Skyrim’s beloved werewolves were initially very poorly designed and were about to be removed from the game entirely.
Legendary RPG game Skyrimhas won the hearts of the players with its huge world and detailed mechanics. However, the werewolf mechanics, one of the popular features of the game, were almost completely removed from the game. Dennis Mejillones, one of Bethesda’s character designers, explained that werewolves were originally “too bad” and were about to be removed from the game. Fortunately, Mejillones and his friend Jeremy Bryant worked undercover to salvage this feature and managed to keep the werewolves in the game.
How Were Skyrim’s Werewolves Saved?
Dennis Mejillones stated in an interview that the initial designs of werewolves looked like “a dog’s head on a human body”, which was quite disturbing. Bethesda was considering dropping the werewolf idea altogether due to this poor design. However, Mejillones and Bryant decided to work on their own to bring the idea to life.
The duo believed that werewolves should feel like “real monsters.” Inspired by the Underworld movies, they developed a stronger, scarier and more fluid design. The duo prepared a demo by working nights and presented this project to Todd Howard to add werewolves to the game. Howard liked the demo so much that he had the feature added to the full version of Skyrim.
Werewolves are considered one of the most iconic features of Skyrim. Thanks to this mechanic, players can experience adventures in the game’s world as both a human and a wild creature. Without the secretive work of Mejillones and Bryant, this feature would never have appeared in the game.
When you adventure as a werewolf in Whiterun today, remember the work that went behind these mechanics. This detail, which further enriches the fascinating world of Skyrim, was made possible thanks to the passion of two developers.