The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Stepping out from the sewers into Cyrodiil for the first time in Oblivion Remastered is a moment defined by a powerful wave of nostalgia and awe. The original Oblivion was a technical marvel for its time, and experiencing that same sense of wonder backed by 2026-era technology is something truly special. It successfully recaptures the magic of the 2006 release, modernizing the visuals through Unreal Engine 5 while maintaining the classic’s soul, even if the world feels a bit less vibrant than the original’s high-fantasy glow. This modernization extends to the gameplay; new and improved animations, the addition of a dedicated sprint button and a reworked camera address the floatiness that plagued the original, although the new walking speed is annoyingly slow, particularly because it doesn't match the walk speed of NPCs. Combined with haptic feedback and improved sound effects, these tweaks make movement and combat feel weighty and responsive, descriptors I could never give to the original.

Oblivion Remastered strikes a delicate balance between preserving the game's identity and fixing its most notorious flaws. The leveling system has been cleverly resolved through level caps on enemies, ensuring you feel more powerful as you progress rather than being punished for leveling up— you know, that thing you do in RPGs to become stronger. Similarly, the UI maintains its original charm while feeling far more functional. Most surprisingly, the developers even brought in a handful of talented voice actors to rerecord dialogue throughout the game so that each race sounds more distinct than they did before. It’s an extremely impressive touch that makes the world feel much less small-scale, and adds a layer of immersion and variety without sacrificing that quirky personality we know and love.

Character creation has also seen a significant upgrade with a new Origin system that replaces the race- and gender-based stat bonuses with a bonus based on your character's background instead. Whether I was playing my first character, a female Imperial hero from Colovia focusing on strength and willpower, or my second character, a female Khajiit thief from Anequina built for... thievery, this new system feels more lore-informative and intuitive. Despite being technically a remaster rather than a remake, the effort on display makes it feel like a completely new experience, even with the original code running under the hood.

Aside from the atmosphere, the quests remain the game's highlight. The characters are a unique flavor of hostile and endearing, and the quests you take on from them match that energy. I’m still thinking about a Fighter’s Guild contract involving a "rat problem" where I proactively cleared a basement only to realize I’d murdered a lady’s pets because I assumed I knew the trope. That kind of mischievous subversion is everywhere. Then there is the Dark Brotherhood, which may very well be the pinnacle of Bethesda's quest design. The writing is as sharp as the blades the Brotherhood wields, offering memorable scenarios and genuine twists that result in an immense payoff in terms of both story and reward.

Oblivion's DLC legacy is pretty fascinating, spanning from the infamous $2.50 Horse Armor to massive expansions like The Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. While Shivering Isles is the most ambitious of the two and fondly remembered for its vivid, Alice in Wonderland-esque aesthetic and vibe, playing through Knights of the Nine in a post-Skyrim world paints it as a pretty clear precursor to the beloved sequel, especially regarding its dungeon architecture. Unlike the vanilla Oblivion dungeons that notoriously require tedious backtracking to the entrance, these layouts feature the looping exits, intricate mechanisms, and environmental puzzles that would later become staples of Skyrim's dungeon design.

Visually, the entire game is stunning, particularly in the towns. Locations like Anvil and Bravil feel incredibly cozy and full of life thanks to the new lighting and textures. Cyrodiil has never looked more lush, though I would have appreciated a "Classic" filter to bring back the cartoonish vibrance of the original. It’s disappointing that Virtuous couldn't support Ray Traced reflections on console, as the screen space reflections are pretty rough, and the lack of a photo mode is a missed opportunity for a game this attractive.

Beyond the visuals, there is a distinct shortage of modern quality-of-life improvements. It’s hard not to wish for the innovations of the last two decades, like Fallout 4’s seamless looting or Starfield’s "recent items" tab to reduce inventory fatigue. Recharging enchantments and repairing equipment still require a tedious amount of menu-scrolling that could have been fixed with simple UI shortcuts. Even the third-person camera, while much improved, still forces you into first-person for dialogue and collides with the player character when passing through a door. And why can't we rotate items that we've picked up? I just want to organize my book collection without the physics engine throwing a tantrum, Todd!

More importantly, any prospective buyer needs to know the technical state is borderline unacceptable. Playing on a PS5 Pro, the game stutters aggressively every time it saves, and the framerate is prone to significant drops. On top of the 2006 bugs like NPCs blocking doorways, we now have new issues like the high-level Blade bleed effect causing corpses to clip through the floor, potentially losing quest-critical loot. Then there was the launch bug involving bright floating lines that littered the screen, which turned out to be caused by motion blur and has gone unpatched to this day. With total radio silence from the developers since July 2025, Oblivion Remastered simply feels abandoned.

I am not usually a fan of Bethesda; I find their writing uneven and their games plagued by bugs that other developers wouldn't get away with. However, there is a sort of magic here that allows me to overlook these flaws. For every technical hiccup or accidental friendly-fire incident in battle, I get to experience more of the Dark Brotherhood or solve a compelling mystery in Anvil. A wonderful game remains buried under performance problems that shouldn't exist, but despite the stutters, the return to Cyrodiil remains a brilliant, if marred, experience.