The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was one of the worst kept secrets in gaming, having been leaked years before the official announcement. This actually helped the game in many ways though, as it worked to build hype for the product to the point that when it was released on the very day it was officially announced, it immediately became a bestseller. But how is the overall experience?
Oblivion Remastered is the result of Virtuous taking the original game and utilizing a dual engine system to layer Unreal Engine 5 over the original Gamebryo engine to allow for a vastly improved look and feel. What was a game that looked extremely aged by today’s standards now looks modern and fresh with a much needed makeover. It is not just looks though, as the voice acting has had some changes to add more variety, but Bethesda and Virtuous also took the time to retain many of the original voice acting mistakes, albeit now as fun jokes.
One thing that must be said is that after so many years of Skyrim, going back to an older Elder Scrolls game can be very refreshing for an RPG fan. The RPG mechanics are much deeper here, and makes you realize how much was stripped away for the sequel. Then again, compared to its immediate predecessor Morowind, Oblivion was also very stripped down and streamlined.
The story was one of the better ones in a Bethesda game, and the expansions had some of the best mechanics and concepts, with the Shivering Isles DLC being the single best expansion for any Elder Scrolls game to date, and yes that includes the many expansions for Elder Scrolls Online. The quests are far more memorable here, with some Dark Brotherhood quests being so creative that you end up wanting to keep reloading and replaying just to see all the various ways you can complete them.
Some of the rougher points have been reworked to flow better and there are many quality of life changes, such as changes to the leveling system that now takes in mechanics from Skyrim rather than relying on the original method which was not well received. To be clear, stats are no longer tied to specific skills that were improved prior to leveling up, which means you can now assign them freely. In addition, the health boost you will get from increasing Endurance will now be applied retroactively,so you are more free to improve their stats as you see see fit.
In addition, being over encumbered now functions like it did in Skyrim and in which you move very slowly rather than being unable to move and is a vast improvement. There is also the addition of the clairvoyance spell, which will point you to where you need to go and is great for removing frustration in the overall game caused by getting lost.In addition, the third person mode has been vastly improved over the original and Skyrim and now is a perfectly viable way to play the game.
All these changes go well with the overhaul for character creation as well, which is more about providing more backstory and lore for your character, but does also give some more room for character customization in terms of your stats. There are small bits of lore overhaul here and there compared to the original game, and some interesting additions. You can now see the Throat of the World from Skyrim when standing at some locations, which you were not able to do in the original game, which is a nice touch.
All of the original content is here, including the infamous horse armour dlc, but that is not all. The deluxe version of the game includes new quests and content based around finding new sets of armour and weapons. It may not be much, but it does make one wonder if there are plans for additional new content to the game.
As good as it is though, Oblivion Remastered still has many flaws. This is still a Bethesda game even if it was outsourced, and there are many bugs to be found. But more than that, there is an issue with the look of the remaster that has been gnawing at me since the reveal. The game uses a yellow/brown filter that makes everything look drab, while the original game had a very lush look. What is worse is that the art style of the game seems to conflict with this filter, and others have noted that a blue filter would work with the colours more and make everything stand out, but more on that at the end of this review.
More importantly, the performance has some serious issues and this time it is not due to Bethesda or its engine, but Unreal Engine 5. The engine has had optimization issues on PC since it was first made available, and Oblivion Remastered is yet another victim. The loading times and frame stutters are atrocious and need to be addressed, and de-sync issues are surprisingly common, as are crashes to desktop.
Lastly, there are the design choices and this is a mix of old and new. Like with the original release, the loot system is a mess. Loot is leveled and can quickly become useless, while finding loot and fighting enemies becomes much less exciting due to lack of variety. This is actually something that Skyrim addressed. Then there is animation cancelling, which is handled differently here and throws off the combat compared to the original release due to slowing down the flow of combat. It just feels like some changes could have been made and some should not have been. Bethesda and Virtuous are working to fix many of these issues fans have been having, so hopefully the overall experience gets an overall and is fixed, because the game is generally good.
But there is something very important that needs to be mentioned. While Oblivion Remastered does not support modding officially, and is made with Unreal Engine 5 which is notoriously difficult to mod for, the game is a dual engine project and many of the original modding tools can and have been adapted to work for the remaster. Oblivion Remastered already has an excellent modding scene, with fans fixing many issues such as the animation cancelling and yellow/brown filter, including reshaders and filters that bring the colours more in line with the original and make them shine brilliantly. There is a lot of work still to be done with the modding scene, but I am excited to see what becomes of it.
Overall, I did enjoy The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. In many ways it does feel like a fantasy RPG version of Doom, especially when compared to Doom: The Dark Ages, and going back to this experience just feels great. Even with the issues it had, this overall is Oblivion as it was Rose-Tinted Glasses view it and that makes it even better. I would love to see more remasters like this, including for the fallout games, as well as a complete reworking of Morrowind, and even Skyrim can be improved as well.
If you have been feeling let down by modern day RPGs, then The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is just what you need to rediscover your love of the genre. Highly recommended.
