Seemingly out of nowhere, definitely not leaked for months, a full-on graphical remake and gameplay remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is out, so I had to review it. Virtuous and Bethesda Game Studios have teamed up to rebuild the entirety of Oblivion’s graphics in Unreal Engine 5. It is an enormous package, with all of the original release’s DLC, smart gameplay improvements, and a rebuilt UI. It, of course, is day one in Game Pass as well. The fun jank, frustrating jank, and indelible cool as shit charm of Oblivion is all here, and it is glorious.
The Jaws of Oblivion
I’m a huge Bethesda fan, starting with TES III: Morrowind on the original Xbox. For their older titles Oblivion is still my favorite. The story sees you as an unnamed prisoner, freed thanks to visions the Emperor, voiced by Patrick Stewart, has been having his entire life. For roughly 40 or so hours you’ll wander the countryside slaying fantastical creatures, enter the gates of Oblivion and take on Daedric Lords, and it’s all Bethesda’s classic Gamebryo Engine clockwork simulation.
The good and the bad come with that, of course. While the graphics are the star of this Remastered edition, there have been multiple gameplay tweaks and improvements. You can sprint, leveling has been changed to be a mix of Oblivion and Skyrim, with improvements to enemy level scaling. Weapon hits have sound effects and graphical impacts when they land, and the UI overhaul is a massive improvement over the original.
Beautiful Creatures
The game’s character creator has been completely overhauled. You can now create some truly monstrous protagonists thanks to the insane proportions you’re allowed to use. So much of the fun, broken crap that people love is not only still here but funnier than ever. Oblivion was infamous for its audio editing. Those foibles and funny line deliveries are still here, though new voice lines were recorded for the non-human races.
It’s all part of a 120 GB download that is mostly beautiful 4K and higher resolution textures. While the game engine itself has stayed the same, there is a new graphical layer running on top of it, with the latest Unreal Engine 5 feature set being used to great effect. I played a lot on both Xbox Series X and my PC, and the game runs great on both. Xbox has 30 fps and 60 fps quality and performance modes. You can turn on/off screen space reflections and motion blur on console.
PC has full hardware ray-traced lumen for lighting, and it is stunning. Gone is the incredible amounts of bloom from the 2006 release, replaced with damned near perfect real time lighting effects. Whether it’s the golden hour outside or a torch in a cave, the lighting makes the game a feast for the eyes.
It’s still a 2006 game at its heart
There has been a lot of talk of remaster vs. remake around Oblivion. While there have been numerous tweaks to combat and movement, it still plays like the 2006 title that it is. I think Oblivion held up far better than Morrowind for instance, but it can still be pretty damned rough. What is a lot better is the third-person camera. It’s more Starfield-like, being usable at all times instead of a weird floaty mess like it used to be.
The first-person camera is gone, however, when on horseback, which is a bit of an immersion-bummer. This game came out when guides were a big thing, and despite some UI changes, it can still be confusing about where to go and what to do. As far as I can tell, no quests have been changed, so if you already know the game, it won’t feel that different. For newcomers, I suggest leaning into guides whenever you feel properly stuck on a quest chain.
Wrapping Things Up
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is about as good a remaster as you could hope for. It doesn’t look to reinvent the gameplay, instead focusing on smart tweaks where possible. What is remade are the graphics, and Virtuous has done a stupendous job keeping the feel of the original while overhauling every single pixel. It’s available on Game Pass, is fully Play Anywhere, and retails for $50 otherwise. Oblivion is an easy recommendation, as one of my favorite games is now that much better.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Played on
Xbox Series X & PC
PROS
- Fantastic graphical overhaul
- Smart gameplay improvements
- New UI
- New voice recordings
CONS
- A 2006 game at its core
