Back in March, PC players received the Skyrim 1.5 update. And now, the rest of us can experience the new kill cameras and animations.
Over on the Bethesda blog, they tell us that 1.5 is officially available on Xbox LIVE. As of Thursday morning, it’s not quite ready to go on PS3 – but they say that it should be available later in the day.
The Skyrim 1.5 update fixes over two dozen bugs and adds a few fun new features. The most important is probably the addition of some new kill cams and animations. For the first time, your kills with your bow and your magic will often prompt the awesome slow-mo kill cameras that until now, only melee weapon kills have enjoyed. And if anyone is sick and tired of the melee kill animations, you’re getting some more of those as well. Along with those two new features, your Smithing skill increases now factor in the value of the items you create.
Check out the new kill cams below (you know, if you’re at work and can’t yet download the update and see them live):
Bethesda also announced a fun little factoid: As of right now, the average Skyrim play time is 85 hours and almost a third of those players have played the game over 100 hours.
Here’s a full rundown of everything inside 1.5:
UPDATE 1.5
NEW FEATURES
- New cinematic kill cameras for projectile weapons and spells
- New kill moves and animations for melee weapons
- Smithing skill increases now factor in the created item’s value
- Improved visual transition when going underwater
- Improved distance LOD transition for snowy landscapes
BUG FIXES
- General crash fixes and memory optimizations
- Fixed issue with Deflect Arrows perk not calculating properly
- In “A Cornered Rat,” the death of certain NPCs no longer blocks progression
- Fixed issue where Farkas would not give Companion’s quests properly
- Fixed crash when loading saves that rely on data that is no longer being loaded
- Followers sneak properly when player is sneaking
- Fixed issue with weapon racks not working properly in Proudspire Manor
- Arrows and other projectiles that were stuck in objects in the world now clean up properly
- Fixed issue where “Rescue Mission” was preventing “Taking Care of Business” from starting properly
- Fixed issue where certain NPCs would fail to become Thieves Guild fences
- Fixed issue in “Diplomatic Immunity” where killing all the guards in the Thalmor Embassy before starting the quest would break progress
- In “Hard Answers,” picking up the dwarven museum key after completing the quest, no longer restarts the quest
- Killing Viola before or after “Blood on the Ice” no longer blocks progression
- Fixed issue where Calixto would fail to die properly in “Blood on the Ice”
- In “Waking Nightmare” fixed occasional issue where Erandur would stop pathing properly
- Fixed issue where letters and notes with random encounters would appear blank
- Fixed rare issue where dialogue and shouts would improperly play
- Lydia will now offer marriage option after player purchases Breezehome in Whiterun
- Fixed issue where if player manually mined ore in Cidhna Mine, jail time would not be served
- Fixed rare issue with skills not increasing properly
- Fixed issue where the Headsman’s Axe did not gain proper buff from Barbarian perk
- In “A Night to Remember” it is no longer possible to kill Ysolda, Ennis or Senna before starting the quest
- Fixed issue with the ebony dagger having a weapon speed that was too slow
- Fixed issue with “The Wolf Queen Awakened” where backing out of a conversation with Styrr too soon would block progress
- The third level of the Limbsplitter perk now properly improves all battle axes
- Fixed a rare issue where Sanguine Rose would not work properly
- In “Tending the Flames” King Olaf’s Verse will no longer disappear from explosions
- Fixed issue with frequency of first person kill cameras
- Underwater effects now display properly
- Fixed issue where sun would not appear properly after fast travel
So go on – get to playing!