Bethesda has faced plenty of criticism over the years when it comes to their treatment of theElder Scrollsfranchise over the years, but the announcement ofThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivionremake is a welcome change. With how long the wait is still before the release ofThe Elder Scrolls 6, releasing theOblivion Remakeis an excellent way to pass the time while still offering a fresh take on a classic game. Despite the announcement being an incredibly exciting prospect, it seems more confusing why Bethesda wouldn’t have released a remaster for one of their best titles years ago.
Making Bethesda’s decision to release anOblivion Remakeso late even stranger is their rumored choice ofshadow dropping the gamewith very little marketing. Despite the leaks and surprisingly quick announcement, the decision seemed to have worked in Bethesda’s favor, with plenty of excitement leading up toOblivion Remake’s reveal. Hopefully the release of theOblivion Remakeis a signal for more remakes of classic Bethesda IP’s to come, but given how long it took to release, I wouldn’t count on it anytime soon.
Oblivion Originally Released In 2006
Plenty Of Time Has Passed Since The Launch Of Skyrim’s Predecessor
Releasing all the way back in 2006, it didn’t take long for the originalOblivionto receive plenty of commercial and critical success. While it might not seem like much today with how far modern games have come,Oblivionwent on to set a new standard for the sandbox RPG genre at the time. Excelling both in terms of visuals and game design for the time, many ofOblivion’s aspects still hold up well today despite some glitches and performance issues still persisting over the years.
Originally scheduled for a 2022 release, there has been speculation that theOblivion Remakeproject was partially delayed by COVID19 or other external factors, on top ofStarfield’s increased development time.
Normally, the standard release schedule forElder Scrollsgames was roughly four years in between each entry, with some variation between them. Ever sinceOblivion’s sequel toSkyrim, however,there hasn’t been a new mainline entry in the series from the MMO for over a decade.While there were plenty of rumors leading up to the reveal of theOblivion Remaster, having it show up in some players’libraries ahead of timedidn’t help to keep the already poorly-kept secret hidden for much longer.
In An Age Of Remasters, Oblivion Should’ve Been Remade Earlier
A Strange Choice To Wait So Long Before A Well-Deserved Remake
With how long it’s been sinceOblivionwas released roughly 19 years ago,it feels like it would have been the first pick for a remaster given its popularity.After all the countless remasters and remakes for games with varying levels of success, revisiting a title likeOblivionwould likely have been a popular choice regardless of when it was released.
Even though Bethesda seems hesitant to remaster old franchises for themselves,the studio has already published several reboots of older franchises likeDOOMandWolfensteinto massive success over the years.Given how much Bethesda material is readily awaiting a modern-day revival, it’s little surprise that fans have started taking matters into their own hands. While it would have been understandable to be discouraged, the mod creators working onremakingOblivioninSkyrimaren’t discouraged by the news, which can still offer a unique experience to contrast the remaster rather than compete with it.
Hopefully, theOblivion Remakeis more than a simple one-off endeavor.
I’m not disappointed by the announcement of anOblivion Remakeby any means, butit’s honestly a surprise that Bethesda hasn’t offered more remasters or remakes for its games over the years.Oblivionis definitely one of the Bethesda titles most deserving of the spotlight, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other games likeFallout 3orMorrowindthat wouldn’t also significantly benefit from a high-quality remaster. Hopefully, theOblivion Remakeis more than a simple one-off endeavor, but opens the door for revising plenty of other iconic Bethesda experiences.
Skyrim Is Great, But Seems To Have Taken Up All Of Bethesda’s Time
Too Much Of A Good Thing Can Get Old Fast
Even withOblivion’s greatest strengths, there’s little doubt thatSkyrimis one of Bethesda’s most popular game releases by far. Selling countless copies over its lifetime, it’s not too surprising that Bethesda capitalized off its success for so long, butthere’s only so many times you can release the same game. This isn’t to say thatSkyrimdoesn’t have plenty of replayability, especially with the use of mods, but its legacy is closer to the similarly comedic number of re-releases thatGrand Theft Auto Vhas had over the years.
While some editions ofSkyrimhad significant benefits, like modding or taking the iconic title onto brand-new systems, the sheer amount of attention it received compared to all of Bethesda’s other franchises was staggering to say the least. Coupled with over a decade-long wait before any news regardingThe Elder Scrolls 6,Skyrimfatigue has been setting in for more than a few years now. Thankfully, therelease of theOblivon Remakeis the perfect chance for theElder Scrollsseries to finally step out ofSkyrim’s shadow once more, prepping players for the sequel in more ways than one.
Oblivion Remake Is Hopefully Worth The Wait
Plenty Of Expectations For Such A Classic Title
Although the leaks didn’t show off too much of theOblivion Remake, it alread looks like a significant upgrade from the original, with a fantastic new level of detail I can’t wait to explore for myself. Although some responses to the leaks share concern that theOblivionRemasterisalready making a mistakeby not faithfully recreating its atmospheric style, it might be a necessary change to bring the game into the modern era. Hopefully Bethesda’sOblivion Remakecan balance the line between delivering a faithful yet improved reimagining of the original title, but either way, I’m excited to see what the finished product looks like.
Rather than being developed fully in-house,theOblivion Remakeseems to have been primarily developed through a partnership with Virtuousgame studio.Having plenty of experience with ports and ports likeDark Souls Remasteredand the upcomingDune Awakening, it seems like theOblivion Remasterwill be in good hands, with plenty of influence from the original studio as well.
It seems like theOblivion Remasterwill be in good hands.
Whilethere are some reasonable concerns thatOblivion Remakemight have harmed the development time ofThe Elder Scrolls 6, I doubtit would have had much of an effect in the long run. Given how long I’ve already been waiting forThe Elder Scrolls 6, I’ll gladly take more smaller projects like theOblivion Remaketo help pass the time, while hopefully still delivering a fantastic experience in its own right.
