Bethesda Skyrim is a game that offers players an incredible amount of choice in how they approach they situations and interact with the world. Wanna be a magic-wileding cat person? Go right ahead. How about a sneaky lizard boi that kills foes with poison daggers? You got it.
There are so many different ways to play Bethesda’s open world epic that some, it could be argued, have gone ever so slightly mad over just how much freedom there is. Not content with a conventional approach, YouTuber Mitten Squad (via Polygon) is dedicated to finding strange new tools to propel him through his adventures in Tamriel’s wintry region.
So, if you’ve ever wondered if you could beat Skyrim using nothing but a torch, we now know that yes, yes you can. It’s all thanks to Mitten Squad. The man who gave us “Can You Beat Skyrim With Only A Fork?” is back, and his new effort is just as ridiculous- you can watch below.
While a torch can be used to deal damage in Skyrim, it’s obviously not a tool Bethesda ever intended for anyone to actually use to try and get through the game. A flaming sword, maybe, but a torch? Not so much.
Even getting his hands on a torch isn’t the easiest thing to do in the beginning of the game. During the opening escape, Mitten Squad is forced to let friendly NPCs do his fighting for him, and once getting out into the world he’s shocked to discover that most merchants don’t even stock torches, meaning he has to get himself thrown in jail just to get his hands on the object of his desire.
When our hero finally gets going, he realises that the blocking class is the most effective route for him to go down to get the most out of the torch, eventually unlocking the skill that allows bashing to do five times more damage, which speeds up most encounters somewhat.
Combining this skill with a restorative vegetable soup that keeps his stamina up, Mitten Squad is able to really get into a solid groove, eventually facing down the dreaded Alduin himself with nothing more than a trusty torch and a pocket full of soup. Incredible.
If nothing else, at least Mitten Squad is answering these strange questions so nobody else has to. Personally, I’d like to see him try and beat Skyrim using only a cabbage next. Given it can’t even be used as a weapon, there’d have to be some very creative problem solving in that quest.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.