Skyrim is a timeless RPG for good reason. The sense of exploration, the ability to freely level and build your character, and the endless supply of excellent mods all make for an experience that rightfully lives on over a decade later. Why do you think I keep writing about it after all these years? That said, the jump from Oblivion to Skyrim saw Bethesda change one feature for the worse, but this mod just changed it back while making it even better.
I played Skyrim before I’d even touched Oblivion. So while I saw how the faces, combat, and general sense of freedom were all improved in the time between the two games, lockpicking got worse. The RPG series went backward when it came to the mechanic, as Oblivion’s more detailed, tactile, and engaging system was swapped out for one that removed the sense of immersion in favor of flailing about. Now, a Skyrim mod is here to fix it.
From the team behind the upcoming Skyblivion project, which will remake the entirety of Oblivion within Skyrim’s engine, this mod reintroduces old-school lockpicking. Oblivion’s lockpicking combines with Elder Scrolls Online’s squeeze-based system to reinvent the Skyrim mechanic, making it much more engaging.
The UI, sound effects, and models have all completely changed for the reinvigorated minigame, and you can even auto-attempt it if you’re not in the mood. Relevant perks have been adjusted too, and the Skyblivion team has already sorted controller support if you prefer to play modded Skyrim with a gamepad.
Oblivion’s lockpicking minigame always just felt better. It finds the sweet spot between not asking too much and asking too little, with the perfect amount of tangible feedback whenever you get it right.
Skyrim, on the other hand, has a lackluster lockpicking minigame. Not only does it completely remove the visual of how locks work, but it trades Oblivion’s masterful design for a trial-and-error system that begs you to ignore as many locks as possible. I love Skyrim, but lockpicking is one of the few features that gets worse every time I revisit it.
The ‘Skyblivion Lockpick Menu’ mod can be found right here, acting as the perfect appetizer for the upcoming total conversion. It’s still quite simple, as a minigame of this scale should be, but it does just enough to make it engaging again.
With Skyblivion’s 2025 release a while off you can keep busy by learning everything we know about the Elder Scrolls 6 release date, or by playing some of the best games like Skyrim instead.
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