The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered | REVIEW | PC

''SEAN BEAN IS HERE TO DIE SO HE DONT GET FINED''

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Developed: Virtuos

Published: Bethesda Softworks

Genre: Adventure/RPG

Release Date: April 22nd, 2025

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Gamepass, PS5

*Review copy provided by Bethesda Softworks

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the latest remaster to hit the market and it is developed by Virtuos and published by Bethesda Softworks. With fans longing for the days of old with nostalgia, Bethesda decided to bring back the fan favorite entry into the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion. But was it wise to bring back a cult classic such as this? or should the good memories have stayed in the past? Only one way to find out, so lets violate the law!

''SOMEWHERE, AN ADORING FAN AWAITS ME''

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GAMEPLAY:

Its been a long time coming for this one, especially after being subjected to the 500 re-releases of Skyrim for so long. Don't get me wrong, Skyrim is not a bad game, no way, It's just that, like SEGA does with Persona 5, Bethesda forgot there are other entries into this franchise besides just Skyrim over and over. Having spent literal hundreds of hours running around Cyrodiil on XBOX 360, racking up over 300 saves on my memory card, exploring the world, laughing at the glitches, getting up to no good, shooting arrows in the air and making them land on peoples bald heads and watching them run away in terror, etc etc, it all forever left an imprint on my brain in the same way titles lime Final Fantasy 7 did growing up. Now finally here in 2025, the game is back again, but this time with a fresh coat of pain, quality of life improvements, different leveling system, but still keeping the core aspect of what made Oblivion such a cherished RPG to begin with, the quirkiness, goofy nature and the plethora of adventures you can partake in, whether you want to just run around the world doing nothing but listening to its iconic music, partaking in guild quests, talking to civilians to see what they have to say to you, get a fan who's obsessed with you... which we will get to very shortly.. and then get to see Sean Bean once again kick the bucket in an entertainment medium because for some reason its in every single one of his contracts that no matter what he's in, movie or tv show, somehow he's going to die. To get it out of the way before dive into the overall shenanigans, gameplay itself and quests you partake in, the changes made to this version of the game range from both substantial, like with a complete graphics overhaul, to mid range to lower range level of changes such as a better looking and streamlined UI that's much better to look at and changes the position of your compass for better viewing, refined leveling system, with all that, it ends up fixing a lot of stuff that plagued the games original release back on 360, but, still, there are few minor bugs, mainly as you're leaving Bruma and heading up the mountain towards Cloud Ruler Temple, which finds your FPS drop to like 12 to 15 FPS and start stuttering a lot for a good five to six seconds before leveling itself out. Generally with my setup on High settings, I garner anywhere from 70 to 100 fps at any given time, so when freaking 15 FPS comes strolling in, its DEFINITELY noticeable, just like all the towns people being FREAKING JERKS TO ME! you all better watch it, do NOT test my patience, all I have to do is save my game and murder you all, it's that easy, so WATCH IT. Starting off your game, you already know what you're getting yourself into as well as Emperor Uriel Septim, who's been a major part of the series since the original Elder Scrolls game, Arena, played part getting the hero in both Daggerfall and Morrowind and then here in Oblivion, he sets forth the path for the Hero Of Cyrodiil to follow by CLOSING SHUT, THE JAWS, OF OBLIVION. God Patrick Stewart just kicks ass and he really sets the tone early on. Sadly, its just like the Monsterverse, bro is killed off within the first 10 minutes of the game as he gets bone checked by the Mythic Dawn cult and shanked like he owes someone money. Which afterwards you proceed through the sewers, be an ass to a goblin by yelling ''Hey chump, GOB, WOOD?'' and then proceed to knock over a pile of wood to smash and kill him. Bad pun aside, its good times. Finally you make it to the sewer exit and NOW does your adventure truly begin as you enter the gorgeous open world and prepare for the many hours of exploration and quests you're about to partake in.

