Unremarkable and odd places in Skyrim 

the entire northern shore of skyrim makes me feel like I’m in a fever dream. feels like I’m at the top of the globe, and if I sailed off into the horizon I’d eventually fall down an infinite waterfall into the void

Honestly, I actually didn't linger in the glaciers because I found them uncanny. The whole area around Winterhold gives me the "this place is weird" vibe.

my favorite skyrim liminal space is near falkreath where the path goes off the map. you're stopped by an invisible wall, but the path very clearly goes on for some time. during the day, it's so inviting, but it turns a little sinister when you hit the wall, almost like your character is too scared stray further away from civilization. i think part of what makes it so eerie is the massive, old graveyard in falkreath. it almost feels like there could be ghosts and ghouls in the woods waiting for you.

That line about how as a kid, you have limited options and need to explore every inch of the games you're allowed to play, is so incredibly true.

One of my most favorite odd and unremarkable places in Skyrim is the stump near the mill in Riverwood that’s covered in ants. As a child I would just sit there for a minute watching the ants crawl around wondering where they were going or what they were doing.

I remember back in 2012 playing Skyrim at 13. We were poor so it was a miracle I even got the game, but being poor we had no internet, no cable TV, so when I would play Skyrim it felt like the entire world was gone, it was just me and this fantasy realm I was in, it got me through everything, no matter how bad my day was I could always hop on and explore and forget my problems. The lonely "forgotten" areas of the game are my most favorite because nowadays I can boot up Skyrim and travel back to those areas and it fills me with those same emotions I had all those years ago and it shows me how far I've come. I know it's stupid but I think that's one of the many beautiful things about video games, they're like a time capsule of your emotions and experiences. I'm not sure where I would be without this game.

I love the moment when you get teleported to the Misty Grove during Sanguine's quest. If you just stand still, the environment and ambience feels unlike anything else in the game. The lanterns glowing low on the ground. And the gentle stream flowing amongst the ferns, beneath a small stone bridge. Even though Sanguine is a weird daedric prince, his dimension is beautiful and I kinda just want to stay there for a while.

An odd place that comes to mind is the balcony in Volkihar Castle just outside of the alchemy lab. It has a nice view of the ocean and it's really high up, but it doesn't serve any purpose other than to quickly step outside and fast travel away when you're done with the Soul Cairn.

The amount of remarks you are able to generate from allegedly unremarkable places is truly a remarkable talent.

As requested, a list of things said in the video that don't mean anything: 2:27, 4:02, 5:00 "Meta immersion" 3:51 "Bought into the implied environment" 5:21 "You expect some sort of symmetry in video games ya know cause they're all like... computers n stuff" 6:18 "It's just a big giant set for something to happen in later. Which I suppose is what life is" 6:48 "Places just exist, and then things happen in them. And then the things that are happening go happen other places" 7:05 "Immersive duality" 9:02 "being down and around here felt incidental" 11:01 "Feeling like everything that matters is above you is a fun cool feeling" 11:20 "Santa Claus!"

My favorite spot in skyrim is the road that exits skyrim to the southeast. Just past Riften. It won't let you go that way at all but it would lead to Cyrodill. If you were to clip out of the barrier in the far far distance you can even see an extremely low poly version of the White Gold Tower.

The bridge to windhelm is such a space for me, there are all these pathways and stairs that are in the walls on the brdige, that I dont think even get used during the civil war quest. They feel odly forgotten and the cold weather around windhelm really sells it.

This series is lighthearted and entertaining but also somehow soothing and insightful. I don't know how to explain it, but this is the exact combination of qualities that an anxious person is looking for in a youtube video.

On the northwestern shore you can find some relatively large islands, they are completely devoid of purpose, but there are some mudcrabs and the occasional birds nest to find. I've always loved exploring these places close to the edge of the worldspace. Even underwater there is more details than you would expect.

