The door to Cyrodiil has reopened
It’s a normal day like any other and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has dropped out of nowhere after Bethesda announced a trailer date on the same day, after some speculation on whether it would release on the same day, it actually did much to the despair of many gamers wallets. It’s been 19 years since the original Oblivion game was a thing and back then the PS2 and original Xbox was nearing the end of its life which is crazy to think about, a massive open world known as Oblivion would still release though and with it an expansion pack the Shivering Isles.
Having not played Oblivion on release originally it was not a series I knew of at the time with me being a PlayStation guy at the time and even still, and when the PS3 did eventually get the game I did dabble in it a bit so I did become eventually familiar with the series but for whatever reason the game didn’t stick, these open world adventures with a lack of knowing what to do and where to go and actually read pages of on screen text was not something I was invested in.
So having some very minor experience with the original Oblivion it was nice to see an announcement for a Remaster and for me to go back to it and give it a fair chance was something I was very much looking forward to, after all over the years peoples tastes change and games you wouldn’t normally play you can very much become enthralled in them and that is very much the case here, as I have now being a fan of Elder Scrolls Online for some time and dabbling in Skyrim itself, I now have some knowledge of The Elder Scrolls universe so diving into Oblivion this time round was a much more engaging experience.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered pretty much starts up as it originally did, you find yourself in a cell for some unknown crime you have committed and after being told you have a gift by Emperor Uriel Septim VII who is fleeing from assassins and is accompanied by some guardsmen after his sons were murdered he pardons you and you set off through the sewers under the prison until you find yourself in in Cyrodiil a province of the wider world of Tamriel where The Elder Scrolls takes place. This section plays as the tutorial and allows you to create your character, you can pick your Race, Birth-sign and Class, you can pick one of the premade Classes or choose which skills you would like and make a Custom Class. Before you venture out into the wide world the game gives you a second chance to change anything on your characters if there wasn’t something you didn’t like or wanted to change up until this point.
From the get-go you can tell how much the game has improved on the original on a graphical and performance level, character models are really well done down to the skin textures and lip-syncing, you can tell Emperor Uriel Septim VII is very old due to his facial features now and you can see the sadness in his face where in the original game he looked less bothered that his sons were all dead. I’m not slating the original Oblivion as it was certainly a product of it’s time but the upgrade is definitely something Oblivion was definitely needing. I cannot comment on the PS5 Pro but playing on the original PS5 the game plays flawlessly, I didn’t notice any hit to the performance in Fidelity mode either.
The graphics have definitely gotten a huge glow-up, the lush landscapes and the quirky NPCs feel more alive than ever before. I was genuinely impressed by how much detail has been added, the light filtering through the trees and the vibrant colours of the architecture. It’s amazing how something I felt familiar suddenly feels new and exciting as I am venturing into all these unknown landmarks whether it is an mine or a new settlement, towns and cities are bustling with characters, quests and lore. Collecting flowers out in the wild and just seeing them pop from the ground, all these simple details really add to the overall experience.
It also makes a massive difference that the game no longer suffers massive loading times, this I remember being something that had put me off previously but again it something that was largely down to the game being a huge world and consoles had less processing power compared to what they do now, this with a refreshed User Interface makes for a more satisfying experience.
Gameplay wise there hasn’t been much in an upgrade apart from the actual visual effects of combat itself. Combat is very fluid, you can attack with a plethora of different weapons with a weak attack being faster whilst a stronger attack is slower but will of course do much more damage, you can mix it up by using spells or summoning skeletons to fight for you. This sounds very simple and that is because it is, Oblivion does not reinvent or build on it’s foundation when it comes to the combat but I still find it fun, any game can have flashy fantasy power moves and it would look good but have no substance but Oblivion does not need this, the game has a lengthy questline with branching side quests all of which allows it to stand on it’s own, creating characters and builds and role-playing is all part of its charm and what makes Oblivion so good. You are not locked to specialising in a certain Vocation either, if you decide to ditch heavy weapons for a heavy Magic build then you can.
Every action in Oblivion will improve your skills in some way, for example hand to hand combat will increase should you fight with your fists, if you move you will gain athletics skill which determines how fast one can run or swim and how long one can exert themselves before becoming exhausted. This skill is increased by running and swimming, these skills play into your overall level and once you sleep when the game allows you to level you will be able to raise the overall attributes of your character. If you were a fan of the Lockpicking from before then you’ll be please to know it has not changed, from the bobby pin rotary sweet spot lock of Skyrim isn’t here and instead you’ll be wrestling with tumblers making sure to lock each one in place, I personally I have not had much luck but the system itself is far more engaging and until you become a master lockpicker you may find yourself going through way more lockpicks here but also your lockpicking skill will also play a key role in this.
The Oblivion remake introduces a wealth of new content and enhancements, which includes voice acting for various non-player characters (NPCs). In the original game, some characters shared the same voice due to budget constraints. Despite this there is a lot of great delivered dialogue whether they have done voice acting previously in other games or it be through film and television, noticeably Debra Wilson, Keith Szarabajka and Sean Bean and many others have their voices heard in the world of Oblivion. The Shivering Isles expansion is also included and the Knight of the Nine DLC.
I had not found any bugs or graphical glitches in my time playing Oblivion Remastered, apart from the time I ran from the Sewer gate all the way to Chorrol and I had a rather angry crab on my tail, this guy followed me so far across the map I thought it was not intentional, maybe it was but he was not a happy crab, you do not mess with the crabs in Cyrodiil!
Overall my time in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has been fun and I cannot wait to get back into it’s world. If like many you were already a fan of the original Oblivion then you will surely have a good time, to revisit Oblivion until the next Elder Scrolls game will certainly keep you going for a bit, if like me you are wanting to get into the series or have not delved into it or just a little bit then there’s never been a more perfect time or a more perfect game to do so.
A PlayStation 5 Review Code was provided by Bethesda Softworks. This article is featured OpenCritic
