For many gamers, this week’s release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has provided a good excuse to revisit a well-remembered RPG classic from years past. For others, it’s provided a good excuse to catch up on a well-regarded game that they haven’t gotten around to playing in the nearly two decades since its release.
I’m in that second group. While I’ve played a fair amount of Skyrim (on platforms ranging from the Xbox 360 to VR headsets) and Starfield, I’ve never taken the time to go back to the earlier Bethesda Game Studios RPGs. As such, my impressions of Oblivion before this Remaster have been guided by old critical reactions and the many memes calling attention to the game’s somewhat janky engine.
Playing through the first few hours of Oblivion Remastered this week, without the benefit of nostalgia, I can definitely see why Oblivion made such an impact on RPG fans in 2006. But I also see all the ways that the game can feel a bit dated after nearly two decades of advancements in genre design.
As far as remasters go I think it’s pretty good.
Don’t expect a 2025 game in terms of mechanics and level design. For it’s time Oblivion was a very good game. This is a polished version of the original with updated graphics and somewhat modernised combat and movement. They ironed out a lot of clunky mechanics and bugs too.
As far as remasters go the GTA ones were absolute dogwater just like warcraft 3 remastered. This one is very good and imo comparable with the command and conquer remasters.
I dont think they could have done much more without making the game completely different.