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With Diablo III going through growing pains, perhaps you've found yourself going back to Skyrim to pick more pockets and to slay a few more dragons. The problem with Skyrim is that even though there's so much to do, it has a tendency to get repetitive, though continued updates and mods are helping to keep things fresh. The newest update, straight from Bethesda, adds a brand new element to Skyrim in the form of mounted combat.
"Skyrim now allows you to do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse," Bethesda explains in a blog post.
This is where PC elitists can thumb their nose and stick out their tongue at their console brethren, because the update is only available on the PC platform. It's currently a beta patch, but it's available today if you opt into the latest Steam Beta Update (Steam > Settings > Account tab > Beta Participation > Change).
"As far as release on other platforms, we'll let you know when have more information," Bethesda says.
In addition to mounted combat, Bethesda whipped out its mallet and squashed a boatload of bugs, a handful of which apply to the Xbox 360 even though it's not available for that platform just yet. And of course there are the usual general stability and memory optimizations.
Does the thought of mounted combat get you interested in Skyrim again? Sound off in the comments section below.
Image Credit: Bethesda Softworks LLC
Comments are closed on this article
drummingasm
May 26, 2012 at 11:16pm
Damn...sucks to be playing skyrim on a console. Their patch will just be some half-assed ported crap from the PC version.*
*(sarcasm)
Ghostryderflyby
May 26, 2012 at 11:06am
A great step forward, but it still leaves you with one foot set in a bucket of concrete, as long as your companion is still running around on foot while you're a horseback. If they want to really make it great, they need to get the companions mounted up and fighting from horseback as well. After all, what is the point in buying 3 horses if only one gets used at a time, and you're always having to stop and wait for your foot plodding companion?
THE_REAL_MAVERICK
May 26, 2012 at 12:36am
I actually just bought it on Steam a week ago on sale. I bought it because it was on sale. I Won't pay $60 MSRP for a digital game. Now, I'm excited to play with the mounted combat.
Jeffredo
May 25, 2012 at 11:08am
Think back to how insufferably bad Skyrim was in November and how smooth and relatively bug free it is now (and I suppose 1.6 will make it more so). Its really enjoyable to play now, but its a shame retail customers had to be used as beta testers for months.
bling581
May 29, 2012 at 9:50am
Name one game that's been released bug free.
There's a line between what's acceptable and what's not, and I certainly don't feel that Skyrim was anywhere close to being bug infested. I can't think of any major bugs that I had issues with, though there were a few graphic glitches and problems that got annoying.
noobstix
May 26, 2012 at 11:04pm
This just follows the trend that Bethesda has always had since Fallout 3. It usually takes them about 6 patches or so to get their product relatively close to flawless. Somewhere down the line, people will eventually tire of Bethesda's way of making games.
acidic
May 25, 2012 at 11:15am
i don't know where you have been for the last couple of years. 99% of PC games have been broken half-assed "retail" betas for awhile now. i really think that Guild Wars 2 will change that as they are taking their time and doing it right just like they did for the first one
Khoiboi
May 25, 2012 at 11:59am
So much talk about GW2... there's always some kind of "justification" for a soon-to-be-released game to be better than current games, just like so many hopeful gamers talked about SW:TOR. Despite what anyone says, GW2 would be forgotten in about 3 months in favor of even "better" to-be-released games.
acidic
May 25, 2012 at 1:37pm
besides invalidating your own "point", all i hear is a WoW player in fear that he is going to lose his raid buddies to a far superior, less-grindy game. have fun playing with your new kung fu panda expansion, while millions of others are playing something much much better
Valor958
May 25, 2012 at 10:28am
Hmmm... I may try to pick Skyrim up again to see how this changes things. Splitting time between D3, BF3, and Skyrim while working full time with a family... now there's a challenge. Can I get Steam to add an achievement for that?
TerribleToaster
May 25, 2012 at 10:21am
I already loved that horses could walk up cliffs which defied physics. Now I can walk up cliffs and snipe people too?
bling581
May 25, 2012 at 9:44am
It's about time. I rarely used a horse because most of the time I couldn't go very far before something would be attacking me. Mounting and dismounting every minute to fight some random creature was annoying. This should've been in the game from the beginning.
fightclub25
May 25, 2012 at 7:54am
makes me happy in the pants, maybe this will give horse the playtime they are lacking