(8:50) LOD stand for "level of detail" because an object have different LODs from highest to lowest. "low object density" just means there's few objects in a given area.

this video (and channel overall) really changed how i play skyrim. ive been doing a 100% run the last couple months and i find myself slowing down and appreicating little details of the environment a LOT. ive decided my favorite thing in skyrim is when theres a section of a dungeon or cave where the ceiling opens/breaks and you can look up and see the sky even though youre in what is programmed as an 'indoor space'. less 'unremarkable' but when you defeat alduin if you dont leave Sovngarde right away after he dies it starts to softly snow, and something about that gentle falling snow in the afterlife made me FEEL something

I think "meta immersion" is exactly the kind of term I always needed to describe the feeling I get when I play a 3D game. I don't feel like I'm really in Skyrim, I feel like I'm in a video game, and I love that feeling.

12:30 I remember that spot. One night, walking along the path in the dark (using a mod to make night darker), I saw two specs of red eyes watching me. I freak out a bit and approach slowly ... then I realize it's a vampire. The vampire doesn't attack right away ... But the surprise vampire behind the first vampire does and honestly I've never felt a jumpscare in Skyrim until that moment. Hundreds of hours and that was the one moment that scared me.

One of the strangest places for me was behind The Winking Skeever in Solitude. For some reason, there's just a random stone wall connected to the back of the building; no decoration, nothing of top of it, no attempt to try and hide it whatsoever. I tried my hand at modding in a staircase and a few barrels back in the day as sort of a stock room to make it more immersive, but I don't think I have the file anymore.

"Skyrim doesn't have any cutscenes" He says in the place where like one of two cutscenes happen

My favorite was that little rowboat full of gems in that one river. I haven't played the game in like over a decade but I still remember finding that and going "nice".

My favorite weird place in Skyrim is the Pinewatch house. It has dungeon ambiance because it's actually the entrance to a dungeon, but it looks like a normal house. A note on the wall hints that there's a secret passage behind the shelves downstairs. Despite searching all over I couldn't figure out how to get behind the shelves, so I was just hanging out in this creepy house for a while with an obvious dungeon entrance that I couldn't figure out how to open. Eventually I opened up the console and deleted the shelf to get down there. Very weird experience.

If you ever do a playthrough where you can only fast travel by boat/carriage, you get to know these spaces very well. That desolate stretch of tundra west of Whiterun gets run back and fourth a lot for early quests, and if you get anything on the northern part of the Solitude peninsula, you’ll likely take that path under the bridge to come back. It’s not perfect - in a way it can make it obvious how much of skyrim was designed for fast travel, like if you just feel stuck in the icebergs around Winterhold - but it really gets you inhabiting the game world in unique ways

This is some of the most creative and genuinely interesting content ever produced for Skyrim. Please keep making this.

What I love most about this video is that I have been to all of these places and in each one I felt.. uneasy. There's a few more places like this, up in the mountains but between two peaks. Where there's just nothing notable at all and it's just you in the environment.

One of my favorite places in Skyrim is the hillside north of Nilheim, a small nordic ruin near Iverstead. There is a tree spanning a river, a couple small ruins, but that area kind of feels like a hiking trail you'd find in real life, winding up a hillside.

I used to inspect fire alarm systems for a living, and my favorite part of that job was the amount of places you get to go that most people don't ever get to see. All kinds of weird attics, crawlspaces, and runt rooms. And you put it beautifully at the start: Man, this place is WEIRD. My favorite would usually be schools, which we would only inspect during the summer break when everybody is gone for like three months, so I'd get to run around these utterly massive buildings completely alone. You start to realize just how much administrative and maintenance space is required for a building that's essentially just a place for people to sit down.

Weirdly enough, this video explains my excitement with this game, that sense of mystery that never goes away. Those empty places are just very cozy to be at. Add a camping mode and you can just chill with your companions by the fire. Thank you for bringing up that feeling again!

I have literally been to all those places and just stood there, haha. But I'm also someone who doesn't do a lot of fast travel in Skyrim because I like to snoop in every corner. The fact that Skyrim has those places that don't have a lot going on improves my immersion - especially when I'm in the mood to just walk around Skyrim and enjoy the scenery. Thank you for this video and for putting me in the mood to go on a Skryim 'nature walk'.

