Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Review

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has had its share of its genre since its 2006 launch. Touted as one of the greatest RPGs of all time, it seemed to be only right for this classic to be taken out of the crates and re-shined for current-gen consumption. Oblivion had been well-received in its wake with other stellar western RPGs such as Jade Empire turning to consoles to share the wealth of their tales. With former titles reappearing for a new generation to experience, Oblivion itself was able to rise from the ashes in 2025 last month in remastered form. All of Oblivion’s tale, with a new paint job, as a stealth release that no one saw coming.

Name: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X(reviewed)
Developer: Bethesda, Virtuos
Publisher: Bethesda
Game Type: RPG
Mode(s): Single-Player
Release Date: April 25, 2025

Return to Oblivion Cyrodiil

Septim’s death, at the hands of assailants, causes strife within the realm of Cyrodiil on the continent of Tamriel. Thanks to this and a chance encounter, the hero is charged to take on the Mystic Dawn – those responsible for preventing the joining of a demonic realm called Paradise. Gates spawn all over the country, which need to be closed by taking a wonderful trip through them. Soldiers, civilians, and even beggars are ready and willing to administer quests that seem to connect with others.  Thanks to the different paths, factions, and the like, choosing your own way to end this tale seems to be easier than ever. Fights can get entertaining. Creativity is the spice of life, and finding exploits or a certain spell and potion combination to mow foes down is always appreciated. There are 10 races to choose from, with the ability to even create your own unique class, which is quite the feat.

The environments are lush and detailed in Oblivion Remastered. It’s cool to see the mountains brightly. Hills and valleys are all over the map, with weather changes from snow to rain. There is always a lot to undertake within the map with hidden caves, shrines, and cities to boot. Accurate plant and tree collision reactions shouldn’t be expected. The mood that the atmosphere gives, in moments such as entering a cave, always feels as though the tone is carried out well.

The UI is polished and easier to run through in order to control your character’s stats and arms.

Oblivion is The Game of Thrones, Spider-Man 2, and Star Trek, In One Fell Sword Swing

The Oblivion Remastered voiceover cast is an all-star line-up from classic Wonder Woman Lynda Carter to Game of Thrones Sean Bean. Spider-Man 2’s Alfred Molina is also in Tamreill as well as Underworld‘s Kate Beckinsale. Bethesda never had issues securing top-tier talent for titles. Captain Picard is also within the voiceover ranks. It always seems as though Bethesda likes to start strong. For myself, this echoed the late Malcolm X’s Christopher Plummer’s role in Skyrim.

The freedom does kick in once the tutorial dungeon is cleared. Sure – there is the main quest, but the open world feel of running around the vast areas, taking in the sights, and facing off against bandits usually puts a smile on my face. Thanks to the UI, quest focuses are mitigated to just one with various markers on the map. No need to be overwhelmed by heaps of tiny triangles on your compass. After a task, in the quest, is completed, a summary journal entry prompts the next item of business right away. Outside of that, you can go practically anywhere in the world. Well, region, more or less.

Leveling up your character, in Oblivion Remastered, can also be done by doing certain actions repeatedly, such as crouching to enhance your ability to sneak around. The ease of solely relying on battles to assist with this is one of the refreshing things about Bethesda-based RPGs. Everything can account for everything, in a sense. Even intruding on a property and swiping goods can be helpful for growth.

The Missteps of the Oblivion Masterpiece

The usual Bethesda culprits still learn in Oblivion Remastered as much as other games created by them from the RPG arm. Repetitive dialogue and overused actor themes seem to be rampant here. After Sir Patrick Stewart does his thing and the tutorial is over, the game takes its turn to bring these fun issues to Oblivion. There was one quest where I could swear two characters sounded the same, but were in the same area close by, which had me taking issue with telling them apart. Wes Johnson was in stereo there.

Characters would sound as if they’d repeat what the other was saying en masse, about a similar quest beat, and even outside of that, during fights. It’s as if the NPCs were given the same script to say to customers. Especially when there was a task that I needed to complete, hoping to rely on the kindness of strangers. Instead, this nuance became the very hindrance that the likes of Viva La Dirt League mock in their hilarious dramatizations. The classic “everyone talks at once” issue is here, too, making the NPCs more noiseful than ever for me. These were obstacles that I figured were started in Skyrim, and seemed to have been a part of the Elder Scrolls series way longer.

Scaling for enemies happens at the same time you do, but in more immense ways. Some even get better loadouts than you do during the run if you are leveling up. Sometimes, even an essential NPC’s death isn’t announced in grand flair or celebrated as much, which usually made me doubt the story. I’d restart just to make sure I didn’t cross wires. It reminded me of how Fire Emblem: Three Houses treated the student death of the teacher’s pupils. Maybe there was a certain noble who did get a shoutout when he didn’t make it out of a daring escape, but it was rare.

As a first timer, I ran into several bugs during my playthrough of Oblivion Remastered. Enemies would fly in slow motion after hits at random. One imp was hit by an NPC and thrown into suspended animation after it died. Then, it just stopped moving completely mid-air. I was able to loot this dollar store The Matrix impressionist with ease, but it just stayed there, lifeless. No physics applied. Another instance was when I was stopped on my way to a stronghold after a battle. An enforcer of the law halted me right after, because I stole things. After I chose to pay the fine, the game abruptly cut off, forcing a close and return to the home screen. There were moments where a task would be completed with an expectation to move the quest forward, only for it to need to be pushed by a reload more times than the hints would indicate.

Conclusion

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is faithful enough to stick to its original, award-winning vision, but with a new lease of life. For better or worse, Oblivion is a 2006 game first and foremost and Bethesda isn’t shy of letting this be known. With the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine available, returning to Cyrodiil seems to hold the good and the bugs of the original. Oblivion Remastered is a nostalgic trip that needs to be had by Western RPG adventurers. As many await Elder Scrolls VI,   clinging to hope for a quicker release date for dear life( Skyrim Grandma, I’m sure it’s coming): a trip back to Cyrodiil in Oblivion Remastered might be a decent detour.

Review Disclosure Statement: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was provided to us by Bethesda for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more details.