The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was a landmark release for open world games in 2006, and although it was soon bettered by other titles both mechanically and technically, it never lost its own magic.
Funnily enough, internet memes became a significant factor in keeping people’s love and nostalgia for Oblivion intact. It’s no exaggeration to say that it can be a genuinely hilarious game, filled with baffling NPC behaviour and a kind of moment-to-moment madness that you’d expect from an absurdist comedy.
It was so important, then, that Oblivion Remastered didn’t lose the underlying weirdness that made the original work so unique and memorable. And with that in mind, developer Virtuos — with Bethesda looking over its shoulder — has done a remarkable job of remaking Oblivion without stripping the title of its beloved identity.
And make no mistake, this is definitely more remake than remaster, despite the naming convention. Graphically, the game has been rebuilt in its entirety using Unreal Engine 5, and the upgrade is spectacular. This is what you think Oblivion looked like back when you first booted it up some 19 years ago, bombarded with picturesque countryside vistas, bathed in glorious god rays.
Oblivion Remastered is a wise middle distance between being a total, potentially unrecognisable remake and a lower effort, higher resolution re-release. It makes important and welcome adjustments to core gameplay systems, mechanics, and animations, in a bid to create some kind of definitive experience — and for the most part, it succeeds.
There may be little details that we miss from the original game, but the pros far outweigh the cons — at least on consoles, where you don’t have two decades’ worth of mods to fall back on.
Outside of the obvious visual evolution, combat is probably the biggest beneficiary of Remastered. Oblivion’s combat system, while impressively open-ended even back in 2006, has not aged well in terms of feel; attacks are erratic, and on-hit impacts barely exist.
Virtuos hasn’t reinvented the action. Instead, it’s introduced fresh animations, sound effects, and UI elements — like damage crosshairs — which add necessary weight and feedback to your more violent escapades.
Between a range of weapon types and hundreds of magic spells, forging your own style of play is an essential part of the game’s appeal — and these reworkings are enough to elevate combat to a point where you can better appreciate Oblivion’s commitment to player freedom.
Indeed, ‘freedom’ is a great descriptor for Oblivion as a whole. In 2006, players were blown away by the title’s scope. Not just in an open world sense, but in terms of it being a true sandbox. Even though its towns and cities are populated by just tens of people, Cyrodiil maintains the illusion of life — like it would continue to exist if you weren’t there.
Bethesda’s RPGs have never been about delicate dialogue choices and heavy role-playing — the focus has always been on that aforementioned concept of freedom within a very deliberate open world. And in its relative simplicity, Oblivion actually manages to stand out from its more modern peers.
There’s a straightforwardness to the exploration and quest design that feels surprisingly refreshing here in 2025. This is still a devilishly addictive adventure should you look past Oblivion’s surface level oddities — something that’s much easier to accomplish if you’re already drunk on nostalgia.
Having said that, there are aspects of Oblivion that will try the patience of any current day gamer, nostalgic or not. By and large, the game’s quests range from just fine to downright memorable, but there are also a handful of tasks that would make even the lamest MMO fetch quests blush.
Likewise, killing time becomes a chore as you progress. Many a quest giver will instruct you to return at a certain time of day, having just traversed half the map to collect their desired trinket. Such tedious quest structure is rife, and even with the boons of fast travel and a dedicated ‘wait’ option, Oblivion can feel like it’s actively wasting your time.
The backtracking doesn’t help, either. Bethesda made a very conscious effort to improve dungeon design in Skyrim, and playing Oblivion again, it’s abundantly clear why. Monotonous caves and ruins are the order of the day, a seemingly infinite number of them dotting the landscape. Upon completion, many of them simply present you with a dead end, and ask that you walk all the way back to the entrance.
All of this stuff is rough by today’s standards, and it’s perhaps a shame that Remastered hasn’t done more to alleviate the RPG’s most questionable components.
Similarly disappointing — and less forgivable — is Oblivion Remastered’s technical performance at launch. The original release was a stuttering mess back on the PS3, and here we are almost 20 years later, with its revival running into regular frame rate stutters and hitches on PS5. It would be comical if it wasn’t so frustrating.
To be clear, much of the game runs at a pretty smooth 60 frames-per-second when you’re indoors or within a city, but the open world is a different story. Some locales suffer near constant dips, while others present regular stutters. It’s playable, but far from perfect.
Again, though, while we’ve gotten a little negative in the latter half of this review, we must stress that Oblivion’s core strengths have stood the test of time. There’s a reason why so many people look back on this title with wonderment; it’s easy to understand its place in the RPG landscape when you’re gazing across Cyrodiil’s open plains, that iconic soundtrack twinkling away in your ears.
Conclusion
Oblivion Remastered is a welcome reminder of just how special the 2006 RPG can be. Performance issues and tedious design elements aside, Virtuos and Bethesda deserve real credit for bringing Oblivion back in such a way that doesn’t detract from the original vision, and the meme-worthy identity that it’s fostered over the years. This is, arguably, the definitive Oblivion experience — or at least it will be, once the awkward wrinkles have been ironed out.