Dive Rock is an area in TESIV Oblivion. The developers clearly wanted you to take in the view of their game or have fun jumping off, but I always found the area behind the rock, in the opposite direction to feel a little weird and empty

The ambient music in this game always immediately makes me wanna start a new play through

My favorite part of this series is the abstract commentary you have on the environments. I think the way you convey the sentiments you have is really unique and refreshing. Please continue boldly.

I think one of my favorite places in Skyrim is where the Solstheim fast travel marker is. Like, if you go to the part of the map where the marker is located, it'll show up on your compass, but nothing's there... just an iceberg. You're at the edge of the world. You're not really supposed to be there, because the map marker takes you somewhere else in the game if you fast travel to it. The fact that you can physically be where the marker is seems almost like an oversight.

I love that everything in these videos is odd and unremarkable, and it's a good thing. I feel like the stuff you do with your hair is also odd and unremarkable, but it's also a good thing. It makes me happy. It's like this is Austin, and he is a good person who brings me joy with his videos.

Might be a strange pull, but the entire DLC area in Skyrim always made me feel so much more isolated and alone than anywhere in the mainland (possibly helped by the first person you meet asking you to kill them in a death match) Being far from the homeland in an unexplored wilderness, with sparse dungeons only barely littered with enemies. I'm not sure where it falls in terms of good game design but it sure as hell nailed the vibes it was trying to give off

One of the places that has always stuck out to me was in Solitude at the Bard’s College~ the area right outside of it with the steps where you finish the College’s quest line and burn the effigy of King Olaf. When you visit while it’s empty, there’s just something so eerie and unfinished about that courtyard that has always made me slightly uncomfortable. Looking over the edge at the surrounding empty landscape did nothing to help 😭 I suppose when I watched your previous “Unremarkable” videos this place always came to mind.

One of my favorite little places in Skyrim are definitely the gates that signal the edge of Skyrim, they are certainly unremarkable and very odd.

I'm actually power levelling my conjuration skill in Skyrim right now while I watch this, and realized I was able to at least identify the hold each place was in. One of my personal favorite places is the path up to High Hrothgar, specifically on a cloudless, clear night. I often stop my march upwards to snap a quick screenshot on my switch of the view, couple with the gorgeous sky.

There's a spot in the volcanic swamps in the east of skyrim where a bunch of hunters just hang out in the water. It wants to be clever, but because NPCs are mostly silent and inactive its just strange feeling.

yessss, dont get me wrong i like the unenployment videos, but this is my favourite any austin series and i love all the observations and philosophizin you get up to in them

My favorite quiet spot is the waterfall across the river from Riverwood. It's easy to pass by when on the road to Whiterun or up to Bleak Falls Barrow, but it's a lovely little spot to visit.

These truly are unremarkable places yet somehow I was able to recognize all of them. Probably because I also like to venture around in Skyrim and hang out in unremarkable places. It's interesting how each area really stands out and if you're familiar with the game, you can pinpoint where it is just from the first glance.

I feel a similar way about Falkreath and Blackreach. I know it's not the same because they're both detailed places instead of random locations, but the immersion always hits me hardest there. I also desperately want to take a nap in both locations. Either in a (relatively) safe corner of Blackreach, or in a nice shack in Falkreath while it lightly rains on a foggy day. Both places feel so remote and cozy to me.

This video reminded me of an assignment I had to do back in Highschool. We were supposed to go sit out in nature and describe our surroundings in as much detail as possible. I didn't want to go outside so I did it in skyrim lol

I really like these videos. You have a very calming speaking style that makes me feel safe and happy and less anxious. I love strange places and games and I'm glad you make a lot of these. I would love more!

Well my Monday just got better! :] I never played Skyrim~ but this Unremarkable and Odd places episode really reminded me of when I was smaller. Play time would be just about up for the day and so me and my older brother would just save the game and stare at the scenery for a bit, zoning out in Metroid Prime or watching Mario take a nap in Sunshine before Mom sent me to bed. Good times! :D and speaking of Metroid Prime maybe an Unremarkable and Odd places there cuz the game just got Remastered! Have a good day.

