and oodles of actual Elder Scrolls lore.
The cool lore, too: the Kirkbride stuff—all the ayahuasca comparative theology they hid round back of post-Morrowind games. “I want it to be a memorable adventure that you can take seriously,” says CowGuru, “with nuanced characters who have understandable, human desires and motivations.”
The Muffinwind-i-verse has not just lain dormant since the original hit in 2006. It was expanded last year with The Soggy Muffin, a “coffee shop [alternate universe]” take on Muffinwind that takes some of the characters and locations from Muffinwind and gives them a new spin. Before that, there was Muffinwind Enhanced, a kind of remaster of the original mod that is now pretty much superseded by Rebaked.
To make room for that long legacy, Muffinwind Rebaked comes in two versions. There’s, well, Muffinwind Rebaked, which is a direct sequel to The Soggy Muffin and which is the definitive “final instalment in this long and winding series.”
But there’s also Muffinwind Vanilla, which is a more direct remake of the original Muffinwind—for the nostalgics out there—and therefore does not take place in the Soggy Muffin timeline. Got that? No? Long story short: if you’re a Muffinwind old-head wanting to relive the mod you played in 2006, you might want to try Muffinwind Vanilla. Everyone else? You’re probably best off going for The Soggy Muffin and Muffinwind Rebaked.
Me? I just think it’s a testament to Morrowind and the hardiness of its community that mod events like this are still a pretty common occurrence. It’s the best Elder Scrolls—and one of the best games of all time—for a reason.
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