10 Times Games Accidentally Lost All Of Your Progress
Literally the worst thing that can happen in a game.
Softlocks are a type of bug or design flaw in video games that prevent you from finishing your objectives and progressing.
They can be quite annoying to experience, but typically they are nothing to be afraid of as they can be easily fixed with a quick reload.
However, this isn't always the case. In rare cases, softlocking can cost you everything.
There are a number of infamous softlocks in games that happen in such specific moments that they not only prevent you from finishing the game, but they also cannot be fixed, so your only solution is to delete the save file and start from the beginning.
The reason for these devastating softlocks can differ from case to case. Some of them happen because of glitches, the others due to game design, both deliberate and accidentally terrible.
For this reason, it can be hard to predict what might lock you out of progressing the story, so if the thought of losing all of your progress to an unfortunate accident terrifies you, be sure to check out this list and figure out how to avoid these softlocks.
10. Esbern Wall Bug - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim upholds Bethesda’s tradition of buggy design by being filled with all sorts of programming issues.
However, whereas most of them are goofy things like bad AI or space-launching giants, there is only one of them that can cost you your progress (or at least it’s the most well-known bug of this kind).
The Esbern Wall Bug is a frequently occurring issue where the Blades' lore master can softlock you by never finishing his dialogue.
The bug happens during the Alduin’s Wall questline, and depending on whether you’re a "multiple save files" or "one save to rule them all" kind of person, it can possibly ruin your entire playthrough.
There is no way of knowing if the bug has occurred in your game unless Esbern stops talking and gives you a prompt to continue the main quest. For this reason, it’s good to have a backup save file before entering the chamber with the Wall, as if you rely on autosaves only, Esbern’s lack of cooperation might permanently ruin your save and force you to start a new run.
Considering how late you get to Alduin’s Wall, the latter option might as well make you quit the game entirely.