Is it still a shadowdrop if rumours and a leak happened before the reveal?
Whatever the answer to the rhetorical question is, the news is that Bethesda has finally revealed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and it’s out now.
Developed in partnership with Virtuos, Bethesda Game Studios’ 2006 epic open-world RPG has been given a graphical overhaul, and then some. Bethesda insists it’s a remaster, as there has not been much of a fundamental change to the overall game as well, just tweaks and touch-ups as what we define as a remaster would entail. Only that this remaster’s level of tweaks and touch-ups feel like a borderline remake, a faithful remake if you will.
In particular, the game’s levelling system has been modified. Oblivion employs a similar system seen in its sequel, Skyrim, where doing a particular action associated with the skill levels will raise experience of said skill. But Oblivion has many non-combat skills you can level up, and enemies scale against your level. So there is a point where if you increase the wrong skills (in particular increasing non-combat skills) and levelled up too high the enemies become too strong to fight fairly against. You can screw yourself by jumping too much in the original Oblivion. And there’s also issues where the opposite could happen. The system now takes some cues from Skyrim to hopefully alleviate these issues.
The remaster utilises Unreal Engine 5 tech to improve visuals and performance, including improvements to the character models and lip syncing. Assets have all been recreated, from tiny objects like cheeses to environments.
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered New Features
- Improvements utilised Unreal Engine 5 tools
- Recreated visual assets
- More detailed character model
- Improved lip syncing
- Sprinting
- Improved character locomotion
- More visual and sound effect in combat (including hit reactions)
- Improved third-person camera (akin to Starfield)
- Redesigned levelling system inspired by Skyrim
- Improved UI and UX
- New dialogue with no shared voices between races (old ones are still kept in tact)
- Includes Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine story expansions
- Includes Fighter’s Stronghold, Spell Tomes, Vile Lair, Mehrune’s Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard’s Tower, The Orrery, and Horse Pack Armor DLCs
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is set in the heart of Tamriel, the verdant region of Cyrodiil. Your created character will join a plot to save the realm and stop the gates to the demonic realm of Oblivion opening.
The remaster includes all expansions and DLCs. And that includes the Horse Armour DLC that set the precedent of having cosmetic microtransactions in non-free-to-play games. A controversial practice back then is now something you’d expect from a Deluxe Edition upgrade. Though on that note, the Deluxe Edition upgrade actually adds proper content: new quests to unlock unique armour and weapons. And more horse armour.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is out now on PS5, PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S. It’s also available as part of Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass subscription.