When I bought my first horse in Skyrim, I was surprised to discover that the thousands of gold pieces I’d invested into my fearsome steed did not include the ability to fight from its back. I couldn’t shoot an arrow or wave a sword without first dismounting. In fact, you probably noticed this Elder Scrolls oversight, too. The strange reality is why it wasn’t offered in a game that has such a strong emphasis on choice; it seems such an obvious inclusion, right?
Word has come through from the official Bethesda blog that this particular oversight is set to be rectified, thanks to a list of patch notes for the upcoming 1.6 update. While the list of bug fixes (included at the bottom of this article) is the lengthiest category for the patch notes, the ‘NEW FEATURE’ category includes a single important inclusion: “Mounted Combat – Skyrim now allows you to do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse.”
Hells yes!
RipTen has snagged some footage of the new feature in action that you can look at below.
As mentioned above, here’s the list of bug fixes you can expect from the 1.6 update, too. At this stage, Bethesda hasn’t announced a release date for the patch.
BUG FIXES
General stability and memory optimizations
General AI pathfinding optimizations and bug fixes
Optimizations and crash fixes for data leaks
Fixed rare crash with lighting
Fixed crashes related to loading and saving games
Fixed crash with summoned creatures/NPCs
Fixed rare issue where saves would be corrupted
Improved logic for when ranged kill cams are played
Fixed issue with ranged kill cams while killing a dragon
Fixed rare issue with certain ranged kill cams not playing properly
Fixed issue with nirnroot lighting not properly cleaning up
Fixed issue where bow damage was being calculated incorrectly
Fixed rare problem with werewolf kill moves would not finish animating properly
In “The Break of Dawn” fixed rare issue where Meridia’s Beacon would disappear from player’s inventory
Fixed occasional issue where followers would disappear after player pays off a bounty after committing a crime
Fixed issue where certain creatures and NPCs would fail to respawn properly
Fixed rare issue with dialogue subtitles not displaying properly
Fixed issue with water appearing blurry when loading a saved game after creating a save underwater
Fixed issue where map cursor would occasionally disappear after closing a message box with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
Fixed rare issue with shouts only performing the first level and not other unlocked levels with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
Fixed issue where the shout buttons would stop working properly if users mashed LB and RB during cooldown with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
