There are some video games that tower above othe𒀰rs as they define genres, make players lifelong fans of franchises, and/or change the industry around themselves. They’re rare to come by, but when you’ve been touched by one, it impacts on your life and you never forget it. When games are remastered and/or become available on a new system for the first time, a familiar exchange will occur. Somebody will state that it’s their first time ever playing such-and-such a game, and somebody else will tell them how lucky they are, getting to experience this momentous game for the first time. That’s the impact titles of this caliber can have.

Needless to say, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of these games. Originally released back in 2011, it has since been ported to just about every system known to humankind. Along the way, it’s become a popular culture phenomenon, so much so that a throwaway line about “taking an arrow to the knee” became a worldwide meme sensation. Skyrim is a fantastic and much-beloved experience, certainly, but don’t go thinking for a moment that it’s flawless. It’s a game we appreciate, adore, and value like a significant other in spite of its ♉flaws, not for its absence of them. While Bethesda’s masterpiece may not leave the toilet seat up or always ignore the fact that the dishes need doing, it sure has some shonky moments and glitches. The devs often haven’t troubled to deal with some of these issues, though some known exploits have been removed. Let’s take a look at some of these, as well as some general tips and tricks that still work as well as they ever did.

25 Still Works: Arrows, Arrows, And Morℱe Arrows

Let’s be real here. Skyrim veterans know that a lot of the appeal of the game comes from setting up characters differently in repeated playthroughs. Will you role play? Will you opt for an entirely new build? Sadly, Skyrim veterans also know that much of the time, you’ll end up wi🤪th ANOTHER stealthy archer. With this inevitability in mind, you’d b🔴etter be sure that you’ve got a plentiful stock of arrows. Luckily, there are some super-sneaky ways to do this.

One favorite method would be exploiting NPCs. If you encounter somebody training their archery abilities on a dummy,  They’ll then continue to fir𓆏e said arrow into the dummy over and over, which you can simply collectꦆ after they’ve fired them.

24 Still Wo💟rks:🤡 The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

No, I’m not talking about the questionable horror movie with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci (not that I’m snarking on it, either, because I love that movie). What we’re talking about here is another aspect of Skyrim’s incredible replay value: the chance to see something new and unique each ti🐲me, no mattꦜer how experienced you are.

The Headless 🏅Horseman, for instance, appears only between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 p.m. and leads you on a bit of a horse-chase when you do encounter him. Following him all the way to his lair at Hamvir’s Rest will yield a battle, a master level chest, and (as per the legend) his sku♏ll.

23 Banned: As Pink Floyd Once (Alm🍸ost) Said, “Hey! Teachers! Leave Them Monks Alone!”

This is no time for snarky jokes with Another Brick In The Wall lyrics, though. This is serious business. As we know, Bethesda are rarely interested in dealing with some of Skyrim’s weirder glitches and exploits, but they do have to put their foot ꦅdown at times.

At some point in your Skyrim career, you’ve probably messed with the monks of High Hrothgar. They were a handy way of building your skills with your weapon, as well as your sneak. As of patch 1.09, though, reports that you can’t beat on these harmless souls for your own gain any longer: “Attacking them even when hidden will result in angering them🐭 to the point of where the only way to shed the [dislike], would be to reload your save.”

22 🗹 Still Works: When You Take Your Encha💧nting Super Seriously

Speaking of things so many players have dabbled in over their Skyrim careers, the famous alchemy🐓/enchanting loop is a difficult one to resist. For t🌼he uninitiated, it’s a simple matter of exploiting the fortify Alchemy enchantment. the fortify enchanting potion can increase the strength of said fortify Alchemy enchantment, which in turn, can create a stronger potion, and so a stronger enchantment, and so…

You see where I’m going with this. Super strong gear, that’s where. In the end, it’s one of those issues that’s part of the game, so it’s really down to the player how far to take this ꦉconcept.

21 🍰 Still Works: I Just Want To O𒆙pen My Front Door!

Here’s another interesting angle to consider, when we’re talking about Skyrim tricks. These aren’t necessarily positive things, like that business with the fortify Alchemy enchantment/fortify enchantment potion or those poor old monks. As much as we all enjoy messing with the game, Skyrim sure does mess with us right back on occasion.