I know right away you're supposed to go and find the emperors last remaining son, Martin, but you know what? I don't feel like visiting Jauffre in order to do that right now, so go kick rocks for all I care, I'm doing some adventuring cause NO ONE tells me what to do.. and hey wait, a kitty...hello kitty!. Bro what the hell, you're robbing me? sure fine, here take my money... then ill... yoink, that's mine thank you very much and just for the hell if it, sorry kitty now you DIE as well, YA JERK. Uh oh... a guard. Uhh.. you didn't see anything.. nothing at all, right officer?. Freely exploring this vast open world now in even greater detail and fidelity not only feels like a brand new experience, but also feels like a homecoming as you get flashback of memories of old as you search the land of things to do while you keep ignoring the main quest like I always do. Much like I did nearly 20 years ago, I begin running around the world even quicker thanks to the new sprinting feature as I find new caves to discover new mysterious shrines housing puzzles, stop and stare at the scenery in awe of how good it looks and adding alongside that the nostalgic music, takes me back to my teenage years of playing this game and definitely puts me in my own feels from time to time. But all of that immersion is ruined by stupid freaking bandits attacking me while I'm minding my own business, what the hell guys, is it just attack Amy today or something? I dont want to kill you! ....and they're dead. You know what? fine, since I'm either getting robbed by a deranged kitty or ambushed by bandits who have a death wish, lets just go ahead and meet Jauffre then and expand the story further. Meeting with Jauffre you learn that there's another heir to the throne, Martin, who is a priest and that in order to stop the evil from the Oblivion gates, were going to need to give him the Amulet Of Kings. Ok, simple enough, guess its back to adventure time, but damn, Kvatch is a long ways away, that's a crap ton of distance to walk, luckily near where I met Jauffre there's a horse stable, may as well acquire one of those for now and be on my way. Hey douchebag, give me a damn horse. WHAT? 2500 gold? FOR A HORSE!?. 2500 FREAKING GOLD, who they think they kidnapped, Chelsea Clinton? the hell with that, I'll just... yoink! SEE YA, my horsie now! HIGH HO SILVER, AWAAAY!. It is not until you arrive in Kvatch that you finally see the true extent of the horrors the emperor spoke of, with the entire town of Kvatch being over run by a giant Oblivion gate housing demons and other dark matters, which I'm going to be honesty, looks freaking amazing. Seeing these gates, set all around the world, over 30 of them to exact, its your job to enter, climb the tower after fighting off hordes of enemies and destroy the sigil at the top of the tower in order to make the Oblivion gate go BOOM costco guys style. But don't forget to search EVERY tower inside these Oblivion gates as some offer rare loot and items to find, as well as opportunities to save people that are being enslaved that have been captured, like my Kvatch guard bro who I was asked to find. Don't worry bro, I got you, lets make like a tree and branch on out... no thats not it, its make like a tree and leaf right? oh well, screw it, who cares, lets go bro, here you go. Uh oh.... oops... wrong switch.

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''THE WORLD IS MINE''

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Alongside accidentally costing people their life because I mixed up my left from my right, I also learn brand new techniques that I wish I knew nearly 20 years ago, mainly revolving around one of my favorite things to do in the game, lock picking. I know I know, that's something random to get excited about or enjoy, but I don't know, it's just so satisfying to make little click sounds and then the ''CRCK'' sound when you make a successful attempt. While I would break hundreds of them 20 years ago, nowadays I found the perfect lock picking mechanic which makes me not even fail the harder level locks. What you do is use the left stick on your controller to tap each lock till it moves slower, then hold it up for 3 tap sounds and then click on it to lock it into place with a correct button timed press and blammo, instant success every time with a 100% success rate. Its a great strategy to have, especially when breaking into someone's house to murder them... I mean, to gather information from, yes, that's what I meant... my days of murdering innocents are a thing of the past, I'm way more mature nowadays. That is until I get involve in some of my favorite quest lines that include the Mythic Dawn Cult and The Dark Brotherhood, then it all comes back out to the surface once more and my inner bloodlust takes hold once again. For instance, the Mythic Dawn Cult are the ones that killed the emperor at the start of the game, so I should be furious, however, after collecting all their notes hidden around the world like its Slenderman all over again, you are tasked with accepting an invitation to their cult. Aint no way I'm joining your dumb cult, I can NEVER forgive you for what you did to MY emperor, you can go to hell. What? I'll get a cool ass demonic armor set? plus full set of weapons if I burn this guy alive in a cage? well why didn't you say so!? say less. You're talking to someone who killed their own sister in Fable for a cool sword, so burning bro alive for a full armor set is a no brainer...... nice. Not everything you find while exploring involves death though, especially with side quests you obtain while exploring that involve you helping free a mans spirit from purgatory by investigating his ship and unlocking the chains of his bones where he was... left to die.... hmm. Uh well I mean there's also a quest in the Imperial city where you have to investigate a man who keeps raising prices on his store products as the shop owner woman nearby thinks he's doing something illegal, she tells me to wait and follow him to find out more, lady do you know who you're talking to? screw that, were breaking in, which I do. Breaking in, you end up finding out he's working with a sick freak who grave robs and then re-sells the dead persons belonging for inflated prices, which means you now have to confront him, which he comes along quietly after being outed of course. Really bro? ''I'm not going to be the one that leaves alive?'' sigh, I will do what I must, aaaand like clockwork, he's humbled. Wipe yourself up bro, you dead. Umm.. didn't I just say not every quest involves me murdering someone? I swear I don't do it every mission guys, I promise. Lets move onto happier thoughts shall we? some that involve some really cool call backs.