I play an argonian character. Literally last night at like 4am I was swimming at the bottom of the ocean looking at each and every kelp I swam by, focusing my attention on specific unassuming branches of kelp thinking about how it was placed there and how, despite the popularity of this game, there has probably never been someone who focused so heavily on that one individual kelp before. I gotta say skyrim's oceans are my favorite liminal space in the game, they were so undeveloped yet still so "existing". I go there sometimes just to say I went to the place the devs allowed and expected you to go, yet also never expected for you to focus so heavily on given the lack of stimulus it provides

The reason it feels off in the glacier/fjord area is not because it's polygonal or claustrophobic, it's because there's nothing there to interact with or to look at, like you said a bit later. I noticed it first in Breath of the Wild, that there's a huuuge map to explore, but it feels like no one put anything in the map. It's just large empty areas put there only to traverse through. Nothing to interact, no gameplay, nothing to actually explore. I think that's why it felt so different from Elder Scrolls game, and how we get a cave or a bandit camp or a stronghold or an abandoned house around every corner. It's just those areas left with no interaction possible that feel wrong.

One of the most remarkable unremarkable places is an underused Nordic ruin space deep in the mountains of the Rift, totally unrelated to any quests, totally unmentioned by any other people. I had to look it up to find the name again. Arcwind Point. I stumbled on it by accident. Besides the high-level enemies, there isn't much there to explain what this particular site meant to the people who once lived or were buried there. Definitely causes some meta-immersion.

I really like the gates that go to Cyrodiil and Morrowind. It always feels like you could walk right into the previous two games if you could just get through, but at the same time you know that the game map ends just past where you can see.

"its just a big giant set for things to happen in later, which i suppose is what life is" i was not mentally prepared for that

Another place that could replace the plains of Whiterun is the plains of Morthal; they're pretty close to each other, but bot being able to see the comforting beacon of Drsgonsreach for miles around leaves you feeling alone, like the watchful eyes of the Jarl have abandoned you and something else's eyes have replaced them...

This video was made for me I hang out in these spots and explore exactly like this 💀😂 Also “meta-immersion” is my favorite experience and that’s the first time I’ve seen someone explain that sensation with words so it is entering my vocabulary forever

Behind (and under) whiterun theres a bandit cave. I was playing on survival and I slept there for over 30 in game days (I was wanted in whiterun) while moving around the plains. That cave is a really interesting place its almost right below the balcony in the video

I always had this fondness for the whiterun tundra area. I once installed a camping mod and I was literally just walking around setting up camp in random places, looking at stuff. It has this weird, eerie serenity. Same goes for the morthal swamps.

This is a really wonderful video. I love the feeling of finding a quiet, contemplative place in a game, and your description of being able to see the brush strokes, or meta-immersion was something I had sort of thought about in the past but never had the words for it. Thank you!

I think stopping to enjoy to scenery is one of the small pleasures of such an immersive game. Really rounds out the experience and make you feel like there’s little pockets where you can create your own narrative in. Keep the videos coming

I've always found the western part of Haafingar interesting. Everything west of Dragon Bridge. In the sense that except for a few quests, like the one taking you to the Forgotten Vale, (Maybe some shout walls too) there's no reason to go wandering around there. It's a bit too far out of the way. Though that's just my experience. There's probably a few places there I've never seen before all this time.

Hi Austin, I just wanted to say that I love how your videos have this sort of relaxed and down-to-earth feeling, they have helped me to cope with anxiety and stress, specially the Unremarkable and odd places and Skybox appreciation series. Thank you!

