Between the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and the raving reviews for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s impending launch tomorrow, this is a great week to be an RPG fan. What’s old is new again as the calendar may say 2025, but I’m excited for a new turn-based RPG and Oblivion all over again like it’s the early 2000s instead.
What strikes me most about Oblivion Remastered is not how gorgeous it looks rebuilt from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5, even though it does look incredible for the most part, but rather just how great it feels to return to a familiar world I once called home for thousands of hours as a teenager.
When I first played Oblivion, I was in high school. Now, I have a mortgage, wife, two kids, and a lot more responsibilities, but at the end of the day all I can think about is finding my way through Cyrodiil just the same.
As I’ve sunk my first several hours into the game all over again, I’ve noticed lots of little changes and updates. One of the biggest changes is the more muted and grounded color palette, especially outdoors, which I admittedly don’t love personally.
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However, I appreciate and understand the vision for the tonal shift to fit better in the current gaming market. Luckily, that shift didn’t completely eradicate the charm and vibrance that made the original so iconic.
Beyond the changes though, what really makes this new version so great is what the remaster experts at Virtuous chose not to change. By all accounts, Oblivion Remastered is a new benchmark for what a great remaster should be.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s Funky Characters
When you think of Oblivion, you probably think of the iconic characters and their quirkiness that make up so much of the experience. Pictured above is none other than the new incarnation of the Adoring Fan, a hilarious character that becomes literally obsessed with you as you rise to fame in the arena. The more you win, the more he loves you, and the more he obsesses over you every second.
He’s incredibly annoying, and it’s hilarious, and that’s the whole point. I’m so happy they kept him the way he was so I can shove him off of a cliff once again.
Then there are the guards. The hilarious, amazing, and extremely serious guards that scream lines like, “Stop right there, criminal scum!” and “Stop! You violated the law!” as if their lives depend on it regardless of if you stole a fork or murdered a civilian. It’s wonderful.
Oblivion is also the first time Bethesda used their Radiant AI system in one of their games, which has been expanded upon in titles like Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and others since then. In theory, this means the NPCs are able to go about their lives without the engine holding their hands all the time and subsequently make choices and do things that aren’t necessarily scripted. It’s a rudimentary form of decision-making ability for each individual character to create a more dynamic game world.
Generally speaking, it’s pretty amazing even today how well it can work, but at the time it was nothing short of groundbreaking. However, since Oblivion is a nearly 20-year old game and this is a remaster, not a true full remake, it retains a lot of the quirks of this system. This was Bethesda’s first iteration of Radiant AI and it gets pretty odd in absolutely hilarious ways sometimes. I’ve always considered that jank part of the charm and it’s wonderful to see the folks at Virtuous and Bethesda agree.
Oblivion’s Core Gameplay Quirks
One of the biggest differences between Oblivion and Skyrim is that in Oblivion you select a class during the game’s introductory sequence to mold your character. In addition to that, when you level up you upgrade specific attributes rather than assigning perk points. During your class selection (or custom class creation) you select your major attributes and major skills, which will define your playstyle and proficiencies. In the remaster, they’ve retained much of this same style so if the only Elder Scrolls game you’ve played is Skyrim, the leveling and progression system is going to feel quite foreign initially.
However, just like most other Elder Scrolls games, you still increase your skills by doing them repeatedly. Hit enemies with a sword and you increase your blade skill, block attacks with a shield and you increase your block skill, and so on. But one of the funnier ones in Oblivion is your acrobatics skill which can be leveled by jumping. The end result is that, in the early game, one of the most efficient ways to play is to just hop around everywhere you go like a cute little medieval-themed bunny.
Another staple of Oblivion is the reliance on minigames for core game features. Alchemy is as simple as grabbing a mortar and pestle from your inventory and throwing random ingredients into it until you can unlock some new potion recipes. Oblivion’s specific lockpicking mechanic returns in all of its glory as well, thankfully, as I vastly prefer the Oblivion format over the Skyrim approach. Not to mention the important of speechcraft and persuading NPCs with the wonky mini-game that enables you to try and curry favor and get better prices at merchants.
Essential Oblivion Charm
The charm isn’t all about the wonkiness though. If you’re like me, then you probably have a soft spot for vibrant high fantasy worlds. I love dark, gothic fantasy such as Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and so on, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I vastly prefer more traditional fantasy worlds akin to Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and The Elder Scrolls.
Skyrim retains some of that, but it’s more of a Norse or Viking-inspired world than high fantasy. Returning to Oblivion then, even though it’s a nearly two decades old game, is like a breath of fresh air.
As I mentioned before, I wish the color palette was still as bright as before, but it retains the core feeling and personality that made it so special to begin with. Plus, the music is still transcendental across the board. I could listen to this soundtrack with my eyes closed and feel my entire mind and body be transported to a higher plane of existence. It’s that good.
And finally, I’d argue that Oblivion has the best quests in the entire series. The core questline is phenomenal with well-rounded characters and amazing voice actors taking you on a sweeping journey to literally venture into hell itself and beat back hordes of demons, and all of the side content is good enough to stand on its own.
Both the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are better than they’ve ever been here and so many of the side stories are more memorable than main storylines in other RPGs I’ve played.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out now on Xbox (including Game Pass), PlayStation, and PC. New games are going to constantly be vying for my time and attention in the wake of Oblivion for the rest of this year and foreseeable future—just like the good ol’ days.