Have you ever wondered what it actually feels like to stand in the cities of Skyrim? Well, YouTuber AnyAustin has devised a method to figure it out, so now you can visit your nearest real-life Tamriel town.
AnyAustin has been tackling a lot of niche issues in video games, such as where do Hyrule's rivers go and is the electrical grid in GTA 5 realistic? Well, now he's turned his attention to how each of Skyrim's cities would actually feel if you were stood in them.
To figure this out, AnyAustin came up with a way to figure out the rough temperature of each city by considering if there's running water, patches of snow, and what kinds of trees are nearby.
He also took wind speed and humidity into account. Did you know all the smoke from fires in Skyrim blows West to East? Neither did I, but now you do. He also noted that 100% humidity is different in cold air to warm air. Honestly, I learn a lot about life from AnyAustin videos.
I'd recommend watching the full video because it's fantastic, but if you just want the end results, Riften is the warmest city in Skyrim by a considerable margin and Winterhold is the coldest.
You may have already known this because the game does a great job of making these areas seem warmer and colder, and it's fascinating to see the breakdown of how that effect actually comes together.
Perhaps the funniest part of the video is when Austin reveals which real-life city feels like which Skyrim city. Whiterun, the most iconic city in the game, feels like Lander, Wyoming. If you're wondering how he picked, each location has similar geography and climate to the cities in the game.
Falkreath is like Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Morthal is like Ely, Minnesota; Solitude is like St. John's Newfoundland; Markarth is like Ouray, Colorado; Dawnstar is like Seward, Alaska; Winterhold is like Qaanaaq, Greenland; Riften is Ketchikan, Alaska; and Windhelm is like Duluth, Minnesota. If Fargo taught me anything, it's that I don't want to go to Duluth.
So, if you live in or near any of these places or you want to take a trip and feel like you're a real Dragonborn, now you know how to. My favorite Skyrim city is Riften, so it looks like I need to book a flight to Alaska.
Now that you know this very important information, you should check out the best Elder Scrolls games to play and see if you can work out what the cities in them feel like.
