Summary
ASkyrimplayer has stumbled upon an extremely strange glitch in the game, which causes the entire river in Markarth to seemingly disappear.Skyrimhas its fair share of bugs, although this is certainly one of the more bizarre visual issues.
As a Bethesda game,Skyrimis well-known to be one of the buggiest games around. At this point, most of the glitches being found aren’t exactly game-breaking, so it’s easier to laugh when weird things happen that aren’t supposed to. A while back, onecuteSkyrimbug replaced all of Riverwood’s NPCs with dogs, which is one instance where some would argue the glitch actually improves the game. Almost 13 years after the game was originally released, it’s fascinating that gamers are still finding new bugs like this, and consideringSkyrim’s enduring popularity, it’s likely to last long into the future, too.

Redditor DarthDargoz shared the strange issue, which completely deletes all of Markarth’s river, allowing the player to see clearly the details that were previously submerged. According to the player, they are playing on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, but they do have a bunch ofSkyrimmodsinstalled. In situations like this, mods are often the culprit for these kinds of bugs. Digging deeper into DarthDargoz’s mod list, one player realized that the Water Redux mod is installed, which ironically, is intended to make water flow in a more realistic manner. However, they have already tested the game without that particular mod, and the issue persists.
Skyrim Disappearing Markarth River Glitch
The comments in the thread imply that just about every solution has been tried, from diagnosing each mod individually to reinstalling the entire game. Situations like this can certainly be difficult to overcome, especially if the issue is occurring over several save files. For now, this particular bug will have to remain one ofSkyrim’s unresolved mysteries.
The near future is certainly bright for fans ofThe Elder Scrolls. Just recently,The Elder Scrolls Onlinecelebrated its 10th birthday, and players can expect plenty of content coming their way in that title. Meanwhile, Bethesda recently revealed thatThe Elder Scrolls 6is in a playable state, hinting at when players might finally get their hands on a long-awaited sequel. Without an official date at the moment, it seems players may need to be a little more patient yet. Gamers will be hoping the wait, which is coming up 13 years for a sequel later this year, is worth it.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
WHERE TO PLAY
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