Review: Oblivion Remastered Is a Stunning Remaster

What we end up getting when a company releases a remaster of a game varies. Sometimes, there are only some improved textures and HD enhancements. We might get a new or updated localization, if it involves a Japanese release. If we’re really lucky, the alterations will be so extensive that it might feel more like a remake. That’s what’s happened with Bethesda and Virtuos’ The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, as the remaster is so comprehensive and detailed that the experience often feels entirely new.

Oblivion Remastered begins with a player’s imprisoned avatar being tasked with a royal mission to get the fallen Emperor Uriel Septim VII’s Amulet of Kings to Blades Grandmaster Jauffre, while also dealing with the invasion of Oblivion’s Daedra as a result of the ruler’s death. We must forge our own path through Cyrodiil and find a way to save it and Tamriel. It's... fine. I'm not a huge fan of the main game's campaign and preferred supplemental missions in the past, and I found it remained true here. As a very welcome bonus, the remaster of Oblivion includes the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions. While Knights of the Nine is totally fine, I always really enjoyed the Greymarch campaign in Shivering Isles and found returning to it a welcome premise.

As a refresher, Oblivion Remastered is an open-world action-RPG like other The Elder Scrolls games, filled with mainline and side quests to undertake. You can go through in either the first or third-person perspective, using melee, ranged, and magical attacks to cut through foes. There’s also crafting, with players able to use skills such as Alchemy to make potions and Armorer to repair equipment. There are also ample opportunities to do some roleplaying, with factions to join like the Dark Brotherhood or Fighters, Mages, and Thieves Guilds and ways to pretend you’re a merchant by combining Mercantile and Speechcraft when buying and selling.

When first heading into Oblivion Remastered, the most obvious change in the remaster is the visuals. This is a stunning game that looks more like Skyrim than its original release. Environments are gorgeous. Buildings look realistic. Monsters and opponents are updated, and I appreciated how much more they look like more recent installments’ counterparts. All NPCs look different, often for the better, and the voice acting and lip sync looks so much more realistic and better. As someone who always prioritized the third-person perspective in The Elder Scrolls games, the camera settings are vastly improved. Everything just looks and sounds great. This even applies to player characters, since we get so many more options in the creator as well as updated original ones.

But once you start really getting into Oblivion Remastered, it’s evident how much fine-tuning Bethesda and Virtuos put into the remaster. I’ve always prioritized ranged weapons and magic in The Elder Scrolls series, and I could tell right away how much better things felt. I noticed magicka regenerated at a better pace, which I appreciated and left me feeling more secure early in my adventure. Also, archery feels like it got a major buff. The controller’s aim assist is great, and arrows both do more damage at a faster pace. Also, again, I felt more comfortable as an archer because I could get arrows from fallen enemies instead of worrying they’d be lost. There are lots of perk adjustments, and I especially noticed this when using alchemy and when I’d see greater chances of my arrows paralyzing enemies. 

There are even entirely new elements that make The Elder Scrolls IV more accessible in Oblivion Remastered. The best example of this is Clairvoyance. It’s a spell added for this release and pulled from Skyrim, and it helps you find your way in case you get lost by showing a line to your direction. The tutorial ended up being adjusted as well, so it also tells you how to use it. If someone has issues with the camera and is sensitive to motion-sickness when playing titles with a first-person perspective, I could see the camera motion option assisting with that. You can also add aim assist, as I mentioned before, and adjust how sensitive that is. Also, bless the developers for adding a text and subtitle font size options, as the medium and large options for both are so helpful.

Speaking of which, I think what I love most about Oblivion Remastered is how Bethesda and Virtuos used the remaster as an opportunity to add all of the Skyrim quality of life adjustments. We can sprint now! Sprinting is so great. And if you’re using any skill, it’s going to help you get experience to level up, which is so efficient. Skyrim’s horseback riding, health regeneration, and over-encumbered rules are in effect for the sake of convenience and ease of play too. This means you’re automatically swapped to the third-person perspective when you ride, to help you better take into account what’s around you. Your health will regenerate when combat is over. If you are carrying too much, you can still move. The remaster’s HUD and difficulty levels also match the more recent release. In addition to being more efficient and working better, I feel it’s a big help for people who got into the series after The Elder Scrolls V debuted. 

Even if you don’t count Oblivion among your favorite The Elder Scrolls games, Oblivion Remastered is a triumph and sets a high bar for what we should expect from a video game remaster. While the game will play exactly as you would expect, it looks, sounds, and perhaps even feels smoother than ever before. Given how different the world looks and quality of life adjustments and changes based on Skyrim, it still might feel like a whole new experience this time around.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

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