Does ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’ need to exist?

As somebody who usually reviews comics for this site, I wasn’t initially sure if I should take up this task. Video Game reviews? Not really my scene, y’know? But, though video games are not my signature hobby of choice, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a special game to me. When the rumours hit about a prospected remaster dropping earlier this year, I was skeptical. So, imagine my shock.

Oblivion is one of my favourite games of all time and one that I have a profound love for. Falling in love with it initially due to the immensely entertaining Twitch streams of it from Vargskelethor Joel many years ago, I’ve lost countless hours of my life to it since. Playing Oblivion with my friends watching has become an unforgettable and iconic pass time among our group that’s spawned many inside jokes, creative ideas, and hours of laughs. In a roundabout way, the game and our ever-growing, elaborate personal “lore” we derived from it have tied us all fairly close together and given a lot of creative jumping off points for real, legitimate creative works of ours. Needless to say, I hold it in very high regard, and gaming as a whole owes it a lot too.

An attempt to recreate my old Oblivion character.

Oblivion stands the test of time as an epic adventure in the Tolkien tradition. As far as preserving that mythic and engaging storyline and writing, the new remastered version is an exact facsimile. So, the short answer to “Should you play this game” is… yes. It’s Oblivion, beat for beat, even reportedly running on the same gameplay engine with only a handful of quality-of-life tweaks to accompany the new UNREAL Engine updated graphics and additional voice actor variety. If you’ve ever wanted to experience this classic game for the first time or re-visit it with a breathtaking new coat of paint, it’s safe to say, I think you’ll have a good time. With it. It’s an accessible, generally less buggy, but far more graphically intensive version that should satisfy the quality standard of the modern gamer just fine.

However, without the bright, neon forested landscape and lumpy, potato-faced NPCs… is it really still Oblivion? This may sound like a simple question with a simple answer, but as any Bethesda fan, and especially fans of Oblivion would tell you: that narm is part of the charm. Without the bizarre idiosyncrasies, an overabundance of repeated lines and actors, the countless glitches and the distinctly mid-2000s graphical style, is it really that same game that’s kept fans coming back? What kept it feeling timelessly cartoonish for nearly 20 whole years? Is it even worth your hard-earned money when the original experience is right there on steam, for pennies on the dollar with two decades’ worth of community support, mods, bug fixes, graphical overhauls and more? Especially now that the word is that the new version is going out of its way to dissuade community support in favour of paid mod implementation?

My honest answer there is… no.

I paid for the game with my own money, because I love Oblivion and it seemed like a fun excuse to mess around with my friends again and relive some of the glory of our first group experience with the game. And on that level, it succeeds, especially if graphics are your thing. Though, an added wrinkle here is that the new game runs absolutely terribly on anything less than current-gen hardware, console or especially PC. To put things into perspective, the laptop I am writing this on now is a former top-of-the-line model from a 5-odd year ago period, and even with the lowest of the low potato level graphical settings, with every workaround known to man and machine, it can BARELY chug it’s way past 16 FPS with this beast of a remaster. Now, 5 years is practically an eternity for computer gaming hardware, but to your average consumer who just wants to play Oblivion? Better hope they play modern consoles (which are also immensely expensive) or they’re out of luck. Even then, PC is the backbone of The Elder Scrolls and Bethesda as a whole. You could play the console version, sure, but then you’d miss out on so much of the Bethesda RPG experience, and for your hard-earned money, you want the full experience. Sure, a Bethesda game without mods and community bug patches and console commands to screw around with (or get you out of game-breaking bugs) is certainly still fun… but I think any fan of theirs would tell you, the community thrives in the PC space. And, honestly, it’s almost a big ridiculous that a game still using the core bones of something released 20 years ago needs ALL that horsepower just to run some higher fidelity graphics. Thankfully, I have a more powerful gaming laptop to play the game on to avoid these issues (it’s in the shop for a tune-up right now, but my point is, I knew what I was getting into when I tested it on my older model here), but not everybody has that luxury.

But you know what game almost any modern computer of the past decade can run smoothly? Classic Oblivion. And if you’re really itching to join in on the fun, but need to go potato mode just to get the new version running, well… maybe just save a couple bucks and play the one your rig can handle, that’s all I’m saying. At their core, they’re more or less the same game either way.

So, what am I telling you? Buy the game, don’t buy the game? It’s entirely up to you, honestly. If you’re a hardcore PC kinda gamer or own a current-gen console, you’re in luck. But honestly? I think the original game will never truly be replaced. Its unique, bizarre charm is something that the ultra-HD new makeover just can’t replicate. So, in my eyes, it’s more of a cute novelty, an excuse to see what this game would be if it first released today. As uncanny as it is to see one of my favourite games re-imagined so dramatically, I have to admit: that is a big part of the fun! I’m honestly itching to dive back in and see how every little thing I remember has been updated. It feels like a game that only existed somewhere vaguely in the back of your mind from a dream you had once, and it’s surreal in an oddly satisfying way.

However you choose to play, if you’ve never played any version before, I highly recommend it. You will truly never find another game quite like Oblivion.

I’m still not paying extra for Horse Armor.

Does ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’ need to exist?

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

The new take on this beloved classic is a loving recreation, but perhaps at the expense of a lot of the narmish character of the original.

Reader Rating0 Votes

0

Provides an excuse to replay a classic if you’re an old fan or a chance to experience it for the first time if you’re new.

An incredible visual upgrade that is faithful to the original game.

A passionate attempt to genuinely improve the original while sacrificing as little as it can.

More affordable than most modern games.

Loses a lot of the cartoonish charm that made the original so timelessly idiosyncratic.

Can barely run on anything less than a modern gaming PC and missing out on the massive community support of the original.

The original game is still far cheaper and runs better.

8

Good, overall