Following the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, millions of players around the world jumped headfirst into the nostalgia. Upon once again entering Cyrodiil, players quickly came to realize that this remaster is a complete reskin of the original game that they fell in love with nearly two decades ago. While Oblivion Remastered is impressive at staying true to the original, it has two glaring problems. But, this is not to say that Oblivion Remastered is not groundbreaking in its own right.
Let’s start with what Oblivion Remastered does well. For one, magic is just as fleshed out as it was in the original. You can create your own spells and enchantments a la carte. This means that there are essentially no limits to what magic can do. It can make players walk at the speed of light, bunny hop across water, or paralyze, burn, and poison with a click of a button. This is a feature that was dearly missed throughout The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s long reign. Along with this, you can also craft potions with more flexibility in Oblivion Remastered compared to Skyrim.
Oblivion Remastered also has an insanely immersive NPC system. As you adventure through Cyrodiil, you can hear rumors directly referencing the events that you played a hand in, such as the Battle for Kvatch. You can also overhear private information, acting as quest starters. NPCs will even avoid you like the plague if you have been infected for too long with Porphyric Hemophilia (vampirism). These NPCs play a huge role in the world-building, which is arguably the main attraction for Elder Scrolls players.
The writing in Oblivion Remastered is beyond reproach. There is no stone left unturned when it comes to the lore. As I progressed through the story, I found myself pausing the game just to follow up on lore that I had learned in the prior quest. Players’ questions are answered unabridged through the narrative, and this is something that is not often found in modern games. Where Oblivion Remastered falls short in gameplay, it makes up with insanely poetic narratives and historic lore.
This brings us to where Oblivion Remastered falls short of expectations. Firstly, the cave and dungeon system is essentially copied and pasted from the original game. And while staying true to the original game has worked well in some scenarios, such as NPC dialogue, it does not work well in the dungeon immersion. The dungeons all have the same exact terrain, filled with the same exact layout as the original game. These dungeons hardly have environmental story telling beyond their name sharing some similarity to the contents of the area. This is a rather glaring drawback that was also felt in the original game, because everything in Oblivion prides itself on immersion. These cave and dungeon templates stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise perfectly immersive world.
The final glaring problem with Oblivion Remastered is the combat system for melee builds. As somebody who has always played an archer build, I decided to change things up this playthrough and use a sword and shield. After playing a few hours with these, I found that there are some large issues with the melee combat that haven’t been amended in the remaster. First off, enemies are essentially guaranteed to hit if they attack, regardless of how far away they are. Secondly, these weapons are rather static; there is no sense of realism, and using a sword is essentially like swinging with a laser pointer – no resistance. In Skyrim, there were at least possible kill moves that would add a level of variety, but in Oblivion Remastered, there is nothing of the sort. While Bethesda could have taken the remaster as an opportunity to better an old combat system, they seem to have made little changes in the way that these weapons function.
While these problems are pretty detrimental to the feel of the game, they by no means make the game bad. The next point of interest is the graphical quality and the environment of the overworld. Never before has Elder Scrolls felt so real. Players are able to see with accurate detail, even at a distance. If the sun is setting, the screen is illuminated with what feels like true sunlight. Characters actually appear to be talking as you interact with them, and it is definitely refreshing to be in a world that is brighter and more saturated with life than Skyrim ever was – even with mods.
This life-like feel is exactly the reason why so many players feel attached to Tamriel and the Elder Scrolls. When players turn on Oblivion Remastered, they are not turning it on as a time waster, or as a means to fight with total realism. They are turning it on to step into a world that is both foreign and natural. This is why Elder Scrolls is so loved. For now, I will continue to experience all that Cyrodiil has to offer for a humble Nord.
Nate played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on PlayStation 5 with his own bought copy.
