Skyrim Researcher Analyzes City Walkability Using Geometry, Finds Results Disappointing: “Worse than Some Texas Suburbs”

Everyone enjoys a stroll through a vibrant city, even an Argonian, right? However, a Skyrim enthusiast and GIS graduate student has uncovered some significant geospatial flaws in Tamriel.

Henry, the grad student, recently shared a study analyzing the walkability of Skyrim’s key cities: Solitude, Windhelm, Riften, Whiterun, and Markarth. By transforming each city’s map into a graph and conducting statistical analysis, Henry concluded that these cities aren’t very pedestrian-friendly.

“Walkability can be defined in various ways,” Henry explains in the study. “Generally, three main factors influence it: density (of homes, jobs, public spaces, etc.), functional mix (the integration of different land uses), and pedestrian network structure (connectivity, density, etc.).”

With the exception of Solitude, which boasts low circuity measurements making it as easy to navigate as Chicago, the other cities in Skyrim scored “worse than some car-centric suburbs in Texas,” according to Henry.

“While most of Skyrim’s cities are walkable in terms of connectivity, they lack direct, efficient routes between residential areas and amenities,” Henry notes. “Solitude stands out as the clear winner, having the median Beta index and significantly lower average circuity. It seems the Imperial Legion knows how to design a city better than the Stormcloaks—or at least chose a better spot for their headquarters!”

It’s hard to imagine how the Stormcloaks plan to lead a rebellion without proper sidewalks…

Meanwhile, Bethesda is looking into input lag issues on the Switch version of Skyrim after players reported that it made the RPG “unplayable,” while the developers suggest a potential workaround in the interim.