Highlights
- Skyrim’s physics engine is known for its chaotic and amusing moments, like objects colliding and characters being launched into the air, and one clip with a spinning guard is the latest example of that.
- Bethesda has made efforts to improve physics simulation and object interaction in its games, allowing for impressive feats without crashing the game.
- The iconic Unrelenting Force shout in Skyrim has become a subject of many community shenanigans, and similar powers may be expected in future Elder Scrolls games like Starfield.
The physics engine in Skyrim is notorious for spinning out of control, as one player’s accidentally cast spell sends a Whiterun guard flying to Secunda with dramatic flair. While Morrowind and Oblivion certainly had their share of amusing moments when it came to object collision, it wasn’t until Skyrim that the Creation Kit’s proclivity for chaos became widely known. Physics simulation and object interaction is something that Bethesda always sought to improve from a technical standpoint, and those efforts have allowed Starfield players to drop thousands of milk bottles from the top of a New Atlantis building without crashing the game.
While Bethesda has largely fixed the strange bugs that plagued Skyrim at launch, there are still a few notable blind spots that – at this point – mostly just add to the game’s charm. After all, getting catapulted into the air by the swing of a giant’s club is harmless, yet it has rarely failed to produce an amusing moment. Skyrim‘s mods have attempted to tackle the game’s ragdoll physics over the years, but a significant number of players are perfectly fine with doing a vanilla playthrough most of the time.
Why No Game Can Ever Take Skyrim’s Crown
Skyrim has established its position in the gaming industry as well as the public eye, and it will not disappear from it anytime soon.
Arrowinmysweetroll certainly falls into this category, at least as far as the incident itself is concerned. Namely, while they were testing out the Mass Paralysis spell from the Alteration school in Skyrim, the unsuspecting guard motionlessly collapsed on the stairs leading into the Cloud District, which is also known as Nazeem’s favorite spot in all of Tamriel. However, it wasn’t the Mass Paralysis spell that sent the Whterun guard flying into the sky like a wheel, but rather following it up with an unintended Unrelenting Force cast.
The iconic Unrelenting Force shout in Skyrim has been a part of its marketing since the announcement trailer, and it has become the frequent subject of many shenanigans from The Elder Scrolls community. Sometimes, even the Dragonborn becomes the victim of a dragon shout, as the higher rank Draugr enemies can also command the power of the Thu’um, and the same ragdoll physics are applied to both enemies and players alike.
While it remains to be seen if The Elder Scrolls 6 will have a dragon shout equivalent, Starfield‘s Starborn powers serve a very similar purpose, both from a narrative and gameplay perspective. Though Starfield‘s physics are a tad less chaotic when compared to the earlier iterations of the Creation Engine, it can safely be assumed that similar clips will no doubt be shared when the next chapter of The Elder Scrolls saga comes out.
Skyrim
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, PS4, PS5, Switch
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
