Summary
Bethesda Games: two words that encapsulate the feeling of walking into a huge, ambitious open-world game and simultaneously being trapped in a shaky glitch-fest ride in equal measure. Since Bethesda always goes big in its design scopes, there tend to be rough edges around the seams, especially during the release window. While many of them get patched out quickly enough, a few of them never leave (just as all the good times stumbling across an NPC power-sliding face-first across a field while complaining about the weather will never leave the fans' hearts).
Some blame the creaky old Creation Engine, but most projects as vast and ambitious as Bethesda’s releases are bound to have a few bugs along the way. Taking a few risks and pushing limits inevitably leads to imperfections in the code,wacky AI, and bizarre animations. And, that’s probably okay (so long as modders patch out the most serious problems eventually).
Skyrim’s opening moments, set to the hushed, rising notes of some kind of ghostly Viking orchestra, set the stage for the game and have become iconic in their own right. However, when the steady procession of prisoners led by Imperial soldiers inexplicably becomes a roller-coaster ride, even Talos' mighty sides might split with surprise. Because the physics on the carts are so delicate, even the smallest thing to get in their way sends them stumbling.
One bug that couldn’t be squashed during QA testing saw the cart being launched high above the pines, and itwas the result of a simple bumblebeewandering into its path. Because the bee wasn’t programmed to be pushed by force but the cart was (and didn’t adhere to a pre-coded pathway), the latter had to do the moving. Finding out this little tidbit required one developer to watch the opening over 100 times before they figured it out. However, whether because of a mod or an unlucky roll of the dice, the cart can still end up upside down even today.
Picking a fight with a giant inSkyrimis probably not a good idea, but since video games aren’t real life, and players are more willing to take their chances to test themselves, many Dovakin have perished after being clobbered upwards by a giant smash. This happens because the game converts damage into a physical push once an entity goes below 0 HP. In the case of a giant’s massive damage-dealing attack, this number can cause whoever they’re hitting to fly up and break free of the planet’s gravity.
This one isn’t unique toThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, although itfamously made it into the gameafter many early testers saw the effect and thought it should remain for its novelty. The Bighorner inFallout: New Vegascan also bump the Courier into the clouds, causing them to land on their knees, ultimately taking a shin bone to the dome. Technically,New Vegaswas made by Obsidian, but they still used Bethesda’s engine.
4Basket Case
Hide And Seek With A Cauldron (Skyrim)
Basket, cauldron, or pot, the hapless citizens of Skyrim are helpless in the face of being crowned by a hat far larger than their heads. If the Dragonborn is able to place one down correctly, they are rendered blind to any crimes of thievery, murder, or obscenity in their line of sight, making it more powerful than most illusion spells in the game.
Seeing shopkeepers walk about and talk normally as their entire stock is pilfered under their noses by a sticky-fingered Dovakin in need of a payday is particularly funny. Even a decade after this handy little exploit was discovered, this bucket head trick was not patched out in the newer versions ofSkyrim, even after a double-digit number of re-releases. It still “just works.”
From being smashed through the floor with a dagger swing to casually disappearing through walls after a light chat, NPCs inStarfield,Skyrim, andOblivionseem to be able to shift through dimensions almost at will. This has led to some creepy moments (especially given howbizarre some NPCs from Skyrim can be, for example) where a courier will snap into existence to deliver some vital quest information, or a pedestrian will fade into a wall as if out of sheer boredom.
This generally makes clearing dungeons a bit more of a pain than it should be. However, inWolfenstein: Young Blood, enemies were known to pop out of existence after receiving gunshots, only to appear behind the player like teleporting assassins, making fights an excruciatingly nightmarish experience. While it’s a neat idea for an enemy, it isn’t exactly explained by the lore (which might have made it all OK).
Wolfenstein: Young Bloodwas developed by MachineGames and Arkane Studios, with Bethesda publishing the game.
Occasionally, inFallout 4, after a stirring opening cutscene about war and change, the usual wiping-the-steam-from-the-mirror shtick plays, and the player is treated with a full-frontal of the main character’s teeth and eyeballs floating in a shapeless void. Regardless, his wife will still whisper compliments about his looks despite him having quite possibly the worst war injury ever seen (or imagined) by a human being.
This happens becausethe game forgets how to do mathmomentarily, resulting in certain scripts failing to fire and textures not quite loading. It’s also been known to happen to NPCs inSkyrim(and other non-Bethesda games, too). That being said, it also fitsFallout’s gruesome aesthetic pretty well.
The Creation Engine’s physics allows for the same satisfying effect of turning a bandit into a ragdoll with an arrow as it does creating the turbulent, pasta mess that happens when an NPC’s rubber hose limbs are caught in an invisible thrashing machine in the air. While this kind of effect could have been the result of radiation or sinister Daedric magic,there’s no sense in trying to explainthese unnerving, erratic spasms, as seen inFallout 3, by looking into the code. It’s all just part of the fun.
Instead, players should take a moment to appreciate the bodily chaos unfolding (quite literally) in front of their eyes. It’s even worse when an NPC’s head gets trapped between the wall and a gate as they’ll start shuddering harder than an interdimensional washing machine, or whenOblivionNPCs start folding into themselves after mounting a horse at the same time that the player initiates a conversation with them.
