The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (2025)

I genuinely didn't realize how much I missed that 'Bethesda' feel, its been so long that even they don't know how to pull it off anymore. I thought it was mostly nostalgia, but nuh, they genuinely don't make em like they used to. Returning to the first RPG I ever played genuinely feels like coming home.

I'm going to no-life this game so freaking hard!

Time just flies when I'm playing this game. I've actually hit the hour mark I had when I had unlocked most of the achievements back in the 360 days (around 60 hours) which is crazy to me (and a testament that I really didn't understand how to play this type of game).

I've only just completed the entrance exams to the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild. Martin is still waiting for that deadric artifact. I think I've got a lot more time in this game before I would call it finished.

Oblivion just Oblivioned harder for me than i've ever seen;

I was preparing to open the great gate near Bruma. I had talked to the Countess and she was on her way to the Chapel to talk to Martin. I noticed her bodyguard wasn't going with her, and i decided to talk to him.

"Stop right there criminal scum!"

Apparently i had a bounty of 1. I don't even know how you can get that. Anyway, paying the bounty spawned me outside the castle. The countess, local guards and guards from other cities were there. Now a quirk of Oblivion is that certain timeskips can allow enemies to catch up with you. I had been followed by the Bleak Mine Guard for dozens and dozens of hours. They kept randomly showing up even though i had long finished the quest.

For some reason they keep switching between neutral and hostile multiple times per second. If i don't walk away fast enough, they will almost trap me in conversation too - lol.

So not only do these guys show up (sadly, no screenshots of this scene) but also a Miscarcand Lich from the previous main quest?! There was a fight and the Lich was killed, along with some zombies. Then i went to the chapel. The Bleak Mine stalkers spawned there and Martin, Jauffre, Burd, the Countess, the local priest and random guards attacked them. At some point people from the two friendly factions hit each other too many time by accident, which led to a fight between Martin & Jauffre and the rest:

10/10, no notes

Ok. So i've played this for 86 hours in two weeks, it's basically the only game i'm playing. Some negative thoughts so i have notes for a later review:

• This game was not ready for release. Performance is poor and sometimes you get multiple crashes back to back.

• Balance is basically non-existent. Bretons are by far the best race, for instance. They really should've balanced the races more or made it purely cosmetic like they made genders into origins.

• Magic isn't only OP, it's also incredibly easy to level compared to melee/ranged skills.

• At higher levels (25+) light armor breaks so fast it makes the game obnoxious. There is no quick repair option, you have to manually select all items you want to repair and click until they're repaired. You have to do this after every fight, it's awful. Even Kingdom Come wasn't as bad.

• The minimap not showing by default while indoors is just terrible design. It worked properly in the original game, wtf.

• They removed subcategories from the inventory. Another bizarre downgrade.

• They didn't even add a keychain so keys don't clutter up your "misc" tab. Wow.

• They also didn't merge cells or otherwise reduce the amount of loading screens. Especially in some guild houses this is very annoying.

• And, worst of all, the level scaling is the same. Once you approach level 30 or maybe earlier, enemy variation is severely reduced. You almost always fight top-tier versions of enemies, e.g. you won't see any non-summoned clannfear or scamps. Bandits and other enemies of playable races are the worst. They all have glass/daedric equipment. It's so boring. And it really hurts immersion. I ran into Sir Roderic, a noble knight on a pilgrimage to prove himself worthy of the crusader's relics. He was wearing daedric armor. Just. Wow.

It's still a 5/5 game though. :-P

Shameful beyond words. Why was this created. If you're having fun with it, that's great, I am glad. For me, the experience has been bad the whole way through. Worst of all are the visuals. This game looks downright awful. It is unpleasant and uninspiring. It's as if the developers truly thought: "hmm Oblivion is known for bright colors and over saturated graphics, let's buck expectation and make the game brown and grey."

Lighting is absolutely non existent here. Gone are the warm and inviting interior spaces and their meticulous attention to detail. No longer is the clutter beautifully arranged to make the world feel lived in. NPCs are not charmingly goofy to look at, they are just unpleasant to look at point blank.

Do yourself a favor and play the original Oblivion (on a CRT screen if you can) -- then play the fantastic overhaul mod "Nehrim" which boasts some of the most beautiful world spaces, intense dungeon diving, and truly rewarding RPG gameplay I have ever seen.

I know Bethesda didn't technically create this remake, but someone in the chain said "OK" to this, and I am shocked. Doubly so that the internet is accepting this as a good product. This is a slap in the face to the franchise, a lazy unpolished re-break. Everything that made Oblivion feel unique and interesting is gone thanks to the extremely distasteful and lazily done "upgrades". UI and new SFX all feel cheap and generic. All of Cyrodil now feels like any generic fantasy world, and it is seriously DIFFICULT to look at it. It's unpleasant.

I've played on a decent PC and on Xbox. It looks awful, I'm not the only one who thinks so: this is the majority of the discourse around the game as far as negative sentiments go.

I am done trusting Bethesda. They will produce some good stuff again, but they've proven that they don't care about how lazy and inept they look. This remake reminds me of Starfield in too many ways. That's not a good thing.

Elder Scrolls might be special to you, and it is to them too, but they are willing to throw you bland garbage and they expect you to clap your hands. It's insulting.

Started this earlier today and i just got to the sewer exit. Overall the game seems identical but prettier. The only bug i've encountered so far is equiped shields being in your face while using a bow. Switching perspective fixes it, but it's annoying. Also not a fan of how they use Enter instead of E to confirm dialogue options.

I have to admit that while i was quite excited to replay this for the first time since 2011 i'm not sure how i feel about it now. I really hope that at least the Oblivion gates aren't as boring.