Note: Please check out our original Oblivion review to see the differences from this version. See the moral section for more elaboration on how player choice of Male/Female affects stats.

Some games are classics but don't age well in some ways. It still might be playable and enjoyable, but as technology advances, it becomes harder to keep up. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is an attempt to close this gap, mostly successfully.

A bit of background. The original Oblivion was released in 2006. Sporting a much-enhanced Gamebryo Engine and Havok physics, it was impressive for its time and a good litmus test of how good your computer was. It aged rather badly, being tied down to 32-bit memory limits, using only one PC core, and not being very stable. Worse, it required a lot of fan patches. The graphics were impressive for their time but some were terrible even then, like the facial textures. The Remastered version was first known to the gaming public due to being referenced in a Microsoft court case (Microsoft had by this point acquired Bethesda). The finished product turned out to be rather different than many fans expected. Instead of using just the Creation Engine from Skyrim, it uses a hybrid of the original Gamebryo engine for the game logic, while the graphics, physics, and overall stability of the Oblivion code are buttressed by Unreal Engine 5.

The original core story remains unchanged since the original Oblivion. The Emperor of Tamriel is assassinated by a mysterious cult called the Mythic Dawn. This triggers an invasion by Daedra. Being a random prisoner in the imperial dungeons of Cyrodiil, you encounter the Emperor shortly before his death, and he charges you with ensuring the Daedric threat is defeated. Of course, given this is an Elder Scrolls game, you are set free into the world to do whatever you wish if you like as well.

The gameplay is that of an action RPG. You will have to explore dungeons, fight monsters, level up abilities, and so on. The key important thing to bear in mind is that progress in skills and abilities is determined by skill level.

The player will have to choose several major skills to specialize in and will have to build their character along those lines to make best use of their abilities. The remaster does differ from the original in one regard by replacing calculated boosts depending on skills per level to allowing the player to choose what stats are boosted regardless.

Graphically, this game completely ditches the original art style of the original Oblivion. Instead, graphics are entirely rendered using the Unreal Engine. Instead of the rather colorful scenery and set pieces of the original game, the UE Remaster has the world go in a more gritty and realistic direction. The NPC animations and appearances have been radically altered, generally for the better. Facial hair, much greater face detail, and other improvements have been made to the original character designs.

Sounds and music are identical to the original Oblivion. The high fantasy tone of the original soundtrack remains the same. Voice acting, however, got a major upgrade. While retaining most of the original dialogue, new voice acting was added to avoid the samey repetition of the original voice and to fix certain issues. For instance, beggars now have consistent voices.

Much like the original Oblivion, this game can be played with a mouse and keyboard or any Steam-supported controller. Physics is now handled by the Unreal Engine as opposed to the original Havok physics. Overall, this tends to be a change for the better, as character movement is more consistent, feels less floaty, and you no longer send small objects flying by brushing past them.

Stability is vastly improved. Due to now using a 64-bit engine, memory is used much better. Load times are slightly long due to the whopping 120GB of high-quality assets, and system requirements for optimal play are quite high. I recommend clearing the minimum requirements by quite a bit for a stable framerate.

Modding is still possible in Remaster, as the original Oblivion editor will work to a considerable degree. However, since many assets are now handled entirely by the Unreal Engine, certain game features can only be coded in from that editor. Until Bethesda releases official modding tools for the hybrid engine they now use for this title, it is worth bearing that in mind.

Morally, this is a mature title with many concerning themes.

Violence can get moderately graphic. While there is usually not more displayed aside from blood sprays from enemies and fallen corpses, there are a few gory bits, like a severed head at one point.

Language is not going to be overly crude, with an occasional d*mn or h*ll here and there. Sexual innuendo is present to a mild degree with references to prostitution. There are also some lore bits alluding to rape and sex outside of marriage.

This title has the modern trend of "Type 1/2" body selector instead of male and female. However, the player can choose their "identity" as well, which determines if their stats lean toward the original male/female racial characteristic, regardless of picking male or female body options.

This game world has a high degree of supernatural and occult themes. The main antagonists are a demon-worshipping cult, and the main foes are Daedra, the Elder Scrolls equivalent of demons. Necromancy is also prevalent, and the player can participate in this to a degree if they choose.

Morally, this game is a wide-open sandbox where the player can be as virtuous or villainous as they choose. Some of the more depraved acts the player can choose are a life of crime as a thief or an assassin. Even some of the legitimate quests will require some degree of picking locks and other shady acts to progress. There are alcoholic beverages and an in-universe narcotic called Skooma, which the player can imbibe and distribute if they choose.

Overall, Oblivion Remastered is a mixed bag. While the general stability enhancements are very welcome, the new graphical style may prove divisive to fans of the original. Morally, this is obviously a game meant only for mature audiences. If you want to play Oblivion again or are getting into it for the first time, then this is a pretty decent way to do so, provided you have the hard drive space available.