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Remastering a once-beloved game can be a double-edged sword. If players embrace it, developers stand to make a hefty profit—after all, they’ve simply polished the original, added slick new visuals, and re-released the same core experience. Gamers, often driven by nostalgia, can be surprisingly easy to please, and leveraging that fondness usually pays off handsomely.
The shining example of this is the remastered classics Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4—Capcom sold us the same games with improved visuals and gameplay mechanics and earned millions in the process. On the other hand, if a remaster doesn't meet the expectations, the company that works on it could lose not just money but the reputation as well, and the boys and girls in Bethesda Softworks seemed to be very well aware of this.
As a result, they managed to hide their work on the Oblivion remaster very well. Of course, some information leaked—in today's gaming industry, it is just impossible to hide such things—but in any case, we all were pretty much surprised when Bethesda decided to shadowdrop The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered.
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered stayed very true to the original, without changing much in the core of the gameplay. Of course, the visuals are remade completely using the Unreal Engine 5, but apart from that, when you play the game, the feeling you had while playing the original back in 2006 is almost the same.
The entire storyline featuring the main and side quests, everything from the original, is kept in the remaster too. Since I played the original a lot, I remember some of the game, but truth be told, who could remember anything from 19 years ago? However, I do remember some moments, like when I first met that lion-looking dude who demanded money from me. I remember that he obliterated me in the original, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get past him.
Playing The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, he was nothing but a joke to me; I killed him with just a couple of swings with my initial sword. I don't know if I grew into a better gamer with years or if this remaster is just a much better balanced game. In any case, some memories of the original that didn't completely fade away were easily replaced with The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, which represents the remaster we desperately needed, even if we didn't know we did.
As I said, the story remains true to the original in full. You will still be spawned in the prison cell through which the Emperor Uriel Septim VII will pass, escaping from the assassins. You will be recognised by him as an important figure who will be tasked by him, before he dies, with some very important tasks, so important that the fate of the entire Empire and all its races will be in your hands.
From that moment on, you'll do quests the Emperor tasked you with, involving the sudden popping up of Oblivion gates all over Cyrodiil, battling the evil forces of darkness, getting involved in many political affairs, joining guilds, and many more things that will make your journey very pleasant or very hard, depending on your skills and many other things characteristic of all RPGs.
Even though the entire story remained the same, there have been some improvements, specifically in its presentation. If you played the original, you'll remember that the entire game was voiced by no more than three voice actors. In that time, it was the standard. Now, following the modern game standards, many new voice talents are there, making the conversations more versatile and more realistic. A very nice addition, if you ask me.
The gameplay went through some improvements as well. Even though the combat remained as simple and plain as it was before, the animations and character movements are improved drastically. The combat is still very clunky and without any significant depth. You have the attack and the charged attack command and block when you're using melee weapons. If you want to use ranged weapons, the bow is the only solution, and apart from that, you can use magic to cast simple and effective spells.
Like in the original, you can switch between the first and the third person perspective, where the latter is significantly improved. The third-person perspective now feels more realistic, but still it is much worse than in some modern games like, for example, Avowed. However, it seems that the developers intentionally left the entire gameplay to be fully reminiscent of the original to keep that particular Oblivion feeling.
The most significant improvements, when it comes to gameplay, are in the modernised menus and totally remade character creator. Now, you can make a very detailed character with the races that differentiate between each other, not just by looks but also by different stats and many other characteristics. You can already see people all over the internet making some celebrities in the Oblivion character creator, and it is hilarious.
Judging by gameplay alone, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered may barely feel like a remaster—but the real transformation lies not in gameplay changes, but in its upgraded visuals. As it is mentioned earlier, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered uses Unreal Engine 5 for its graphics, and with this game, it really did wonders.
We knew comparisons to the original were bound to happen, but I have to admit, I'm genuinely surprised by how good the game looks. Sure, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered isn't the most beautiful game ever—look a bit closer, and it’s nothing extraordinary—but when stacked against the original, the improvement is remarkable.
The game's visual beauty really shines on a moderately powerful PC with all modern settings enabled, taking full advantage of today's hardware. With ray tracing, impressive lighting, and effective use of Unreal Engine 5, certain moments can truly be stunning.
I played the game via Game Pass, switching between Xbox Series X and my PC (Ryzen 9 5900X, RTX 3080 Ti, 32 GB RAM). On Xbox, the performance mode looks solid and maintains a steady 60 FPS most of the time, while the fidelity mode is capped at 30 FPS. Honestly, I didn’t notice much visual difference between the two, so I stuck with performance mode throughout.
The experience on PC is a different story—the game looks noticeably better with all settings maxed out and DLSS set to Quality. Frame rates consistently stayed between 70 and 90 FPS, with occasional drops in more detailed, crowded cities. Overall, Oblivion Remastered appears to be a well-optimised title on both console and PC, at least based on the systems I tested it on.
Conclusion
Few remasters succeed in delivering the same game with such impact—preserving its original charm while making it look and feel like something entirely new. If that was the goal behind The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, then I’d say the developers have absolutely accomplished it.
Whether you're a long-time fan who's played the original Oblivion inside and out or you're experiencing it for the first time, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered delivers plenty of enjoyment and offers an experience well worth your time with a controller in hand. And since it's included with the Game Pass subscription, there's no reason not to give this classic a try—you’ll likely be glad you did. If you decide to purchase it on your platform of choice, it’s a buy that’s easily justified.
The Good
Strong visual overhaul with Unreal Engine 5- Faithful to the original’s charm and gameplay
- Improved character creator and UI
- Solid performance on both PC and console
- Included with Game Pass
The Bad
Combat remains simplistic and clunky- Character models still lack fine detail