It’s just incredible that some of these issues are still cropping up. Sometimes, they’re isolated incidents,♊ but they’re still surprising oversights. Take one poor soul on the forums, who purchased Breezehome in Whiterun and put the key to the 🍸house in the chest. Some time later, they report that they found themselves unable to re-enter the house, and they couldn’t replace the key or even buy the house again.

20 Banned: It Sure Looks Cleane𒊎r Around Here Without All That Ash

As I say, Betheꦬsda are rarely quick off the mark when it comes to patches. Much of the time, debugging and general shonkiness damage control is in the hands of PC players, whose unofficial patches (and, of course, reams and reams of mods) help to keep the game afloat and running smoothly.

However, this isn’t to say that the teaꦰm themselves don’t ever step in to fix problems. One bug saw ash piles (left behind when enemies are hit by Destruction spel𝓀ls) hanging around and accumulating in some areas. 

19 Sti🅺ll Works: It💝’s… A Ghost!

So, yes. There’s no doubt that Skyrim is one of the greatest and most influential games of re🧸cent times. It was the game t♎hat broke the open world mould, the title by which all free-roaming sandbox-tacular epic adventures would be measured.

It was also, as with all games this sprawling and ambitious, a buggy mess. That’s just part of its quirky charm, now, and we’ve come to accept the fact that we’re going to become impossibly trapped behind the scenery and such on occasion. Fortunately, there’s a convenient fix. With handy-dandy console commands, you can toggle collision detection on and off, allowing you to walk through whichever item you’ve ridiculously managed to get stuck behind. Then, toggle it backꦉ on, obviously, or you’re going to have a bad time.

18 St﷽ill Works: A Very Important Dragon

In any vast and sprawling RPG, you’ll encounter a whole kingdom’s worth of NPCs. They’ll run the gamut from intere💯sting, quirky, bizarre, unique, and all manner of other words that largely mean the same thing. There’ll be ones you love, ones you dislike, and ones whose unexpected demℱise shakes your entire world view. They may repeat the same line or two of dialogue over and over and over, but they’re part of the experience, and you’ll find yourself getting attached to them.

If memories of past NPC demise⛦s still haunt you, how about a non-playable friend who won’t ever leave you and won’t spout endless repetitive junk? If you want your very own indestructible dragon, get yourself to the Throat of the World after you’ve learned to summon them. Your dragon buddy here,  explains, is treated by the game as a꧟n important NPC, rendering it invincible.

17 Banned: The Human (Or Khajiit Or Whateve🦋r) Pincushion

Here’s another trick that doesn’t benefit you in gameplay terms, but still… well, it’s hilarious, and that counts for a whole lot where I come from. Archery, as we’ve seen, is a huge part of combat in Skyrim. It’s a very popular route to take and your enemies will commonly employ it, too. As a result, it’s 𒁏inevitable that there are going to be a whole lot of arrows flying around.

Some of these arrows from your opponents will remain lodged in your body when fired, essentially becoming part of your character model! Even reloading saves won’t help you (it sometimes will, as is the nature of Skyrim glitches)! What can you do? Well, according to : “Completely de-equip everything, fast-traveling, and sleeping usually remove these arrows. If worst comes to worst, Lycanthropes can use their Beast Form to remov𓆉e these unwanted blights upon your character's... err... beauty.”

16 Still Works: The Disappearing Draugr ꦑ

Now, the appearance of a Draugr🦹 is usually enough to make anyone’s day take a swift downturn. I mean, look at these mouldering fiends. Monday m๊ornings are bad enough without ancient, reanimated, glowy-eyed warriors shuffling over and thrusting swords at your bodily orifices.

Quite understandably, you might wan꧟t to dispatch these spooky apparitions with a quick sneak attack. Take care when doing so, though, because Draugrs that are taken out by “a sneak attack while lying down or standing in a crevice can disappear through the floor. This can become a problem for certain quests, which require you to obtain an object from the body. This is due to a physics bug when calculating where the body will fall.”