One of the things I wondered about the game was how much would still be ''the same'', specifically related to things hidden or placed around the world map and satisfying enough, it seems to be all intact here. Heading outside the town of Anvil, there's a small island in the middle of the ocean not too far off from land, in the original if you dove down in between the island, you'd find a skeleton that had a Fin Gleam helmet with some major buffs attached to it and to my surprise, its still there! which is awesome. Speaking of things that remain the same, the glitches are all here once more with NPC's getting trapped inside furniture and glitching around like they're doing a little dance or during The Arena, the opponent glitching out at the gate, letting you get free shots in on them as they spaz out like freaks. Speaking of The Arena, these people wont stop talking crap to me, ENOUGH, someone has to DIE. Ok much better. While were on the subject of The Arena, other than the Dark Brotherhood, this by far my favorite questline. For those not familiar, The Arena is a series of matches where you fight to the death against the opposing team as you make your way up the ranks to become The Grand Champion. As you fight various races and warriors, rushing them as you run and jump and yell FALCON punch as you punch them in the face, a Dark Brotherhood figure shows up and tells you to seek him out to join their ranks and then he.. just walks off in front of everyone. Uhh guys, didn't yall just see that, are yall blind? AH! jesus lady don't care me like that. Where was I again? As you climb ranks, earn gold, murder dozens and dozens of people, you make your way up to Grand Champion ,but in order to achieve the rank, you must defeat the Grand Champion Orc Prince himself who hasn't lost in over TEN years. However, I'm an asshole and hunted down the origins of his birth since he considered himself a prince by birthright, and I found out, he's a bastard child of a vampire, which crushes his morale and he refuses to fight me. Ok now I feel kind of bad, dont worry bro, I won't fight you, we can just be friends and move on from this, don't worry. Now since I am the grand champion, I guess we better continue the story to find out what other mysteries await us and... ahh shit, its him.. Ugh.. here we go. Yeah yeah, whatever kid, fine, you can join me, just stick by my side and you'll be fine alongside your Grand Champion. Finally we arrive at my favorite questline as stated early, The Dark Brotherhood, and it is here where I can truly let my aggression out on people who aren't just innocent civilians who happen to say the wrong thing to me, making me want to murder them and their whole family. In the Dark Brotherhood, you are constantly given tasks to commit assassinations via contracts given to you by clients and should you complete them exactly as you're told, you'll get special bonus gear, however, fail like me over and over because I can't resist killing people who aren't even involved and you lose that bonus. Plus completing the first portion of The Dark Brotherhood unlocks my boy Shadowmere. Oh my god my horsie friend, its been so long, I swear this time I won't lock you inside the Oblivion gate again, it will never happen again!. The Dark Brotherhood is just so much fun, whether you're infiltrating someone's house and loosening a boar head on their wall to make it fall on the victim killing them to make it look like an accident, being sent to and locked inside a mansion with six other people in order to find out ''who the killer'' is, as each person gets murdered like its the movie Clue, with myself being the hero of the story and solving the mystery myself. I mean that's how it could have happened. Then you get tasked with heading up to the snowy mountains to pick up a Dead Drop for The Dark Brotherhood near Frostcrag and... what's that? oh hell no, I know that aint who I think it is. By the nine divine, this little shit is back. You know what? no, I'm not mad, just come on bro, lets go.

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''OFF ON ANOTHER ROBBERY...I MEAN ADVENTURE''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Oblivion Remastered retains the majority of what I loved from the original title like being able to get told to kill a pirate captain on his ship, but end up getting attacked by his crew members and running your butt off, and yelling ''Ah HELP, IM BEING ATTACKED'' as you run for the guards to save you and make them do the fighting for you as you cheer them on. ''Kick his ass seabass!'' yeah, get him! ''PAY THE COURT A FINE, YOU CRIMINAL SCUM''. However there are still issues too with performance issues on all versions even PC with stuttering and frame drops, some glitches that completely crash your system, freezing on loading screens and simplified combat at times. But, even still, I feel with this expansive and living world with hundreds of hours of gameplay, engaging questlines for multiple guilds like dark brother good, mythic dawn, thieves guild, fighters guild all having their own quests, civilians having hundreds of quests for you, over 30 plus Oblivion gates to close, fun storyline, amazing music, classic original dialogue that keeps the ham and cheese at all times, moments of hilarity as game glitches out or random funny bugs happen - its all just simply fantastic and I feel at home again, just like I did 20 years ago and that's a hard feeling to get me to feel at times, especially modern day. Wait... where's Shadowmere? ...ah shit.. not again. So what's my verdict you ask? well... the heck? hey Imperial Guard, no one tells me what to do and what to rate my dang reviews sir. I'VE FOIUGHT MUDCRABS MORE FEARSOME THAN YOU. Criminal Scum. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW

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