The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is one of the most beloved RPGs of all time from Bethesda Game Studios. It has its own charm that lets players enjoy the goofy animations and weird character designs. Despite the fact that it is pretty old, it came out in 2006, it is the best one in the Elder Scrolls series. Now, it has been almost two decades since the release of the original game, and Bethesda came out with a surprising Remaster of Oblivion. With the official announcement of Oblivion Remastered last week, both veteran and new players get to enjoy the greatest RPG again. I was pretty hyped for it to test out my powers once again, but this time in a newly crafted Cyrodiil in Unreal Engine with better visuals, landscapes, and character models. This is our review of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, developed by Virtuos and published by Bethesda Softworks.
NOTE: The Review Code was provided by the publisher. This review was done on a PC.
Story and World
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered Review – Story and World
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered portrays the same story as the original game. The Daedric Realm of Oblivion is on the horizon, and players take the role of a Hero of Kvatch to prevent it. The Emperor Uriel Septim VII finds himself in strange dreams where he sees the hero of Kvatch. During his final moments before he gets assassinated, he meets the hero and warns him about the incoming dangers.
Just like the original game, players start in the Imperial Prison, where they meet the Emperor for the first time. During the tutorial segment, you get to make all the important choices for your character. It includes selecting a Race, a Birthsign, and a Class. Moreover, you can make a Custom Class and select the two main attributes yourself. After finishing the tutorial and seeing Cyrodiil again reborn in Unreal Engine just blew me away. The whole landscape looks surreal in Unreal Engine, which definitely makes the new players think that it is a new game. All of the main cities and locations are redone, all characters are redesigned, and most of the interactable characters have new voice lines. All of this makes the exploration more fun in Oblivion.
Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered Review – Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered is an open-world action-adventure role-playing video game. Similar to the original game, you can freely explore the world at your own pace. You can choose to follow the main quests to start pursuing the main storyline, or just explore the world to find valuables, meet characters, and fulfil side quests. One of the first things that you will notice different from the original game is the UI design. The UI design is completely different and more like Skyrim. It is to help new players browse the menu, inventory, navigate the map, switch quests, and more.
Furthermore, there are no permanent Health, Fatigue, and Magicka bars on the bottom left corner of the screen. Instead, the bars are separate and only show at the respective cause on the bottom of the screen. In addition to the UI changes, there are some system changes as well. The biggest change is the rework of how Skills level up. Unlike the original game, there is no min-maxing. Now, all skills grant you XP to the main level. Upon reaching the main level, you can sleep to inherit 12 virtue points into any three main attributes. So, if you like sneaking, not only will it increase the Sneak skill, but also give you XP for the main level, which then you can utilize for main level ups.
The rest of the gameplay criteria are pretty much the same. Pursue any quest at your own pace and choose to join any faction you like. Moreover, you can meet various trainers who will help you enhance a certain skill and let you learn new moves and abilities.
Combat
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered Review – Combat
Oblivion combat is just a nostalgic masterpiece. You cannot go wrong with it, and all the veterans like it as it is. Well, I am pretty happy that the Devs stuck to the original combat mechanics instead of redesigning it from scratch. However, there are some new additions to the combat. The main change that you see from the get-go is the enemy’s reactions on hit. Every time you hit an enemy, it will react realistically. Moreover, there are now new animations for swinging weapons, blocking, and shooting arrows. All of these new animations make the combat feel more dynamic. The aiming for bows and spells for ranged combat has been improved in the remaster as well. Last but not least, the enemy movement speed is also adjusted for a more balanced combat experience.
All of these changes are to modernize the combat system in Oblivion Remastered while maintaining the classic experience. It definitely helps the players feel more immersed while fighting against enemies, rather than just swinging the blade left and right with no reaction.
Sound and Visuals
The sound and visuals of Oblivion Remastered are probably the most prioritized factors by the Devs. As it is a Remaster, not a Remake, it makes sense. The whole remaster of Oblivion includes a full graphical overhaul with modern rendering techniques. It includes a ray tracing feature, new world and character textures and models, and more. The first time I saw Cyrodiil in the Unreal Engine, it just wasn’t looking like the original. Everything is so polished, sleek, lush forests, vast meadows, snowy mountains, it all felt like a new world to me instantly.
The Devs also revised the NPCs’ behaviour with an improved AI to make them feel more alive to the players. They also have some new voice lines, and their mouth animations actually match the words. You will also get to hear some new ambient sounds for the environment. Overall, the Devs did a pretty amazing job in redesigning Cyrodiil and its characters.
Verdict – Score 9/10
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered is the exact same masterpiece as before, just with current-gen visuals and reactions. You get to experience the amazing storyline and adventure all over again with better world design and detailing, which you probably miss in the current day RPGs. However, it does not mean that there aren’t any bugs in the game. There are numerous bugs, but most of them are funny and will make your day. During my playthrough, I haven’t run into any game-breaking or annoying bugs. All I know is there is no Bethesda game without funny bugs. However, the performance of Oblivion Remastered can be a bit unsatisfying. You might have to turn off Ray Tracing to get a smoother experience. Other than that, I highly recommend any veteran or new players who enjoy RPGs to try the Oblivion Remastered.
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered is now available on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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