The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered just shadow-dropped, taking the world by complete surprise (except for a leak a few days before) by becoming immediately playable the same day it was officially revealed. This proved to be a smart play on behalf of Bethesda Entertainment, with the game reaching 120,000 concurrent players on Steam just three hours after its release and greatly changing the tone in which the company is talked about online, replacing criticism over Starfield and the delays of The Elder Scrolls VI with praise for the exceptional remaster. There is so much praise online, in fact, that I think it can be a little misleading. After getting my hands on the game myself, I can tell you that it is, for sure, a fantastic remaster of a classic game; however, I would say manage your expectations and don’t fall into the hype.
Specifically, there’s a growing movement on social media of people saying, “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is not a remaster, it’s a full-blown remake!” As someone who has played and reviewed quite a few quality remasters and remakes of older games in the last few years, I can tell you for sure that the Oblivion remaster is just that, and is far shy of a remake.
That isn’t to say it’s bad. Again, Oblivion is a game that certainly deserves its legacy of love from fans, and as far as remasters go, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a pretty good one. Virtuos Ltd was certainly the right company for the job, and they went out of their way to rerecord voice lines, update the gameplay and progression, and completely remake visuals and animations. It is, without a doubt, one of the highest-quality remasters I have personally seen in a long time, with that Unreal Engine 5 visual update doing a whole lot of heavy lifting, making the dated world of Oblivion absolutely gorgeous to behold.
The big “but” here comes from the fact that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered still uses Oblivion’s engine. The combat and gameplay, despite being updated to feel a little more modern, are still dated and pretty close to what you would have seen back in the day. Which is fine—the game is a remaster. It’s meant to deliver a touched-up version of the classic experience, and at that, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered does an incredible job. But don’t convince yourself that you’re getting a brand new, remade-from-the-ground-up Oblivion for a modern audience; that kind of expectation is bound to lead to disappointment.
With that out of the way, what really is there to say about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered? It is precisely what the game advertises: a splendid modernization of a classic Elder Scrolls title that retains much of the original, with some quality-of-life updates here and there and drastically improved visuals.
There are areas in the game where the new visuals can feel a little bit jarring. The recreation of some of Oblivion’s old armor and weapon sets, which were a bit dorky-looking back in the day and likely designed that way due to technological limitations, can look a little odd when remade with stunning new textures and detail while maintaining their original goofy shapes. Nowhere is this more obvious than when you look at the new armor added by the Deluxe Edition; I can’t be the only one who thinks it stands out, right? This issue is present in certain other models too, but it’s easier to ignore in the game’s terrain elements.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered looks gorgeous. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the yellowish-brown filter over everything, you cannot deny that Cyrodiil has been beautifully portrayed with the new models, textures, and the powerful Unreal Engine 5.
The caveat, of course, is that it’s Unreal Engine 5. I love the Unreal Engine for everything it’s done to make game development more accessible, both for studios and individuals, truly creating an age where a solo developer can create a game with the same quality as a triple-A studio. The issue, however, is that UE5 is notorious for its performance issues in shipped games. I don’t know personally if this is an issue with the engine itself or how the games are tested and shipped out by developers, but the name of the engine has become synonymous with frame drops and squeaking graphics cards. Sure enough, I had issues with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’s framerate, particularly (and only) in outdoor areas, a problem that persists for me across some other UE5 games.
If there is anything I picked up while playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, it’s that this game has a ton of identity and soul, which wasn’t necessarily present in Skyrim. I can absolutely tell why people are so hyped about Oblivion’s remaster; playing it yourself, you are sure to experience the original Oblivion in all of its glory, just represented with modern visuals and some quality-of-life improvements.
A total remake it is not. And would I have wanted one? Sure. But you can’t deny that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a game worth playing and a fantastic remaster of the original. Just remember that it is a remaster, and the gameplay is going to feel like it was made 19 years ago.
The Final Word
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is the best remaster of Oblivion that fans could ask for. The spirit of the original is held intact and delivered with amazing new visuals and slight gameplay improvements; just beware the occasional performance issues, and remember that the improved gameplay is still 19 years old.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was reviewed on PC. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is available on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Gamepass.
After playing Oblivion Remaster for over 30 hours now, I agree with 9 out of 10. I played the original and role play wise it was better then Skyrim. Up to now I had one game crash. Because of auto save every two minutes, nothing was lost. The frame rate thing makes me wonder: I understand if loading content while running can create stutter. But talking with a random guy and the frame rate drops to half?! Strange. While talking, the other animations freeze, as you see clearly on other NPCs standing in the background. Maybe some UE5 wizard can fix this, please.
Well put. I feel also as though game compression is kind of a lost art these days. When I saw the download size of Oblivion Remastered, I all but said “Yikes.” I think we definitely could have found a way to remake the old visuals without such a large file size.