Before this hebdomad , I had only ever experiencedThe Elder scroll IV : Oblivionthrough YouTube videos . I could n’t tell you a undivided matter about the RPG ’s plot , but I can tell you all about the idiotic deaths of its Nonproliferation Center at the paw of emergent gameplay systems going haywire . I could severalise you about the blooper lineage read that were allow for in the game . I could tell you about all the bugs that created some of the funniest TV game substance I ’ve ever seen . I lovedOblivionas much as I think you may bonk a game you have n’t played , but likely not for the reasons Bethesda hopes for .
To me , Oblivion ’s legacy is comedic topsy-turvyness .
I can still see that inThe Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion Remastered , but I have to peel back layers of gloss to find it . Bethesda ’s “ remastermake ” give the 2006 classic a full Unreal Engine service that make a delightfully messy RPG look cleaner and more forward-looking than it is . That ’s a hunky-dory approach for longtime fan who want any excuse to revisit the world of Tamriel , butOblivion Remastereddoes feel like a bit of revisionist history for Bethesda . With its centering squarely on creating prettier landscapes and more realistic characters , it is another in a long production line of late biz remakes that does little to bestow to its source stuff beyond fall in it a needless spit shine . It ’s an engrossing RPG , for sure , but that ’s just becauseOblivionis slap-up — and there ’s no rule that say you ca n’t just play the old variant any longer .
Bethesda
Deceptively beautiful
Oblivion Remasteredis a scrap of a misleading claim . It is n’t a simple HD sense of touch - up of the fourth Elder Scrolls game . It is a total service that position the biz on a new engine , adds in quality of life history pinch like sprinting , and tot up new voice recording to give each wash more eminence . You could argue that it ’s a proper remake , more kin to something likeDead infinite , but it ’s not quite there either . It ’s more in the venous blood vessel of Sony’sShadow of the Colossusrefresh , Nintendo ’s tweaked take onPaper Mario : The Thousand - Year Door , or Konami ’s upcomingMetal Gear Solid Delta : Snake Eater .
That alternative like a shot putsOblivion Remasteredin a strange position . At a open glance , it feels like a sword new game . The visual overhaul is obtrusive decently away . NPC are importantly more detailed than they were in 2006 , with wrinkles and rough skin gift faces far more grain . Gone are the days of bioluminescent hide that gift everyone a yellow gleaming . The landscape are more picaresque , too . The architecture is more detailed , I can see the bark pattern on stray trees , and the sun blankets Tamriel in strong visible light . When I first discover an Oblivion Gate , its devil flame show off how advance the new light technical school is . It ’s a pretty service that turns every scene into a screenshot - desirable moment .
That paint job is lead on . The second I break out of the sewers and introduce the fields of Tamriel , I come out to see the crack under that glossy surface . texture are slow to load up in anytime I step outside . rock candy pop in in good order in front of me as I take the air . Worst of all is that the performance is terribly inconsistent . Sometimes I get an radical tranquil 60 frame per second onXbox Series X. Other times , the skeleton rate shoot a choppy patch that make the game feel like an airplane hitting rough air . I ’m not the kind of someone that makes a bother over frame pace , but even I felt nausea setting in during my Roger Huntington Sessions .
Bethesda
It ’s in these moments whereOblivion Remasteredfeels a little disingenuous as a project . Like so many remasters of its variety , it wants to create an illusion of contemporaneousness by turning up the graphics dial and look back for applause . It ’s a impertinent trick that defecate a game depend great in trailers and side by side comparisons , but those are short - sighted win . The initial awe of seeing a gorgeous landscape painting wears off quickly once I know what to expect . If anything , that sheen puddle visual moment that do n’t count as telling stick out like a sore ovolo . When I see pixelated shadow draped over an NPC ’s cheek , it ’s like I ’ve peeled back the drapery to see the existent game hiding under the masquerade .
The philosophy here seems to be that making the graphic tenner amount better makes the game atomic number 39 percentage better , and that ’s a mechanically skillful mindset that I ca n’t get behind . Art style is not a quantitative selling power point . A plot ’s look creates a texture that communicates something . TheDragon Quest 3remake ’s HD-2D visuals tells you that you ’re about to flirt a biz that esteem the pixelated past tense , but sharpen the edge with neat alteration . mash Saga 2 : Revenge of the Seven ’s 3D glow - uptells you that you ’re getting into a more drastic reinvention that land it in line with its contemporaries . There is a psychology behind those choices that goes beyond make a secret plan look objectively considerably .
What doesOblivion Remastered ’s visual overhaul transmit ? To my eyes , it shouts that this is a more polished take on the secret plan that smooths over the rough edges — literally ! That ’s far from the case , because the version ofOblivionpresented here is still very muchOblivion . That ’s slap-up news , but it begs a question that I scramble to answer : Why play this version over the original ?
