The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was a landmark launch for open world video games in 2006, and though it was quickly bettered by different titles each mechanically and technically, it by no means misplaced its personal magic.
Funnily sufficient, web memes turned a big consider maintaining individuals’s love and nostalgia for Oblivion intact. It is no exaggeration to say that it may be a genuinely hilarious sport, stuffed with baffling NPC behaviour and a type of moment-to-moment insanity that you just’d count on from an absurdist comedy.
It was so vital, then, that Oblivion Remastered did not lose the underlying weirdness that made the unique work so distinctive and memorable. And with that in thoughts, developer Virtuos — with Bethesda wanting over its shoulder — has performed a exceptional job of remaking Oblivion with out stripping the title of its beloved id.
And make no mistake, that is positively extra remake than remaster, regardless of the naming conference. Graphically, the sport has been rebuilt in its entirety utilizing Unreal Engine 5, and the improve is spectacular. That is what you suppose Oblivion appeared like again if you first booted it up some 19 years in the past, bombarded with picturesque countryside vistas, bathed in superb god rays.
Oblivion Remastered is a sensible center distance between being a complete, doubtlessly unrecognisable remake and a decrease effort, larger decision re-release. It makes vital and welcome changes to core gameplay techniques, mechanics, and animations, in a bid to create some type of definitive expertise — and for essentially the most half, it succeeds.
There could also be little particulars that we miss from the unique sport, however the professionals far outweigh the cons — at the least on consoles, the place you do not have twenty years’ price of mods to fall again on.
Exterior of the plain visible evolution, fight might be the largest beneficiary of Remastered. Oblivion’s fight system, whereas impressively open-ended even again in 2006, has not aged properly by way of really feel; assaults are erratic, and on-hit impacts barely exist.
Virtuos hasn’t reinvented the motion. As a substitute, it is launched recent animations, sound results, and UI parts — like injury crosshairs — which add crucial weight and suggestions to your extra violent escapades.
Between a variety of weapon sorts and tons of of magic spells, forging your personal type of play is a necessary a part of the sport’s enchantment — and these reworkings are sufficient to raise fight to a degree the place you’ll be able to higher admire Oblivion’s dedication to participant freedom.
Certainly, ‘freedom’ is a good descriptor for Oblivion as a complete. In 2006, gamers have been blown away by the title’s scope. Not simply in an open world sense, however by way of it being a real sandbox. Although its cities and cities are populated by simply tens of individuals, Cyrodiil maintains the phantasm of life — like it might live on when you weren’t there.
Bethesda’s RPGs have by no means been about delicate dialogue decisions and heavy role-playing — the main focus has all the time been on that aforementioned idea of freedom inside a really deliberate open world. And in its relative simplicity, Oblivion really manages to face out from its extra trendy friends.
There is a straightforwardness to the exploration and quest design that feels surprisingly refreshing right here in 2025. That is nonetheless a devilishly addictive journey do you have to look previous Oblivion’s floor stage oddities — one thing that is a lot simpler to perform when you’re already drunk on nostalgia.
Having stated that, there are elements of Oblivion that can attempt the persistence of any present day gamer, nostalgic or not. By and enormous, the sport’s quests vary from simply nice to downright memorable, however there are additionally a handful of duties that may make even the lamest MMO fetch quests blush.
Likewise, killing time turns into a chore as you progress. Many a quest giver will instruct you to return at a sure time of day, having simply traversed half the map to gather their desired trinket. Such tedious quest construction is rife, and even with the boons of quick journey and a devoted ‘wait’ possibility, Oblivion can really feel prefer it’s actively losing your time.
The backtracking would not assist, both. Bethesda made a really acutely aware effort to enhance dungeon design in Skyrim, and enjoying Oblivion once more, it is abundantly clear why. Monotonous caves and ruins are the order of the day, a seemingly infinite variety of them dotting the panorama. Upon completion, lots of them merely current you with a lifeless finish, and ask that you just stroll all the way in which again to the doorway.
All of these items is tough by right now’s requirements, and it is maybe a disgrace that Remastered hasn’t performed extra to alleviate the RPG’s most questionable elements.
Equally disappointing — and fewer forgivable — is Oblivion Remastered’s technical efficiency at launch. The unique launch was a stuttering mess again on the PS3, and right here we’re nearly 20 years later, with its revival working into common body price stutters and hitches on PS5. It could be comical if it wasn’t so irritating.
To be clear, a lot of the sport runs at a fairly clean 60 frames-per-second if you’re indoors or inside a metropolis, however the open world is a unique story. Some locales undergo close to fixed dips, whereas others current common stutters. It is playable, however far from good.
Once more, although, whereas we have gotten slightly destructive within the latter half of this evaluate, we should stress that Oblivion’s core strengths have stood the check of time. There is a motive why so many individuals look again on this title with wonderment; it is simple to grasp its place within the RPG panorama if you’re gazing throughout Cyrodiil’s open plains, that iconic soundtrack twinkling away in your ears.
Conclusion
Oblivion Remastered is a welcome reminder of simply how particular the 2006 RPG will be. Efficiency points and tedious design parts apart, Virtuos and Bethesda deserve actual credit score for bringing Oblivion again in such a manner that does not detract from the unique imaginative and prescient, and the meme-worthy id that it is fostered through the years. That is, arguably, the definitive Oblivion expertise — or at the least will probably be, as soon as the awkward wrinkles have been ironed out.
