It has been several days since The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered’s shadow-drop release on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5, and it has been taking the internet by storm.
Oblivion Remastered has been garnering hundreds of thousands of concurrent players on Steam, and very positive reviews from critics. As of this writing, Elder Scrolls Oblivion has a “Generally Favorable” 83 review score on Metacritic and an 83/100 review score on OpenCritic.
Both of these scores are drawn from over a dozen reviews. You can find quotes for some of these reviews down below:
- XboxEra (90/100): “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is about as good a remaster as you could hope for. It doesn’t look to reinvent the gameplay, instead focusing on smart tweaks where possible.”
- Game Rant (90/100): “Oblivion Remastered delivers a breathtaking open world full of engaging quests and characters, and makes smart gameplay improvements to bring the 2006 classic to modern standards.“
- Xbox Achievements (85/100): “Still crazy after all these years, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered takes the 2006 classic and burnishes it with meaningful visual upgrades, refined combat, and other modern touches. And it retains all of its original charm, that unique eccentric spirit left entirely intact.”
- IGN (80/100): “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is an awesome nostalgic adventure that recaptures most of what I loved about the 2006 original, while sanding down many of its roughest edges.”
- GameSpot (80/100): “Virtuous seem to understand that trademark Oblivion “charm” because the remaster keeps the best of the Bethesda jank intact while gently reworking some of Oblivion’s more dated mechanics.”
I’m personally not a fan of The Elder Scrolls series as its setting doesn’t interest me that much, but I cannot deny the insane impact it’s had on the gaming industry, specifically Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
This 2006 classic enraptured gamers and critics worldwide for its grand epic story, massive fantasy world filled with secrets to uncover, boundless customization options for role-playing, and other features that would lay the groundwork for its legendary successor, Skyrim.
Judging from the reviews, Oblivion Remastered appears to have retained what made the original game so beloved while ironing out its rough edges with many quality-of-life improvements, gameplay refinements, and impressive graphical overhauls by Virtuos.
Even my colleague, Samuel Talbert, gave Oblivion Remastered a glowing 9/10 review score, stating that “The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is an excellent return to Cyrodiil, with new graphics, voice recordings, and tweaks to combat that enhance Bethesda Game Studios’ 2006 fantasy role-playing game.”
While I’m personally more invested in the excellent Clair Obsur: Expedition 33 at the moment (especially how it’s utterly destroying Square Enix’s gaslighting over turn-based combat), perhaps I’ll finally Elder Scrolls Oblivion a chance once I’m finished and see why many consider this game one of Bethesda’s best Xbox games and PC games.
