The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Remastered

I booted up the Remastered version fully expecting nostalgia to do all the heavy lifting, and about three hours in I realized it wasn't nostalgia at all - the core of Cyrodiil is genuinely, structurally great, and the new coat of paint just makes it easier to see that. Developed by Virtuos alongside Bethesda Game Studios and released on April 22, 2025, this is less a remaster than a fairly ambitious rebuild: the visuals run on Unreal Engine 5 while the underlying Gamebryo gameplay systems are preserved beneath. That hybrid approach is the whole story, really. On the gameplay side, the changes are targeted and smart. Sprinting is finally in. Combat now has Souls-adjacent blocking with reactive counterattacks, archery feels like a proper ranged system instead of a luck slider, and the old melee animations have been replaced with ones that actually communicate weight. The leveling system has been overhauled so that every level-up gives you 12 points (called "virtues") to distribute freely across attributes, cutting out the original's infamous skill-grinding traps. Third-person perspective now works like a real over-the-shoulder camera, independent of where your character is facing. Health regenerates outside of combat. These are individually small things, but together they sand down the edges that made the 2006 version punishing to revisit cold. The UI has also been properly modernized - better inventory layout, clearer menus - without losing the storybook visual identity that always made Oblivion feel distinct from its peers. What hasn't changed is where your tolerance will be tested. Some longstanding bugs survived the transition. The NPC faces still teeter on the memorable-to-unsettling spectrum - which, to be clear, many fans consider load-bearing jank rather than a flaw. The leveled-world design, where enemies scale to your character, still produces the occasional fight that feels oddly flat regardless of your build. And the opening sewer tutorial section remains longer than it has any right to be. The persuasion and lockpicking minigames are intact, nostalgia and all. None of this sinks the experience, but new players coming in without a prior attachment to the original should temper their expectations on moment-to-moment combat depth - this isn't the tightest action RPG on the shelf. Where Oblivion Remastered earns its asking price is in the sheer volume of things to actually do. The main quest sends you across Cyrodiil to stop Oblivion Gates tearing open the landscape, but the real draw has always been the faction questlines - the Thieves Guild, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, and especially the Dark Brotherhood - each long enough to be its own game. On top of that, the world is dense with caves, forts, and side quests that reward wandering more than any waypoint system will. The Unreal Engine 5 visuals make that wandering genuinely pleasurable now: forests, ruins, and the sweeping Imperial City look like a proper 2025 release rather than a preserved relic. If you played the original and bounced off the rough edges, this is the version to go back in on. If you're a Skyrim player who never went backwards in the series, the modernized controls and leveling make Oblivion Remastered the most accessible entry point this game has ever had. Just know that the jank isn't fully exorcised - and honestly, a little bit of it is part of what makes Cyrodiil feel like Cyrodiil.

Alex · Scout Team

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