An impressive new Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod lets players peek through the keyholes of doors, making eavesdropping and stealth all the easier on more roguish playthroughs. Bethesda’s massive open-world RPG continues to maintain a strong player base even over a decade after it was first released, thanks in no small part to the ever-popular Skyrim modding community. Over the years, a number of fan mods have helped to improve and make the Bethesda classic even more immersive, adding additional stories and quests, improving graphics and stability, and even introducing memes into Skyrim.
Part of what makes Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim so popular is the vast amount of freedom they afford players to craft their playable characters as they see fit - even in vanilla non-modded versions of the game. In Skyrim, players can portray their version of the legendary Dragonborn as a Nord warrior or an Argonian mage if they so wish, marry and start a family with one of several NPC suitors, or even become a monstrous vampire or werewolf on top of their ancient dragon abilities. Naturally, one of the playstyles available to Skyrim players involves stealth, and the Dragonborn can be trained to pick any lock they come across to loot the treasure on the other side or take a sneakier approach toward reaching a certain objective. Stealth mechanics have long been a topic of interest for modders, with Skyrim mods adding new locks to pick, and generally improving what's natively available in-game.
A new Skyrim mod by JaySerpa is making stealth playthroughs much easier by allowing players to spy through the keyholes of the many doors they will come across on their journey (via Game Rant). JaySerpa demonstrated this new “Take A Peek” mod in action through a video posted on their YouTube channel, seen below, which shows the player peering through a keyhole and determining whether it’s safe to enter in a manner not unlike Metal Gear Solid. JaySerpa says that this mod will work on any door in Skyrim, and if players have also installed the Dark Souls-like “Skyrim Souls” mod the game will remain unpaused when they are spying through a keyhole - resulting in passing NPCs noticing and commenting on what the Dragonborn is currently doing. Fans can download the mod via JaySerpa on NexusMods.
JaySerpa has crafted plenty of other interesting Skyrim mods, including one that gives enemy bandits more lines and allows NPCs to become annoyed when players disturb their sleep - not unlike the townspeople of Red Dead Redemption 2. Other talented Skyrim modders have added new shouts for the Dragonborn, introduced working rifles into the world of Skyrim, and have even allowed the Dragonborn to team up with God of War’s Kratos in the unlikeliest of fan-made crossovers. There are even more drastic Skyrim mods that transform the game entirely, turning the typically first-person RPG into an RTS in the style of Sid Meier's Civilization or altering Skyrim’s medieval setting into a futuristic sci-fi city.
JaySerpa’s newest Skyrim mod isn’t as drastic as any of these examples, but it still adds a helpful feature for more stealth-minded players by letting them peek through the keyhole of any door in the realm of Skyrim to see if there’s any hidden treasure inside - or to avoid any patrolling guards that are waiting outside the house that the Dragonborn just broke into. Mods like these add even more entertainment to the already massive Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which can help hold devoted fans over until the release of Elder Scrolls VI.
Source: JaySpera/YouTube, JaySerpa/NexusMods (via Game Rant)