In many games like Skyrim or Oblivion, you can practice archery. However, real archers know that some representations have nothing to do with reality.
How is the bow used in games? In role-playing games, you usually have a large arsenal of weapons to choose from. Especially ranged fighters like to use the bow. In Skyrim or Oblivion, which recently had a remaster released, you can shoot at enemies from a safe distance.
Alternatively, the bow is also good for stealth maneuvers. If you crouch and surprise enemies with a targeted attack from the shadows, you will deal extra damage.
A real archer has looked at this technique in detail and explains why it unfortunately would not work as desired in reality.
Looks cool, but helps little
What does the archer say? The user David the Arrow Bard aka blumineck points out TikTok various aspects of archery. In one video, he addresses the stealth technique from Skyrim.
He explains that there is a major problem with it: In the game, the character crouches while sneaking and tilts the bow by 90 degrees. This is presumably intended to make you less visible and stay hidden longer. Plus, the inclined bow does admittedly look cool.
In reality, however, the archer loses quite a bit of range for a strong shot due to the tilt. Because in this position, it is not possible to pull the string arm all the way back to the maximum.
The result: The arrow is fired, but has significantly less speed. It also flies less far and would deal less damage than an arrow shot in a conventional manner. It would have exactly the opposite effect as depicted in Skyrim – there is no talk of a damage bonus, but rather a reduction in damage.
Is there an alternative stealth attack? The archer knows that a game does not have to be realistic. The fun and aesthetics take center stage. However, the inclined bow is not entirely wrong. There is an alternative technique that, however, seems a bit cumbersome to novices.
Here, the arm that pulls the string is laid back over the shoulder. This way, the archer can use all of their strength while still remaining as invisible to the enemies as possible. You can see what this looks like in the embedded video above.
Details like this are usually only noticed by experts. Most players will never notice that bows or swords may not be used completely realistically. In the case of Skyrim, Bethesda probably wanted to reward thoughtful actions and sneaking – which explains the bonus damage. Also, not everything is always convincing in movies: Expert on the Middle Ages explains how realistic the weapons and armor are in Lord of the Rings
