Summary
- The Ratway Passages mod connects more areas of Riften via its underground.
- You can now access Beggar’s Row, the Hall of the Dead and Riften Jail and more via The Ratway.
- Skyrim modding is as strong as ever.
Skyrim is full of interesting places to explore, but I have a soft spot for The Ratway beneath Riften. Not only is it a fantastic place to bludgeon ragged old men, but there’s also a neat tavern there (and I bet the beer stays ice cold). The Ratway’s primary intention is to act as a base of operations for the Thieves Guild, but the extended area is a missed opportunity to connect more spots beneath the city.
Imagine encountering agents of the Black Briars engaging in illicit affairs beneath the city, or using a forgotten underground entrance to assassinate a target. These may just be idle fancies, but they’re not as far away as you think because of an enterprising modder named YeahButIronically. Their mod, The Ratway Passages, connects more of Riften to the underground complex, giving a proper ‘underbelly’ feeling to The Ratway.
Riften’s Underbelly
The eponymous passages connect various parts of Riften to The Ratway. Beggar’s Row, the gutter where Riften’s poor (and Madesi), has now been incorporated into The Ratway. The player-owned home Honeyside now has a secret passage into the sewers, just like a certain backstabbing former guildmaster. The city’s Hall of the Dead can now be accessed via The Ratway, and escaping Riften Jail will now return detainees to the Ragged Flagon, rather than the freezing cold Lake Honrich. Lastly, there’s a passage that brings the player outside the walls of Riften, just in case they need to make a quick getaway.
The mod creator provides a list of compatible mods just in case you’ve installed other mods that change the sewers of Skyrim, which I’m sure many of you sewer enthusiasts have. It doesn’t change any aspect of Riften’s overground, so there should be no incompatibilities with mods that alter the makeup of the city proper.
Skyrim modding remains one of the most active and dedicated communities on the Internet. The original release of Skyrim recently surpassed two billion total downloads on Nexus Mods. Even that staggering number is easily overshadowed by Skyrim Special Edition, which has amassed 6.2 billion downloaded mods on Nexus.
One of the all-time greats, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim redefined the concept of the Western RPG. With countless awards under its belt and releases on almost every platform imaginable, you’ll find yourself engrossed in a colossal open world in your role as the Dragonborn. You must face your destiny and save the land from a formidable foe.