Mudcrabs!

A Morrowind Mudcrap

The most deadly enemy of the prior games makes a return! Be it because the devs find them a decent excuse for a petty enemy for the low-leveled player, or because they have several fan-groups bigger than Johnny Depp's throughout the internet, Mudcrabs will be making a return! Of course we risk that dragons will seem puny compared to this, but I guess that's a risk we'll just have to take, isn't it? Yes, yes it is.


Making their debut in Morrowind, the Mudcrabs have since struck fear in the hearts of their enemies and have on occasion also been known to make children cry. The nerve. I guess that's why we like them.

Another reason as to why we like them is that there is usually special versions of them. In Morrowind there was a Mudcrap Merchant and in Oblivion there was both a giant Mudcrap and a Spectral Mudcrab!

An Oblivion Mudcrap

In fear of being the cause of a Mudcrap celebration parade, I shall write no more on this topic, but know that the Mudcrap have always been and will always be in our hearts. Mudcrap is Legion, for Mudcrap are many. Mudcrap is awesome, for Mudcrap just is.

Critters!

Whilst it should have been an obvious pass-time since birth, I first became aware of the potential joy of hunting down critters once I started playing World of Warcraft - Even more once they made it an achievement to hug them. Of course I didn't hug them. I'm a pattern breaker; I killed them.

Hunting was always one of the more entertaining aspects of Gothic III, although it had loads of potential to be greater, as it had in Oblivion, where the deer were mostly just for show. Luckily, Todd's team has seen a brighter path, filling the land of Skyrim with magnificent, harmless moving targets - And a bunch of different kinds!

Of course they're not just for show! It'll be funnier and more rewarding to hunt them down and most importantly, they add to the ecological system crafted for Skyrim - As in the example of a fox hunting a rabbit.

But lets look at the critters of Skyrim, shall we?

Rabbits

The most obvious candidate, the rabbit, can be found various places throughout Skyrim, although I am guessing that they won't be hanging out in the Volcanic Tundra. These are mainly prey for all predators, which is why they'll be hunted down and killed by wolves, foxes and the like. Fun fact: Rabbits and Hares can see in a 180 degree angle - An ability they evolved (Look up evolution,) to be able to escape predators.

Foxes

Foxes may be a predator kind of animal, but they are nothing compared to the mighty Dovahkiin, therefore they count as nothing more than simple critters, which we hunt down for food and pelt - Like Kraven the Hunter, whom I just have to say, has a great mental stability.

Deer & Elk

Well, this is just gravy. My greatest wish is only to be able to loot the Elks' antlers and wear them as a weapon on my head - Can you guess what game I am referencing to?

Fish

This was a major issue for me in Oblivion - The only thing to find underwater were slaughterfish and that was just plain dull and stupid - Plus, they were unusually durable in spite of being fish. Skyrim's lakes and rivers will be filled with various kinds of fish, that you can catch with your hands and eat - might wanna cook them first, though.

Birds

Although I am fairly sure that they just are some animations you can see when you look up (not that I know that,) I guess they still deserve the title of being critters - I really hope you can shoot them down.

And finally you might claim that butterflies are critters too, but nay I say! Butterflies counts as ingredients in my book! Seriously, you can grab them and use their wings as ingredients. You might be able to do that with other bugs too. And I am not totally sure about this, but Horkers might be critters too.

Crafted by hand!

Closing in on 11.11.11 - Or as I've named it: Joyday, I'd like to emphasize the beauty of Skyrim's visual goodness, making our eyes shiny with tears and increasing our drooling rate by 5 times. The key to this beauty has been detailed hand-crafting throughout the world.

Whilst in most games, the team behind makes a generator, or copy previous textures and place them right next to each other (like the forests in Oblivion,) but now Bethesda says no! They've examined each are of the game and edited every tiny little detail to make the game as beautiful and immersible as possible! No longer will we pass by a row of identical trees and rocks! No longer will we be forced to endure the painful experience of walking the same plains over and over until we finally reach our long-awaited destination!

Everything is now beautifully hand-crafted! Every tree, rock, passage, dungeon, road, village, lake and castle! If it wasn't because it would be completely irrelevant, I'd shout "EUREKA!"

Ice Trolls!

It's scary, I know - Different kinds of Trolls. Kinda like different kinds of Justin Bieber, only dangerous, not annoying. Unlike their cousins from Oblivion, these guys are actually dangerous and live in the snowy regions of mighty Skyrim.

Fry dat Ice Troll, mon!

As far as weaknesses go, my logical guess is that this one's weak point matches the Cave Troll's - Fire! Which is great, 'cause who doesn't like breaking out your flamethrower spell and frying themselves some troll meat? No one. None at all.

Equivalents of elementary school aside, in spite of seeing a sole Ice Troll in the released video footage, Todd Howard mentioned that we could run into an entire nest of them, suggesting that they might be pack animals. Not much more to say on this topic, other than we should all look forward to fight them, 'cause it seems exciting!

Cave Trolls!

According to me (don't call me Jim,) the most annoying enemy in Oblivion was the cave / forest troll. It was big and incredibly fast, not to mention hard to kill unless you had a firespell at the ready. I'm pretty sure that it was meant to be scary, but it was mostly annoying.

They do make a return in Skyrim, although seeing them now turns everything around - They're still fast, but not as in the annoying way in Oblivion; It is bigger; It will definitely be hard to kill, I'd say!
We've seen video footage of it's icy counterpart, and it is at least terrifying enough to make Hugh Grant cry - Not that he sets the bar very high.