Bethesda
Still engrossing
The best defensive measure I can make forOblivion Remasteredis that it ’s launching in a enchanting setting . We ’re all used to a certain receptive - world format that ’s dominated the past few gaming generations , but obliviousness serves as a monitor of how far we ’ve strayed from where the drift start . This is n’t a Ubisoft game that points players exactly where they need to go and fulfill a mathematical function up with points of interest to tag . It is a game about fluid breakthrough that only total from living in a world . I find it hard to acclimate to at first . I spend my first time of day or two wandering aimlessly in search of a quest to stick with . It feels like I ’m too underleveled to do anything and there ’s no information to instruct me how to work around that .
It ’s only when I blockade endeavor to chase the chief chronicle that it clicks . After get scotch by my failure to close an former Oblivion Gate , I just decide to roam into a town and start talking to random people . Doing so loaded my inventory up with pursuance to pursue in no order or significance to the master narrative . The more I followed those yarn , the easier it was to become part of Tamriel . My favorite quest I ’ve done so far call for me harmonize to sight on a cleaning woman for a paranoid man who is convinced that she is stalking him . I spend a full in - game day tailing her , spending time of day watching her work in the garden unsuspiciously . It was completely anticlimactic , and that told me so much about the world . I pick up that the grapheme I encounter can be unreliable , sending me on wild fathead chases impel by their misunderstanding of the world .
That seeking also break me a probability to appreciate that every NPC I meet has their own life-time that happens even when I ’m not present . If I did n’t follow that woman , she ’d still be out in the vineyard in the dawn picking grapes . It is not a earth simply designed around my life . There ’s a sense that the world keeps turning even when I release off my Xbox .
well-nigh 20 twelvemonth after its release , I can sense the winds shift back towardsOblivion ’s conception . This year’sKingdom total : Deliverance 2feels particularly indebted to it as a medieval simulator that embraces the mundane . Dragon ’s Dogma 2 , with its emergent chaos , for sure feel like a cousin toOblivion . EvenAssassin ’s Creed Shadowsfeels more interested in the older Scrolls method acting , as its unguided style require players to sleuth out mission locating based on directions . To devolve to Oblivion in 2025 is to understand that some of today’sbest capable - worldly concern gamesare as successful as they are because they embrace the past rather than shy away from it .
limbo Remastereddoesn’t shy away from its own chronicle either . It ’s a full mess , and I intend that as a compliment . All the computing machine - controlled fatuity I used to admire in videos is present here . In one school term , I observe an NPC continually duck up and down while slide down a soil road towards town . character awkwardly butt into my conversations with others . It ’s a political machine model that feel like a computer approximating how humans move around which turns everything into a glorious slapstick comedy . Oblivion lay out itself as a serious fancy secret plan , but it ’s really a sitcom . The remastered version understands that appealingness and is wise to will it be .
All of this gain for a pleasant revisit , but does Remastered in reality summate anything that role player could n’t get from the 2006 version ? Quality of life feature like sprinting sure make it easier to suffer , but everything that ’s really great about this new version is baked into the pilot . You ’re still getting the off - kelter humans where anything can go wrongly , but with a much odd visual style that emphasise the clowning — even if that was never the intention . In comparison , the remaster wears a more serious aspect that does n’t do anything to makeOblivion better . It ’s just easier to turn it into a personal computer wallpaper .
So what ’s the actual point of a project like this ? What am I getting for $ 50 here that I ca n’t get by spending $ 15 on the 2009 Game of the Year edition ? Am I paying to look at better lighting or is it just an unveiling fee to participate in a zeitgeist moment ? The cynical side of me feels likeOblivion Remastered ’s existence has nothing to do with me ; maybe it ’s just a path for Bethesda to keep the Elder Scrolls IP relevant as it toils aside on the series ’ sixth installation for a few more years . It ’s undoubtedly the sort of well - timed publicity stick that Microsoft craves right now as itfaces boycott over its involvement with Israel ’s war on Gaza . It feels like a line of work conclusion first and foremost , which makes it difficult for me to approach it as a workplace of art .
It does n’t really count whether you playOblivionorOblivion Remastered . The latter does n’t tell us anything new about the former . As much employment as Bethesda has put into the new interpretation , most of it boils down to good store page smoke point . No matter which version you prefer , you ’ll get the same engrossing RPG that today ’s heart-to-heart - earthly concern game are still seem to as a N star . One will be singular to look at , and the other will let you sprint . It ’s the difference between $ 35 and a few right mods . And even then , the grass is still , quite literally , gullible on the original ’s side .
The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion Remasteredis useable now on Xbox Series X / S and PC .
