If you’ve ever felt underwhelmed by Skyrim sneaking, a new Skyrim mod overhauls the stealth system of the Elder Scrolls RPG game. That’s right: no more easily cheesing the oblivious enemy AI as you creep around just outside their search radius with stealth archery. Instead, you’ll have to deal with smarter, more thorough enemy checks and searches as they treat that surprise arrow to the knee as more than a minor inconvenience.
Listen, I love the simple pleasure of Skyrim stealth archery as much as the next person. You crouch in the shadows, ping off a cheeky headshot crit at the nearest foe, then chuckle maniacally to yourself as the other nearby enemies stumble around before declaring that it must’ve just been the wind. However, the idea of actually demanding stealth promises to completely overhaul the experience of exploring Skyrim dungeons.
Skyrim mod Sneaking Out Sneaks comes from creator Aixcalibur, and it provides a number of key changes to enemy AI and behaviour aimed at making stealth more challenging, while still ensuring that it’s a viable (and fun) playstyle. Firstly, enemies won’t be so quick to dismiss the threat to their lives after being struck themselves or seeing a companion fall.
Once they set out to search, ‘intelligent’ enemies such as humanoids, automatons, and dragon priests will actually patrol the dungeon for intruders, with behaviour somewhat randomised but potentially taking them all the way to the lair’s entrance. Not only that, but they’ll often decide to pair up with a pal to make it a little tougher for an assassin to pick them off one-by-one, though you’ll occasionally still catch a foolish lone wanderer.
You can watch the mod in action courtesy of JustMeMatt below:
If you’re ready to truly test your sneaking skills, you can find The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Sneaking Out Sneaks at Nexus Mods. Excalibur says they’re contemplating ways to make enemy behaviour even more sophisticated in the future, and even implementing a dungeon lighting system where enemies can relight areas that you have plunged into darkness.
We’re still waiting for news on The Elder Scrolls 6 release date, with no showing from the next entry at the recent The Game Awards 2022 showcase. Fortunately, we’ve got some of the best games like Skyrim to play on PC while you wait for more information.