The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a method to play Oblivion the best way you keep in mind it, not the best way it truly was.
For many gamers, that’s in all probability precisely what they need. It’s a nostalgia journey. It’s a method to kill time earlier than The Elder Scrolls 6, at any time when that could be. Practically 20 years later, the sport continues to be a masterclass in RPG writing, and options questlines that trump a lot of what the style has managed within the 20 years since.
Nonetheless, dated fight, fixed efficiency points, and a justifiable share of bugs make The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered a recreation I’d suggest to a nostalgic millennial, however in all probability received’t wow somebody fully new to the sequence.
Oblivion Remastered has been developed by Bethesda and Virtuos, the latter of which additionally constructed Metallic Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater, one other remake for folks now crashing head-first into center age.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered may be very firmly a remaster, not a remake. A duplication glitch that’s so outdated it may now legally drink continues to be within the recreation. Strategies for breaking the sport’s development and levelling your character at high velocity are nonetheless within the recreation. Insane conversations between NPCs that change in dialogue and depth seemingly at random are nonetheless within the recreation, and I’m glad they’re.
Who needs “polished Oblivion?.” The jank is a part of the attraction. That sentiment has run by means of the core of all dialogue of Bethesda Recreation Studios video games for the previous 20 years, which, maybe hypocritically, leads me to my main grievance.
For all of the issues the sport does properly as a remaster when it comes to visible upgrades and high quality of life enhancements, the efficiency points and quest-breaking bugs that at this level appear endemic to the engine itself persist.
Take one of many recreation’s earliest and most iconic quests, The Area. This quest sees the participant face off towards a sequence of more durable and more durable opponents, earlier than, ultimately, dealing with the Champion. With the intention to do that, there’s an NPC within the area that can set off the ultimate battle.
Even if I had seen her each single time I returned to the world to proceed the search, once I lastly wanted to talk to her, she was nowhere to be seen. Since I’m enjoying on console, there’s no method to summon her, and no different method to full the search, leaving me caught.
Related logic-breaking points occurred throughout the principle story path, forcing saves to be reloaded and loads of trial and error. I’ve performed all of Bethesda’s RPG releases since Oblivion, so I’m geared up to cope with the temperamental nuances of the engine, however for a brand new participant enjoying the sport for the primary time, they’ll maybe marvel why, as a part of the remastering course of, issues like this weren’t eradicated. There’s jank, after which there’s being unable to finish a quest.
Oblivion’s significance to gaming can’t be undersold. When it was first launched, simply months after the debut of the Xbox 360, it was a real marker of a generational transition. It’s one of many first video games I keep in mind and pondering, “there’s no method you might do that on the PS2.” It’s the rationale folks purchased the Xbox 360, and it’s nonetheless simple to see why now.
The sport’s quests are usually not solely legendary from a writing perspective, they’re nonetheless enjoyable at present. The Darkish Brotherhood, a questline which has change into a standard-bearer for RPGs within the 20 years since, continues to be superb, and every of its twists, turns, and permutations makes it price experiencing once more.
The sport world’s comparatively small dimension in comparison with trendy video games additionally works extremely properly in its favour. It’s simple to recollect what’s happening throughout the various cities and cities of the world since you’re not scrolling throughout the map for 2 weeks.
“For all of the issues the sport does properly as a remaster when it comes to visible upgrades and high quality of life enhancements, the efficiency points and quest-breaking bugs that at this level appear endemic to the engine itself persist.”
Different positives come within the recreation’s visible makeover, which retains the unique recreation’s artwork fashion whereas bringing according to trendy requirements. Characters nonetheless have ridiculously slanted eyes and gravity-defying hairlines, however the recreation appears trendy. Managing to make a recreation that appears each trendy and prefer it got here out within the mid-2000s is an especially spectacular needle to string.
Some races, specifically the Argonians and Kahjiit, get a full makeover, as does each weapon and piece of armour within the recreation. A number of the recreation’s color palette is much less vibrant, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered may have benefited from a filter system to reintroduce the wild blues and greens of the unique, however that’s one thing that, on PC not less than, modders have already solved.
Whereas there’s a lot to admire about this remastering effort, ignoring the sport’s fixed efficiency points is unimaginable. Whereas the unique recreation was additionally a famously bug-riddled mess, this seems like one aspect of authenticity to the unique that I’d have been completely happy being modified.
Loading into an space within the Imperial Metropolis ends in you watching the world in entrance of you burst into reduction in actual time as textures scramble into place. There’s additionally fixed frame-rate issues, and the best variety of laborious crashes we’ve skilled in a console recreation in years.
If you happen to handed somebody who’s by no means performed a Bethesda Recreation Studios recreation The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, they’ll discover wonderful writing, nice quest design, and a few fight that was dated 15 years in the past, by no means thoughts in 2025.
However if you happen to hand The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered to somebody who spent their teenage years working residence from faculty to advance additional within the Thieves Guild, or shut each single Oblivion gate, or discover the hidden chest of the west coast with the helmet that permits you to breathe underwater, they’ll smile.
That’s what we did. Smiled at each ridiculous line learn. Each single time we entered a store and all the objects on the tables began to tremble. Each basic “Are you the hero of Kvatch?” and “STOP! YOU VIOLATED THE LAW.” It’s a nostalgia journey. A nostalgia journey for an iconic RPG that has been properly taken care of in spite of everything these years.
This isn’t a remake that can deliver it in competition with RPGs of the fashionable age, but it surely isn’t making an attempt to be, it’s a visit again to your childhood by means of ray-traced rose-tinted glasses. Although no quantity of 4K visuals and up-ressed armour units can seemingly get away from the bugs, glitches, and full-on crashes that can appear to plague this explicit recreation engine endlessly.
