The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Review – Magic, Rediscovered

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Review

For myself and probably an entire generation of gamers, stepping out of the sewers into the bright open landscape of Cyrodiil was a breakthrough moment not soon forgotten. A major technical advance from Morrowind, those opening moments in Oblivion were full of promise. Dozens of hours later, those promises were fulfilled. Interesting characters and quests, strangeness and jank and surprises were all part of the Oblivion experience. By and large, Bethesda and Virtuos’ new remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion preserves all that was weird and wondrous about the original.

Whether this new release is a remake or remaster is mostly irrelevant. It straddles the line between a simple visual update and a fundamental overhaul. Academic or not, this ambiguity also makes it difficult to evaluate. After all, compared to recent games,The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is still several steps behind technically but with a fun factor that remains intact.

More Than Skin Deep

The game’s graphical improvements are probably the most immediately impressive change. For sure, this is one of those cases where the game now actually looks like you thought it did in 2006. Everything is given an Unreal Engine 5 shine. Environments, spell effects and textures look infinitely better, if not quite the equal of the most recent titles. The Lumen engine does some serious flexing and the game’s new lighting is impressive.

One of the most endearing aspects of the original Oblivion was the ability — some would say obligation — to make the player character into a visual abomination. While character models now have a lot more detail and shine, mayhem is still gloriously intact. Generally, NPC character faces remain as occasionally odd as before. When it comes to enemies, objects and animals in the world, water and much more, it all looks very, very good. Speaking of characters, the remake preserves much of the original’s beloved voice acting. Quite a few new and accomplished voices were added as well.

The grand narrative driving The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and its included DLC remains unchanged. It remains a gloriously convoluted tale as the player tries to close the gates of Oblivion and bring peace to Tamriel. Side quests, random events, NPCs, guilds and exploration still tempt players from the main quest. Nineteen years of open world games have made Oblivion’s map seem a bit smaller. At the same time, it’s far less empty than many recent open worlds. There’s fun to be had everywhere.

Fixer Upper

When it comes to combat, quality of life improvements and game play mechanics, most of changes are welcome ones. The game’s revamped UI and leveling systems are far more intuitive and show the influence of Skyrim. Major and Minor skills and stat upgrades are still based on performing related actions but you no longer need to sleep to do so. The way actions and elements like the inventory are mapped to the controller are better. Each change brings the game closer to recent standards.

Combat animations and weapon sounds have been given some loving attention. Melee feels a bit more impactful, if still not exactly visceral. Swinging an sword, blocking and spellcasting are less awkward and janky. Maybe best of all, the third person option is now a totally viable way to play the game. No doubt purists and ranged weapon users will probably stick to the first-person POV anyway. Added to the long list of tweaks is the new ability to sprint.

While most of my playtime was on the PS5 edition, I also played some of the PC version. Generally speaking, the PC obviously trumps the console release for graphical options but the tradeoff is inconsistent performance and framerate drops. On the PS5, performance was smoother. The original game’s reliance on edge-and-detail-obscuring bloom effects has been replaced by a harder-edged realism. Both versions had some occasional graphical hiccups and visual anomalies.

Old or New

Someone coming to the remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered unaware of its history would no doubt think it was a retro-tribute to a long-ago age of RPGs. They’d think they were playing a good looking game with old-school level design, fantastic music, an interesting story and somewhat janky combat. They’d be drawn in by the world and its possibilities just as the original’s players were. That aspect of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion didn’t really need much improvement.

Straddling the line between remake and remaster, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a compelling reminder that the original was pretty magical, despite its almost endearing flaws. There’s little doubt that this new version goes a long way to making a great game even more appealing to newcomers, without making it unrecognizable to longtime fans. Short of an entire, from-the-ground-up remake, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is the ultimate version of a genuine classic.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher for review***