Well, not familiar at all with Unreal when it comes to blueprint and coding, but I used the engine a lot to integrate 3D assets. That's why I'm going with that!
I also haven't done any level design in the past. That's an other thing I'm looking to learn and practise for sure. This and scripting indeed.
And yes, Dark Souls combat in Skyrim would be awesome! Let's just say Elder Scrolls combat was never a huge hit for me (and for a lot of people I think). That's making it easier to clone I guess...we'll see if it's something I'm capable of doing when and if we get to the Dark Souls clone. Maybe I could then reuse that as a basis for the Skyrim clone.
But I did a bit of keyframe animation when I was in school and it was really, really time consuming. So I'm not super confident on that front. Hey, one more challenge to tackle, right ?
As for the cookie clicker clone, there's a ton of those out there! Just check Steam's last released games and you'll find new ones everyday. Wouldn't be surprised if a few were made in Unreal ;)