Video games have produced numerous cult classics and legendary titles throughout their history. With the increasingly prolonged development cycles associated with modern AAA titles, the industry has gravitated towards revisiting these cherished favorites. This revival typically occurs through two primary methods: the ambitious remake and the more straightforward remaster. Both strategies aim to revive older games for contemporary players, yet they differ significantly in effort, outcomes, and the underlying motivations for their creation.
Remakes represent a thorough reimagining of the original titles, featuring assets rebuilt from scratch, updated gameplay mechanics tailored for current audiences, and often an expanded narrative with new elements. This comprehensive overhaul has the potential to reinvigorate a game that might be a decade or two old. When executed effectively, a remake allows newcomers to capture the spirit of the original while providing a fresh perspective that resonates with both new players and longtime fans.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered offers a new interpretation of the 2006 classic.
Photo Credit: Bethesda
Conversely, remasters tend to focus primarily on redistributing a game with enhanced graphics. This includes upgrades such as higher resolutions and improved textures, while the core narrative and gameplay remain unchanged. This approach can feel unnecessary, particularly for relatively recent games that have aged well. Thus, in the broader context of the remaster versus remake conversation, remasters can appear somewhat superfluous—like trivial embellishments on an already polished product.
This sentiment applies to many of the remastered titles released recently. Sony, in particular, has been criticized for offering remakes of games like The Last of Us Part II and Horizon Zero Dawn without much justification. However, Bethesda’s recent release, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, presents a more compelling narrative.
First launched in 2006, Oblivion holds a prestigious position in the RPG genre and has influenced countless titles in the years since. Nearly two decades later, Bethesda has chosen to re-explore the expansive landscapes of Cyrodiil with Oblivion Remastered.
While the allure of revisiting a cherished classic enhanced with modern graphics is appealing, the question remains: do these upgrades enrich the original’s legacy, making it a visually captivating experience, or do they merely highlight the age of the source material, revealing the futility of a remaster? Such inquiries are explored in our review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
As a remaster, the game maintains a storyline nearly identical to its predecessor. Players begin their journey emerging from an imperial prison, only to discover that Emperor Uriel Septim VII and his heirs have been killed by cultist assassins, pushing the world to the brink of chaos. With no rightful heir, a broken ancient pact unleashes the Oblivion gates, allowing Daedra—immortal beings—to invade Tamriel. The quest leads players through hidden secrets and a mission to halt the advances of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon.
The game’s narrative remains faithful to the original.
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screenshot – Shaurya Tomer
However, the narrative is only the beginning. The main questline is supported by numerous faction quests and side missions that add depth and character to Cyrodiil and its inhabitants. For example, the Dark Brotherhood guild offers engaging assassination tasks filled with dark humor and moral ambiguity, while the Thieves Guild provides a rewarding sense of progression as players evolve from petty theft to masterful larceny. Other guilds, such as the Mages Guild and Fighters Guild, enrich the experience with their diverse narratives and challenging tasks. Although changes from the original game are minimal, visuals have been enhanced and quality-of-life improvements implemented.
Significantly, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered includes all previously released downloadable content (DLC), including the acclaimed Shivering Isles expansion, which introduces a new realm with an expansive storyline and additional quest content.
A Familiar Journey
Ultimately, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered remains essentially the same first-person RPG experience cherished by players since the original’s debut in 2006. It adheres to Bethesda’s established formula: a blend of real-time melee combat, extensive exploration, and spellcasting magic. Players traverse the varied landscapes of Cyrodiil, exploring ancient ruins and battling through the Oblivion gates to acquire coveted Sigil Stones.
The visual enhancements present Cyrodiil as one of the standout aspects of the remaster. The landscape showcases diversity, encompassing lush forests, snow-covered mountains, vibrant cities, and dark caves, all now portrayed in higher resolutions, with improved textures and reduced loading distances. The visual upgrades create breathtaking scenery, particularly when viewed from high vantage points.
Similar improvements apply to other locales such as Ayleid ruins and Oblivion gates, featuring sharper textures and enhanced environmental details that not only make character models look crisper but also animate the surroundings in a more vibrant manner, surpassing the original’s capabilities. The character creation process retains its depth, yet the remaster brings clearer distinctions among various races and features.
Character customization options remain unchanged, though improvements to facial features enhance the experience.
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screenshot – Shaurya Tomer
Unfortunately, the visual enhancements do not yield significant improvements in gameplay. Combat, particularly melee encounters, still feels somewhat clumsy compared to modern RPG standards, lacking the satisfying impact one might expect. Although the visuals of character models and weapons have been upgraded, animations still feel stagnant and reminiscent of the 2006 original, limiting the remaster’s ability to convey a sense of modernity.
The well-known level-scaling feature also persists, adjusting enemy difficulty and loot based on the player’s level, which can diminish the sense of achievement in character progression. There were times I encountered challenging foes even after leveling up and acquiring new, powerful weapons.
The character progression system retains the “learn by doing” mechanics from the original game. Players can enhance their skills through regular use across various abilities such as Blade, Blunt, Restoration, or Sneak, fostering diverse playstyles. Additionally, offensive and defensive spells remain accessible, enabling survival and navigation throughout the extensively enhanced world of Oblivion Remastered.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered still displays outdated animations, particularly in combat sequences.
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screenshot – Shaurya Tomer
When compared to the streamlined interfaces found in contemporary AAA titles, the navigation and inventory management in the remastered version largely reflect the original game, despite some minor enhancements to menu clarity. The gameplay experience revolves around the continual cycle of accepting quests, tracking objectives, engaging in dialogue, and navigating combat, along with key decisions that impact gameplay.
The expansive and immersive open world of the game is complemented by the Radiant AI system, another defining feature that persists in Oblivion Remastered. This system governs NPC daily routines, generating engaging and at times humorous interactions. Players may encounter amusing scenarios or witness NPCs stuck in quirky situations. This aspect adds depth to the experience, prompting players to follow NPCs in their daily activities, reminiscent of experiences in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.
Optimized for Modern Systems
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered runs smoothly on current PC hardware despite its enhanced visuals. During my playthrough on an MSI GP66 Leopard laptop featuring an Intel Core i7 11th gen processor, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, I enjoyed consistent performance throughout my approximately 35 hours of gameplay. The game operated well at medium to high graphics settings with minimal frame drops, aided by DLSS frame generation and upscaling technologies. Framerate drops did occur in densely populated areas like the Imperial City or during intense combat encounters.
The game benefits from Nvidia’s DLSS frame generation and other technological enhancements.
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screenshot – Shaurya Tomer
While Oblivion Remastered may not boast cutting-edge graphical fidelity, veterans of the original and newcomers transitioning from Skyrim will appreciate the visual improvements. A simple comparison to the original highlights the remaster’s expanded scope, demonstrating that it surpasses being just another reissue.
Conclusion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered serves as a nostalgic nod for long-time players. For those new to the landscapes of Cyrodiil, this offering encapsulates the definitive experience, including all post-launch DLC content and optimized performance for modern systems. It continues to provide players with a sense of adventure and exploration that defined the original. However, for veterans who invested countless hours in the original title, Oblivion Remastered may feel like a minor update rather than a transformative remake, retaining some of the quirks that initially endeared players to the classic.
Although the “remastered” designation may misrepresent its revolutionary impact, in a market saturated with remasters that offer little more than visual enhancements at a premium price, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered stands apart. Ultimately, while Oblivion remains a remarkable game, the remaster adds only a slight layer of polish to its already beloved framework. This raises a consideration regarding remasters of games that once set visual standards in their time—highlighting the inherent limitations of how far such upgrades can take these titles.
