“Snap,snap,snap“.
Lockpicks breaking with each turn of this one chest at the end of a tough battle that includes vampires, goblins and even a ghost of the former occupant within this dungeon. And all I got was new fur boots, and more EXP.
The new remaster for Oblivion is quite of a big deal, since this is perhaps one of the more beloved titles within the Elder Scrolls series, and having it being remade, so to speak, after two decades later and getting the applauds as well, showcase the need for another title in the series to finally showcase itself, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
How does Oblivion stand in its most recent form?
Presentation
Oblivion now runs on Unreal Engine 5, so of course the graphical side looks incredible, a substantial upgrade to their own engine in terms of how it looks, while also running the same Creation Engine under it, like how most of the Remasters of other titles does it. It also helps with making most of the castles and such, close to what the original vision would look like, whilst retaining the charm of its bright hues back in 2006. 
Though the change for a more “modern” engine does have its drawbacks, with this Oblivion running at a fixed 30fps on my Series S, with some hitching and slowdowns during points of the game that you would think not have any issues, like in dialogue for an example.
And while some updates have alleviated those issues, when compared to its launch version a few weeks back, it sometimes pop-up every once in a while, during my travels, which isn’t really game breaking but it’s there like a lingering effect of a spell. Heck, some reports say the camera might break your save at times, so yeah it is Oblivion to its core.
The audio side is quite a funny one too. Because while they have actually expanded some of the voice cast with newer people doing lines for some NPCs, you’ll find stuff like the iconic flubbed line from the original game still persists, perhaps leaving it intact for the newcomers to find. And with how well this version has been remastered so far, leaving interesting blemishes is totally an intentional choice that I wholly approve of.
Music also got refreshed by the sounds of my untrained ears, like you can tell the likes of Harvest Dawn and such got some work done on it. And that’s pretty cool too. So really, the package itself is quite good for something that refreshes this game for the new generation.
Gameplay
The combat itself feels more modern, so to speak. As it leans towards their older siblings in how the combat flows now, when you compare it to the original. It’s a bit more akin to Skyrim and even some Elder Scrolls Online (sans the weird dodge mechanics), but it feels grounded enough that fighting enemies feels weightier and connects to your hits better. Spells now feel more direct, and blocking actually does negate damage. 
The leveling system on the other hand, was quite infamous during its first release, being quite broken in how if you don’t do the first few main campaign missions while being in a lower level, that could bite you in the ass later on, as the Imps could be packing more harder armor if you aren’t careful. That mostly persists here as well. And while it won’t be as noticeable at first, you do see the common enemies like Highwaymen getting more powerful with their gear as you level up.
Heck, some of the trick stuff you could do back then, like a certain lockpicking trick to make it easier, still works here on console almost two decades later, so that could help your playthrough massively as well. Like there isn’t that much of a difference from the original release (since it is a remaster), so guides from the era of GameFAQs from many moons ago still apply for the Oblivion of today.
And why not stick to them, because I still feel that the questing here in Oblivion is so much better than its ever-popular sibling, Skyrim, in more ways than one. The fact that you do not play as a traditional main character at the start, since you’re just some unknown person at the start that was blocking the prison secret exit from the Emperor, quite a novel idea when you compare it to its rivals, or even its sister series, Fallout, when that releases two years later.
The fact that you have the freedom to do pretty much anything moving forward after the intro dungeons, where you could accidentally just murder a named NPC within the first farm or even town you visit for spell a visit to the Dark Brotherhood, or a bad spelunking trip could see you becoming a Vampire without anything to indicate before it’s too late, says a lot in how ambitious the dev team were in creating a RPG game.
And I respect the fact that Bethesda did try to create a gameplay loop that’s just fun to play around. Be it closing the gates of Oblivion to just being an Arena champion that slays beasts on the Weekends, it just works, as they would say.
Content![]()
For some, this might be the first time they’ll be experiencing the weirdness that is the four entry in the series about Elders and their weird Scrolls, and it’s expansive quarters about the area of Cyrodiil might be intimidating for some, but lean towards the weirdness, from the weird toll-booths that are suspiciously Khajiits, to Skooma dosing to be an invincible warrior of no morals, geeking out as they would say.
By the calculation of the internet, you might see the main story wrapping up in around the 26 hour mark but really, just getting sidetracked by the most random questlines, be it the Arena fights, or a village that somehow has turned invisible due to them angering a wizard, just makes playing this enjoyable just to see the outcome, sometimes not quite you expected too.
Personal Enjoyment![]()
Unashamedly, I like most of the titles that Bethesda has put out over the decade since I gotten my very own PC a decade ago, so when the team at Virtuos decides to remaster this incredible game, I was also just skimming through the original game that I gotten during a Sale, which weirdly matches my timing quite well.
Which means, my experience within this remaster doesn’t dilute with the better and prettier graphics, as it basically played similarly, buggy quest lines sometimes, and all that jazz, which could be a dealbreaker for some, but me? The sometimes weird game critic says that I like the most of it, bar its overbearing game sizes rival a certain military shooter, which is 400x more than its original release on the Xbox 360. But if you have the time, try it out.
Verdict![]()
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is the greatest way to experience one of the more unique sides of this game series that perhaps needed this new coat of paint to garner more eyes for this series as the wait for the next installment continues, perhaps now lessen with a game this caliber being available to play at any time. Sure, it might need some more tweaks to iron out most of its performance kinks but it sure is fun.
Played on Xbox Series S Review copy provided by the Publisher.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
The greatest way to experience one of the more unique sides of this game series that perhaps needed this new coat of paint to garner more eyes for this series as the wait for the next installment continues.
- Presentation 7.5
- Gameplay 8
- Content 8.5
- Personal Enjoyment 8