Your unremarkable and odd place videos give me life. I spend so much time finding places like this in games and I have since I was a child. You being able to articulate what I always thought about these places is just amazing, I know I couldn't do that for others. I love you 💕

Words any_austin said that mean nothing: 1. Meta-immersion 2. Immersive-duality 3. Reverberations of all the quests trickle into the end 4. Liminal ambience 5. Desolate Siberia 6. It’s a place that is a place 7. Threading the needle between proper immersion and meta immersion 8. Places just exist and things happen in them 9. Barren oddness (Thanks so much for this video! I love your content)

List of things that mostly don’t mean anything/make sense 1:29 “video gamey thing that has its own sort of immersion to it” 2:00 this part about ‘seeing the brush strokes’ 2:35 “meta immersion” 3:13 “liminal ambience” 4:02 “weird meta immersion” 4:13 this part about seeing props on a stage play 5:01 “meta immersion” 5:42 “dedicated table aligner” 6:16 this whole bit, specifically “just like a place that is a place” 6:23 “which i suppose… is what life is” 6:32 “there’s some people coming up here to do some stuff” 6:50 this bit talking about things happening in places 7:05 “immersive duality” 11:21 “…Santa claus” 11:24 this bit Also I did like this video

i love this whole series!! i too love weird and liminal spaces in games AND real life, so this the perfect series for me. it's my exact niche of interests. i also find your voice very relaxing. i often like to put a playlist of your videos in the background as I do work. i can't concentrate otherwise

I think one thing that just absolutely sells just wandering around skyrim is the music. Its just so incredible. And literally makes the entire experience IMO

I used to do this often whilst playing 'Shenmue' as a youth. It'd be a superb game for this series!

I absolutely love these videos. These and the skybox appreciation ones I find to be particularly relaxing. Watching them has helped me to calm down after many a stressful day! Thanks Austin 👍

It's 5:04am, I have to go to work, everything is the sucks, except for the fact that I just discovered this video and its soul shattering vaporwave camcorder video transitions. 5:04am is a liminal space in between worlds, and so is this channel. I am so happy for it. Subscribed and thank you.

You create the things I never knew I needed to see, thank you for making such peaceful little corners of this hellish website

I'm reminded of the strange giant mudcrab carcass in a small pond near whiterun. From what I recall, it serves no purpose in any quest or anything... no NPC mentions it....its just there... and thats what makes it so memorable to me. The little pond helps too, cuz I sorta just love water and areas near water.

Love these videos, they are so nostalgic, calming, and hilarious all at once!

Thank you Austin, for your videos. You create something truly valuable and unique, and I'm grateful that you share it with us.

7:20 "indulge in a little therapeutic self-hate" means nothing yet so much at the same time.

One jaw dropping moment I had was in Solstheim, just off of Raven Rock. It was a beautiful sunset and I swam out towards some Netches. Just floating there, listening to them bleat with the sunset was a moment

I have been to all these places in Skyrim but I have never stopped and looked at them the way you did in this video and it reminded me to take some time to look at things closer and really ponder about them.

this popped up in my feed and just wanted to say i love this and would love to see more

Maybe it’s not quite in the spirit of the vid but if you ever turn off the out of bounds barrier in the ini file, there’s an unbelievable amount of weird stuff to see. The mountains just outside of bounds are always interesting. ALSO if you go out of bounds in the weird dream world where you get the wabbajack there’s a random door out there with a lot of very weird unfinished rooms that I assume were planned for more sheogorath shenanigans

I always felt a cognitive dissonance with these videos, and I never quite grasped why until you arrived to Skyrim: you titled this series odd and unremarkable places. But the thing is, these are indeed remarkable places because of how unremarkable they are! I think most of us with +100 hours on Skyrim instantly recognized all those places, because they are unique in how un-unique they are. The tundra, the absolute emptiness of Dragonsreach balcony, underneath the gian rock at Solitude. I wanted to compare it to real life, how a simple and unremarkable mango tree could have been where an entire human being's childhood was spent; but I think we all clicked these videos because that's exactly what we feel from all of them. Good job, I love these series and can't wait to hear more complicated nonsense. Or not, it's your video and I will enjoy them nonetheless.

This one was really well done! I'd love to see more like it :)

This is my favorite type of video, simple, not clickbait, and honestly just relaxing content. Bro never misses with his Skyrim vids

all of the unremarkable and odd nooks and crannies of the world that you can happen upon... I'm not exactly sure what would be the best way to go about it, but it makes me wish that there was a Pokemon Emerald-like mechanic: being able to set up small bases as you please, if an area can support it. just little campsites where you can have those *"ah. this place is weird"* moments. maybe there's a mod that already does that/something similar that I don't know about.

