Mounted Combat Now Available in Skyrim Beta
Now players can attack their enemies while riding a horse. Too bad there's no multiplayer -- this feature would make for some fun PvP!
Bethesda said on Thursday that mounted combat has arrived in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. This means players can now do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse. Players who opted into the latest Steam Beta Update will see the new feature in the PC version now. Information regarding mounted combat on other platforms will arrive on a later date.
"Thanks again to all our fans, we remain committed to supporting the game through our free updates, mod tools, and more. And yes, we’re still working on our first add-on, Dawnguard – some great stuff to show you soon, stay tuned!" the company said. "If you opt into the Beta, be sure to back up your saved games or simply be careful not to overwrite your existing saves. If you decide to opt out of the beta program, your old saves will still work with the current release of Skyrim on Steam (v 1.5)."
To get into the beta and download the new update, simply follow these instructions:
1. Log into Steam.
2. Click on Steam in the upper menu.
3. Select Settings.
4. Under the Account tab, go to the Beta Participation section and select Change.
5. A drop down menu will appear. Select Skyrim Beta.
6. Select OK.
7. Steam will now restart. After Steam restarts, Skyrim will be updated to the Beta version currently available.
"If you decide you don’t want to run the Beta anymore, redo steps 1 – 4," Bethesda added. "At the drop down, select NONE – Opt out of all beta programs. Let Steam restart, and Skyrim will automatically update itself back to the latest released version. To provide feedback on the beta update, use our beta forum."
In addition to adding mounted combat, the update brings numerous bug fixes which can be seen here. These fixes include general stability and memory optimizations, general AI pathfinding optimizations and bug fixes, optimizations and crash fixes for data leaks, and more.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Guess I have an excuse to spend another 100 or so hours of my free time hunting dragons. I wish they would hurry up with the DLC but since it took a year for the Oblivion DLC I guess we still have a few months.Reply
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falchard Now just needs a multiplayer competition mod so I can play jousting with 63 of my friends.Reply -
elcentral yet to play it. im still happy i waited for the hd texture going to check it out next sale.Reply -
keyanf Too bad even with 5 attempts, Bethesda still couldn't get the base combat to be any fun and a minor addition like this won't change things.Reply
The really sad thing is Bethesda owns Arkane (Dark Messiah) who did some of the best melee combat out there, and is in competention with Gothic/Risen which does have a fairly decent combat system in an open world game. Plus Mount and Blade is an indie title with better combat. -
keyanf Todd Howard said in the lead up to Oblivion that "fantasy" to him was a knight running around on horseback killing things. What genre were the TES games in that 7 year period? Sci-Fi?Reply -
molo9000 Horse armour again? :DReply
It's never going to be as good as Mount&Blade. Why do they even try?
Adding such a major change to the combat system 6 months after release is just weird.
Is the world even designed for mounted combat? I bet you get stuck on terrain all the time.