The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

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Fast Facts

What a Glow-Up!

Here we are folks, yes, it’s Elder Scrolls, yes, it’s Oblivion and it’s had one hell of a glow up! I have had a long relationship with Elder Scrolls and having re-played a bit of Oblivion recently, I was jazzed to hear about the remaster. The original is starting to show its age and even though it’s a true classic of the genre, the rough edges of its mechanics were starting to show.

For people who have never played Oblivion, firstly, this is your best opportunity and secondly, I will give you a brief run-down of the story. You manage to get yourself out of jail, only to be greeted by the Emperor. Who uncannily not only has been dreaming about you but also gets murdered in front of your eyes. All weird so far. Tamriel is constantly fighting off Oblivion, which seemingly you have stumbled into. What are the chances?

It’s up to you to save the World….. Again!

The Emperor, just before his death, bestows on you the whereabouts of his bodyguard, who, in turn, knows about the Emperor’s illegitimate son. He hands you the Amulet of Kings, which holds back the wrath of Oblivion and keeps Tamriel safe. No pressure there then. As with all these types of games, it’s up to you how much of the main quest or side-stuff you want to do. It’s all extremely interesting and if you played the original, it has a warm familiarity about it.

What unfolds during your time in Tamriel is a tale of tragedy, demons, and various guild-based questlines. I learned how great these quests and stories were while playing this remaster. They are still as poignant as I remember them. This is one part of Oblivion that is eternal and still holds up today. I feel some of this kind of story-building and quest quality is unfortunately missing in more modern RPGs.

Juicy, Well-Written Questlines

What I loved about the original and what I still loved about the remaster were the guild questlines and the characters and the stories that bound them together. Going through the Mages questline and learning new spells was amazing, taking people on in the arena was always fun and murdering people with the Brotherhood is still as interesting as it always was. The remaster changes nothing with these questlines and it did not need to. Joyous!

Updated Mechanics and Systems

What this remaster offers, though, is an updated UI, a tweaked levelling system and a massively overhauled graphical presentation. All these things add up to make this version of Oblivion the best on offer today; it looks nicer, plays better and manages to sand off some but not all of the rough edges. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Yes, effort has been made, but we still have a few outdated, irritating mechanics and the standard Bethesda glitches and performance swings.

The game’s UI is sharper and massively improved over the original. Not only that, but the game’s outdated levelling system has been nudged slightly into the present, giving the player more options and creating the ability to freely create a build that suits you. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a middle section of the game that can be difficult with enemy and equipment scaling but it’s much smoother and levelled than the original.

Did I mention the sprint! I think if I had not played the original quite recently, I would not have even noticed but the remaster has a sprint function. Not only does it make traversal quicker but also makes stamina management more fun and an ‘actual’ system to be wary of. Thinking back now, how did we survive in the original without one? Well, walking about at a snail’s pace I suppose!

Simply Stunning

The main addition to Oblivion is the updated graphics. Oblivion has never looked so stunning. When I emerged into Tamriel for the first time, I was blown away by how good it looked. The lighting, the effects and the resolution were massively improved. It was honestly hard to believe it was the same game. Luckily, there were still glimpses of ugly characters and recognisable landmarks that brought back that this was still Oblivion, even with a fresh coat of paint.

The lip-sync, cutscenes and characters were heads-and shoulders above the original but the weird-looking, slightly fugly character faces remain. I am so glad that even with all this updating and remastering, some of the original Oblivion DNA remains. I wanted a remaster but I also wanted it to feel like the original, which is certainly a hard line to traverse.

Great but not Perfect……..

Even with all it’s new bells and whistles, even with its new face-job, Oblivion still, at times, shows its age and Bethesda-ness. I ran into several bugs and quest glitches and as the game progressed, the performance got worse and worse. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Skyrim on the PS3 worse, but it got exponentially more noticeable as the game progressed. Hopefully, this can be fixed over time with patches but it did, now and again, take the shine off an otherwise beautifully handled remaster.

The Best Version of Oblivion

I think this remaster is brilliant. Bugs and performance aside, it’s nearly everything I wanted. I do, however, feel that new players may still feel the age of some of the mechanics and the game’s overall composition. If you love Oblivion and this kind of RPGs in general, you will adore this remaster. It’s the best version of Oblivion to play and it will only get better with patches and time. A great job was done to drag it into the modern era while keeping some of the game’s original feel intact.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4.5 out of 5

4.5