Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is out now and it’s a massive upgrade

Oblivion awaits (Bethesda)

Bethesda has finally revealed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and it looks like a major upgrade over the original.

After an overwhelming amount of leaks and rumours, Bethesda has officially revealed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.

Developed by Virtuos in collaboration with Bethesda, the remastered version looks like a substantial revamp of the original, which was originally released on Xbox 360 and PC in 2006 (and PlayStation 3 in 2007).

Better yet, as was previously rumoured, the remastered version is officially out today for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Although it’ll set you back £49.99 for the standard edition and £59.99 for the deluxe edition if you don’t play it via Game Pass.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered UK price

Bethesda showcased the reworked open world role-player in a livestream, where it showed off the visual improvements across the province of Cyrodiil, which is now rendered in Unreal Engine 5.

The remaster features various overhauled gameplay systems, including improvements to first person combat and the option to sprint for the first time. The user interface has also been simplified and improved too.

There is also recreated character models, new lines of dialogue for each race, and an altered levelling system partially inspired by its successor, Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Remastered includes the original game’s two expansions, Knights Of The Nine and Shivering Isles, which added a bunch of new storylines and quests.

Beyond expansions, the remastered version also includes all previous downloadable content, including Fighter’s Stronghold, Spell Tomes, Vile Lair, Mehrune’s Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard’s Tower, The Orrery, and Horse Armour Pack.

While The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion is beloved by fans, it hasn’t been celebrated to the same level as its sequel, Skyrim, which has been releasedand re-released on every platform imaginable in the years since it debuted in 2011.

It’s not really clear why Oblivion was ignored for so long as it was arguably more influential than Skyrim, in the sense that it redefined the concept of first person Western-made role-playing games.

Not only did it lay the groundwork for Skyrim but also for Fallout 3, which at the time was a dormant franchise which Bethesda bought from original publisher Interplay.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion screenshot — It’s not just a pretty improvement (Bethesda)

Skyrim might have been a better game but it would never have happened without Oblivion, which has many admirable qualities of its own, increasing a much more diverse range of biomes and some excellent voiceover work from the likes of Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, and Terence Stamp.

Although the standard edition of the remaster costs £49.99 there’s also a more expensive deluxe edition that costs £59.99, which includes a digital artbook, soundtrack, in-game Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon armours, weapons, and horse armour sets.

This remaster looks set to serve as a stop-gap while Bethesda continues development on The Elder Scrolls 6, which still doesn’t have a release date despite being announced in 2018.