The Grimace shake has come to Skyrim and may or may not kill you horribly

Skyrim mod
(Image credit: Bethesda / McDonald's)

If you've been on social media in the past few weeks, you may have seen a few clips of people acting out horror film-worthy deaths after trying McDonald's new Grimace milkshake. Unsatisfied with just reaping our mortal plane (and confusing the hell out of some marketing folks), the eldritch Grimace shake has now invaded Tamriel via Skyrim, and there's no telling what it might do. 

Nexus modder MissileMann recently shared a "Grimace Mead" mod built for Skyrim Special Edition, and it's got more red flags than a drunken game of football. "Go and purchase the one-of-a-kind mead Belethor made to celebrate his good friend's birthday!" the mod description reads. "He only has one, just for you! So make sure to enjoy it! Happy Birthday Grimace!"

Intrigued but understandably concerned by this sales pitch, not to mention the eyebrow-raising mod tags "unbalanced" and "horror," some Nexus Mod users asked what to expect from this Grimace Mead. MissileMann's reply was not comforting: "Drink :)" If anything, this supports my theory that MissileMann made this mod after sampling the real Grimace shake, compelled against their will to spread its influence. 

If this Grimace Mead is half as caustic as the Grimace Shake dreamed up by the unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages – which might be the subject of another actual mod, but to my immense disappointment I couldn't find it – then there's good reason not to drink it. Alas, the in-game version doesn't tell us anything more. All we know is that this thing weighs 0.5, is worth 108 gold, and its description simply reads: "Happy birthday Grimace!" 

Surely there's nothing more to it than that. 

As of last month, Skyrim has sold 60 million copies, giving the Grimace shake a sizable untapped demographic. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
Skyrim
Skyrim is still an all-time great for asset reuse: this hunk of human flesh could be some poor guard's glute, or probably just a piece of repurposed beef
Monster Hunter Wilds characters share a meal
"Thank you, Monster Hunter": Japanese restaurant's sales jump after Monster Hunter Wilds gives millions of players a hankering for stretchy cheese
Skyrim
Vanilla Skyrim reaches a whopping 2 billion mod downloads, surpassed only by Skyrim: Special Edition's 6.2 billion record
Skyrim
It took Skyrim players nearly 15 years to discover ingenious loot hack that completely changes the game and, uh, requires you to desecrate a couple corpses
Skyrim
Skyrim fan completes personal quest to yeet the entire RPG's map into Unreal Engine 5
Skyrim
New Skyrim lore just dropped, and it only costs $49 in the Bethesda store
Latest in RPG
Concept art of the Arkavir, a bulky alien race from Exodus with sharp and scaley skin.
Mass Effect veteran's new sci-fi RPG Exodus introduces an alien race, and they're so hardcore they put the Krogans to shame
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn star Ashly Burch responds to Sony's controversial AI Aloy by pushing for actor protections: "You have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you're using this AI"
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
A cropped screenshot from Undertale, showing Frisk and Sans standing in Grillby's in Snowdin.
As Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 seem closer than ever, Toby Fox's unforgettable RPG Undertale is just $1 in the Steam Spring Sale 2025 and everyone should play it
The Dungeons & Dragons: Builders of Baldur's Gate board game logo on a D&D dragon image
WizKids to bring us D&D Baldur's Gate city builder board game in Summer 2025, and preorders are far cheaper than I expected
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot of Yasuke and Naoe
We're only 3 months into 2025, but this year has already been stellar for RPG sickos like me – and it's showing no signs of slowing down
Latest in News
First Berserker: Khazan screenshot showing two characters engaged in battle
Compare it to FromSoftware all you want, but the devs on this extremely promising hardcore action RPG say they're making "more than just a Soulslike"
Old School RuneScape Smite collab
MMO scholar puts a $500 bounty on old versions of RuneScape as part of a community archive project: "You might have ALL of the game's lost versions!"
Khazan holding a red glowing sword during the upcoming PS5 game, The First Berserker: Khazan.
"Games are meant to be engaging, not exhausting": Lead dev on promising Soulslike RPG pushes balanced difficulty because "if stress keeps piling up without relief, players will eventually want to quit"
A meeting inside one of Chrono Cross' cathedrals
There's never been a better time to play Chrono Trigger than on its 30th anniversary as the all-time JRPG great is just $4 in Steam Spring Sale
The Surrender
The Boys star's new horror movie gets great first reactions calling it "truly terrifying" featuring some of the "best performances" of 2025 so far
Ender Magnolia screenshot showing a spirit shooting at a monster enemy
One of the best new Metroidvanias just got a huge update with New Game+ and heaps more content like a boss rush mode