I am begging for a half-hour episode of this

I admire your perspective on games and the emotional experiences they can generate. Always great hearing what you have to say

I love exploring and just enjoying the feeling of different areas, seeing all of the little details. Its wonderful to know that others enjoy this too.

Obsessed with this series. I've always loved weird lil places like this too. I love Skyrim and its bizarre far-northern landscapes but I'm BEGGING you to do Oblivion. It has SO many strange little nooks and crannies. I've played it near-constantly between other things since it came out and I keep finding stuff.

I'd love to see a similar video to this for Oblivion, I've been playing it for the first time recently and nearly everywhere in that map has this "odd, unremarkable" vibe you keep mentioning here

Love this content! Keep making more, and your whole channel is my favorite!

You have some of the most unique and awesome content on RU-vid. Please make more of it!

the most unremarkable / pretty place for me is the docks in solitude and the path past it. inside the city itself, theres this like tower thing and if you go down it it leads you out to the open world and you just spawn a bit away from the docks by the water. its really peaceful at night, with some lampposts along the road / path but it is kinda weird at the same time, almost like its missing something. also the solitude sawmill has a little area by it with a small fire, table, cooking pot, and dock that looks over the water that is really pretty. i wonder if they made it a fishing spot now that they added fishing as something you can do ? edit: okay so i just finished the video and realized he covered the first area at the end of the video lmao whoops

From TES to BDO, I always got into complicated arguments with friends about the necessity of emptiness in different areas, and it always felt like there was a part I couldn't explain. I feel like you got it here, though. Calling these spaces liminal makes a lot of sense because there's no reason to be there than to use them to transition into other areas that hold more to do, but I feel like if you only view these spaces in a liminal sense, you end up missing out on a big part of the adventure. The meta immersion of being immersed in an area of a game despite its redundancy plays into the themes of the Elder Scrolls, to begin with. So, don't worry about coming across as pseudo-intellectual. The game lore already does that for itself, including even the fact that all of existence is just a dream. I've done multiple playthroughs with no fast travel, using the roads and seeing parts of the world I always failed to see more than once. One of my favorite areas to traverse is Falkreath Hold, arguably the most beautiful place in the game. I love walking West-Northwest from Helgen, down the slope toward Falkreath, and watching as the top of the treeline begins to match the level of my vision before I quickly go below. The art direction of Skyrim is immensely beautiful, even if some of the standalone parts like different textures and models look weird.

I love your videos! Please keep making more!! I love the Unremarkable and Odd places, and I love the Unemployment Rates!! 🤣❤️

you honestly picked a bunch of places i would have picked. especially that area to the northeast. very soothing.

Your commentary is just as strange and liminal as these locations, and honestly that's why I keep coming back. Thanks for the content.

YES i’m so glad you mentioned the plains west of whiterun, that’s my absolute favorite place in all of skyrim. always loved how open it felt.

I really like these videos and would love to see more. There's so many spots like this in so many games.

I love that he's already aware of his audience overlap with Jacob Geller and didn't have to clarify who he was

Your voice is very soothing and I think it goes really well with these videos. Feels like I'm hanging out with a friend who's showing me this cool place they found

I really enjoyed this little walk with you! Thanks!

I remember my most important skyrim experience happened when I was experimenting with the frostfall survival mod. I was about to die from hypothermia in a snowstorm when I got my campfire going and rested during the night. This was a very tense moment. It happened right on the edge of the north-western border by the cliffside, and I remember it clearly because when I woke up in the game I was greeted by the sunrise. I thought it was a very nice reward for making it through my (self-imposed) challenge.

I’m glad you had those warnings, because I noped out by the second one. I appreciate the honesty!

My favourite spot in Skyrim is lake ilinalta, the dense forest on one side, the mountain on the other, a shipwreck, burial mound in the water and an old imperial fort semi submerged. It’s just a great spot in the map to hangout and fish