The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has a long history, and the latest good news is the much-needed 60 FPS patch it received on the Nintendo Switch 2. This was a huge improvement for those who want to enjoy the Bethesda classic on the go. There were a bunch of minor performance and graphical fixes too, making the overall experience a thousand times more enjoyable, so if you want to jump into Skyrim in 2026 on Switch 2, now might be a good time.
Skyrim: 23 most useful glitches in the game
Skyrim is notorious for having a lot of glitches and bugs for players to contend with, but some of them can actually be quite helpful.
But while Skyrim is arguably one of the most iconic games to have been released in the last two decades or more, it's really starting to show its age in a couple of key ways that could make it quite difficult to fully enjoy in 2026. We've been spoiled with tons of QOL changes and features in newer titles, so returning to a game of a 2 culture can be a shock. From outdated narrative design to a user interface that is almost always modified by fans, let's look at some of the reasons why Skyrim is a little rough around the edges.
Still need more choices that matter
RPGs have made great strides in recent years in terms of choices
Narratively speaking, Skyrim lags a bit behind some newer titles due to the lack of real choice. The only major choice you make is whether to side with the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks, but the main quest doesn't have multiple endings or branching paths. It's a stark contrast even to another Bethesda open-world RPG, Fallout 4which still gives you multiple factions to choose from and a couple of ways to handle the story at the end. Cyberpunk 2077 has multiple endings depending on your choices leading up to the one in the final act and who you bring with you, plus whether you trust Hanako or not.
Outside of open world RPGs, we have titles like Baldur's Gate 3 where every minor decision will become a butterfly effect. All this is to say, Skyrim has been surpassed narratively, and arguably, even at the time, it was narratively on the weaker side compared to a title that Fallout: New Vegasfor example, which came out about a year earlier Skyrim. This can feel like a pain considering how well-crafted Skyrim's world is and how good some of its dungeon design is, with very little repetition. Also, there are genuinely good side quests, so it's a shame the main story remains so lackluster.
Companion Management feels outdated
More options, more ways to track and so on
Skyrim has a huge abundance of characters you can recruit as your companions, which is nice, but their narrative depth isn't always equal. However, that is a problem to discuss for another day, as the main issue is managing these followers. They often get attached to the environment; they trigger traps, and it can be difficult to use them effectively, having to talk to them to get them to do something. It would be easier to have hotkeys at your disposal to point them to specific objects or interactable objects in the environment.
Additionally, tracking the whereabouts of these companions in an open world is an absolute necessity. With all the housecars you can find, it's a bit annoying to hunt around for them in each hold's town unless you've bought a home to send them off to. Maybe this is nitpicky, but with the amount of mods we have to deal with this in Skyrimit's safe to say that it's something players generally find quite annoying. IN Fallout 4for example, you send your companions you've recruited to specific settlements, making them much easier to manage.
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Gripping and climbing are missing
A simple thing that can make a big difference
There have been some great open world games (not necessarily RPGs) that have come out with incredible mobility and travel capabilities. Breath of the Wild and The tears of the kingdom are two great examples where you can move around the world in different ways and explore the topography freely. Considering Skyrim's hills and mountains were its selling points, it's a shame we don't have simple features like climbing or scrambling a la Cyberpunk 2077for example.
The Best Skyrim Mods, Ranked
Skyrim has been around for years and fans have been getting more and more creative with their mods. These are the best out there.
That game has a lot more verticality, to be fair, but it could be a game to look at for inspiration if Bethesda intends to deliver a better experience in the future. Starfield fixed this problem by introducing a boost package, which of course makes sense for its setting, but all this shows that the next Elder scrolls The game desperately needs some sort of new way to traverse the world to keep things interesting. At least in Skyrimyour horse is a hell of a climbing machine, even if it's a bit submerged.
The user interface that needs SkyUI
Skyrim's user interface was one of its biggest flaws
UI is something that can profoundly affect how enjoyable a game is, even if it doesn't jump out at players immediately. A UI that takes you out of the action, that has no way to sort through items quickly, wastes time and breaks immersion. We'll get to quick looting later here, but the way the inventory works and looks, with the categories moving from one sub-menu to another horizontally as opposed to vertically, is a bit frustrating.
A good user interface is intuitive and allows you to visualize everything you have with just a few glances. This is why SkyUI is probably one of the most popular mods in Skyrim community, because so many people find the vanilla version of the game's inventory too obscure and cluttered. It also requires an obscene amount of scrolling compared to the longer list you get with SkyUI which manages to organize information in a more condensed and neat way. Bethesda's user interface has been very different from game to game, with Starfield with a sort of radial menu, and Fall-out using the Pip-Boy, and with RPGs usually requiring a robust UI with the amount of stuff you get, it's not easy for any game to get right, even in 2026.
Janky NPC Movement
Doesn't match your pace, gets stuck or loses you, outdated animations
Video games are getting more beautiful every year, and animation is one way things are improving. A look at Skyrim will immediately tell you how outdated the game is, with NPCs walking roughly the same path regardless of their build and how much armor they may be wearing.
Skyrim: 32 Best Light Armor Sets, Ranked
Light armor in Skyrim may not offer the same protection as heavy, but it has its advantages, especially for players who want to be sneaky and stealthy.
This can be a bit immersion breaking, and with games like Cyberpunk 2077 showcases some different variations of walking styles, Skyrim definitely showing its age. But that is not the main issue. NPCs in general will go slow with you and force you to go slow with them to keep up, and it's a trope that's been around in games for a while. However, it is particularly clear in Skyrimwhere NPCs can also get stuck standing around or on obstacles.
No fast looting, except in mods
Looting takes you out of the game
A change that will likely come to the next Elder scrolls the game is fast looting. This is the biggest giveaway that Skyrim is getting old mechanically, as two of Bethesda's open-world RPGs released since then have featured fast-paced looting. It's essentially hovering over a container or body, which pops up a small window where you can quickly grab things you want without having to access the entire container and pause the game.
While we all love loot, it's not something anyone wants to spend a lot of time grabbing while dungeon crawling. You kill enemies, you grab the loot, and you probably want to move on to the next part as soon as possible, and being placed in all these paused container screens breaks the flow. There are mods that add this as an option, as seen in the images above, so if you're in a position to modify your game, definitely consider getting a quick swap on top of SkyUI to make your experience just a little more modern.
- Released
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November 11, 2011
- ESRB
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M for adults 17+ due to blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, use of alcohol
- Developer
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher
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Bethesda Softworks
