Skyrim Glitch Makes Markarth River Disappear

A Skyrim player has stumbled upon an extremely strange glitch in the game, which causes the entire river in Markarth to seemingly disappear. Skyrim has its fair share of bugs, although this is certainly one of the more bizarre visual issues.

As a Bethesda game, Skyrim is well-known to be one of the buggiest games around. At this point, most of the glitches being found aren’t exactly game-breaking, so it’s easier to laugh when weird things happen that aren’t supposed to. A while back, one cute Skyrim bug replaced all of Riverwood’s NPCs with dogs, which is one instance where some would argue the glitch actually improves the game. Almost 13 years after the game was originally released, it’s fascinating that gamers are still finding new bugs like this, and considering Skyrim‘s enduring popularity, it’s likely to last long into the future, too.

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Redditor DarthDargoz shared the strange issue, which completely deletes all of Markarth’s river, allowing the player to see clearly the details that were previously submerged. According to the player, they are playing on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, but they do have a bunch of Skyrim mods installed. In situations like this, mods are often the culprit for these kinds of bugs. Digging deeper into DarthDargoz’s mod list, one player realized that the Water Redux mod is installed, which ironically, is intended to make water flow in a more realistic manner. However, they have already tested the game without that particular mod, and the issue persists.

Skyrim Disappearing Markarth River Glitch

The comments in the thread imply that just about every solution has been tried, from diagnosing each mod individually to reinstalling the entire game. Situations like this can certainly be difficult to overcome, especially if the issue is occurring over several save files. For now, this particular bug will have to remain one of Skyrim‘s unresolved mysteries.

The near future is certainly bright for fans of The Elder Scrolls. Just recently, The Elder Scrolls Online celebrated its 10th birthday, and players can expect plenty of content coming their way in that title. Meanwhile, Bethesda recently revealed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is in a playable state, hinting at when players might finally get their hands on a long-awaited sequel. Without an official date at the moment, it seems players may need to be a little more patient yet. Gamers will be hoping the wait, which is coming up 13 years for a sequel later this year, is worth it.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is the fifth major game in the Elder Scrolls series. Considered one of the greatest games ever made, it has been released on several generations of consoles. Since its initial release over a decade ago, Skyrim has become one of the bestselling video games of all time.

Released

November 11, 2011

Developer(s)

Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks

Metascore

96