You can hear it too, can't you? Skyrim's siren song, the call to start a new character. An Orc, this time. One with maces and heavy armour. But that bow is right next to you, and that enemy is across the ledge. One shot can't hurt. Before you know it you're a stealth archer again. This time can be different, however. This time, you can actually use ladders.
I know, I had to sit down when I read the news on GamesRadar, too. The animated traversal mod adds a host of new animations that enable your Dragonborn to climb, clamber, and crawl around the environment like never before.
The mod is "A framework to add new animation prompts for the player to climb ledges, squeeze in tight spaces, jump over walls and more." Like Gears of War and other third-person shooters, this mod initiates prompts when near certain environmental obstacles. You'll then be able to traverse the world in new ways.
One of vanilla Skyrim's biggest flaws is its lack of care for players who want to clamber and climb. There are a lot of mods out there that aim to make Skyrim more accessible to sneaky characters, like thieves and rogues, but now you can take your roleplay to a whole new level with the increased verticality of the world.
The mod also makes ladders climbable. Which is a really big deal. For some reason, in the 11 years the game has been out, and despite the countless rereleases, ladders have never been anything more than decoration in Tamriel. Well, no longer.
In other Skyrim news, a VR player took a little kitty cat all the way to the top of the Throat of the World. Despite the presence of both dogs and Khajit, cats aren't native to vanilla Skyrim, and have to be modded in.
There's also a Skyrim multiplayer mod revamp coming soon, July 8, so keep your eyes peeled for that if you want to adventure with friends.