Oblivion Remastered live coverage: Launch info, reactions, and latest news
It's time for a Cyrodiil homecoming.
We've been expecting an Oblivion remaster since 2023 thanks to Microsoft leaks
While Morrowind and Oblivion fans have been squabbling for over well over a decade about which Elder Scrolls game is more deserving of a remaster, signs have pointed towards an imminent Oblivion refresh since 2023.
During the FTC v Microsoft hearings, which ended with the US government deciding it was fine for Microsoft to march on with its Activision Blizzard acquisition and someday the entirety of the universe beyond, an internal Microsoft report from July 2020 was accidentally leaked. That report confirmed that Zenimax, Bethesda's parent company, had been working on an Oblivion remaster. It also mentioned a Fallout 3 remaster, the current fate of which is unclear.
The reality of the Oblivion remaster was confirmed last week when the developer accidentally left the backdoor open
All the years' worth of manic speculation was validated last week when redditors spotted that Virtuos Games, a studio that's co-developed games with major developers and publishers, left images of the incoming Oblivion remaster visible on its website for those who knew where to poke around.
Here's a few of the glimpses we caught last week:
Oblivion Remastered Leaks"
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Here's where to watch the Oblivion remaster reveal
We're just minutes away from seeing Oblivion's glowup for ourselves. To watch the reveal live, head over to the livestream at Bethesda's YouTube channel, or simply check out the embed below:
My question: Whither mods, Todd?
19 years on, and OG Oblivion is still a thriving scene of weirdos. It's thanks to mods, of course, the same thing that keeps Morrowind, Skyrim, and the post-3 Fallouts fresh and bizarre so long after their respective launches. I've covered a lot of them here at PCG, so my question going into this is: What about the mods, Todd?
If the rumours are true and this thing is a glaze of UE5 smeared over a Gamebryo base, I've gotta wonder what that means for the huge library of pre-existing Oblivion mods that already exists out there online. Will they be easy to port over? Will they port over at all? Will a whole new mod scene have to spring up for the remaster? Will mods be possible at all?
I'm hoping Bethesda takes the time to chat about this in between the shots of 4K Nirnroot and what-have-you. The studio's games just aren't the same without mods, and if I can't order a real-life Domino's, import and fight my Morrowind character, or turn all of Cyrodiil into a massive gang-war, I'm gonna be sad about it.
The Oblivion remaster is running Unreal Engine 5 graphics over the original game logic
We've gotten our first glimpse of the Oblivion remaster through Bethesda's livestream, and yes—in terms of technical fidelity, it's a lot prettier. And co-developer Virtuos Studios explained how they've done it: It's running Unreal Engine 5.
But only for the graphics! UE5 is serving as the graphical layer, but the Oblivion remaster is running original game logic under the hood. As Virtuos described it, Oblivion's original engine serves as the heart, but UE5 is working as the body.
Oh good, some NPCs are still ugly
Just because Oblivion's been given an impressive facelift, that doesn't mean its colourful cast of NPCs are suddenly walking around looking like catwalk models.
Thankfully, some of that unique Oblivion ugliness is still very much there. Adoring Fan continues to look absolutely terrifying, for one, with others like Betto Plotius somehow looking even more unsettling than they did almost 20 years ago.
I feel like it wouldn't be Oblivion without a few faces that were made for radio, though, and I'm grateful there's still a few strange looking mugs wandering around Cyrodiil.
Thank Christ, they didn't alter the goofy Imperial Guard dialogue
In the Oblivion remaster reveal livestream, codeveloper Virtuos said the "best way to describe it would be 'a love letter.'" And no Oblivion remaster would qualify as a love letter if it altered the Imperial Guard voicelines that echoes in all our minds whenever we have, indeed, violated the law—in games or otherwise.
Thankfully, those schlocky barks are remain untouched. All is right with the world.
The Oblivion remaster is available now
As the leaks and rumors indicated last week, we didn't have to wait long for the Oblivion remaster once it was revealed. The Oblivion remaster is available now on Steam.
In fact, the remaster was available before it was even confirmed on-stream. If you're looking to jump back into Cyrodiil, you're just minutes away from watching Patrick Stewart get killed by an assassin jumping out of the wall in unprecedented fidelity.
By Azura, they left the lockpicking and dialogue persuasion minigames alone!
We're having some mixed reactions to the Oblivion remaster, but I for one (this is Chris speaking, hello) let out at least one sigh of relief: the lockpicking and dialogue persuasion minigames have gotten a facelift, but haven't been tampered with at their core.
I won't get into the finer debate about whether or not these minigames are actually good: I love them, but would probably nod in agreement with any criticism you could offer. The persuasion game is particularly bizarre, since you have to joke, admire, boast, and coerce someone over and over within the same conversation to make them like you. It just doesn't make a lick of sense. And I'm sure even in the remaster I'll let out a long sigh between clenched teeth as I fail to tap a tumbler into place on the 12th try. But some things should never change, and I'm sure glad to see these minigames haven't.
The Oblivion remaster is roughly 26 times the install size of the original
Games keep getting bigger—even old ones, as players rushing in to start their Steam downloads have discovered.
After installation, the Oblivion remaster occupies about 119.2 GB. Compared to the original's 4.6GB, that's an almost 26-times increase. Takes a lot of space to get the Adoring Fan up to 2025 standards, I suppose.
Looks like Oblivion now features at least one NPC that looks like Tom Brady
I don't have any particular football loyalties, and even I've grown sick of Tom Brady over the years. Please stop trying to get me to use Hertz rent-a-car, Tom. You've done enough.
Unfortunately, it looks like we won't find a moments peace even in Oblivion. As Polygon's Chris Plante posted over on Bluesky, the Crimson Dawn's doorkeeper freshly-uprezzed features now bear a striking resemblance to the accursed Brady.
Oblivion Remastered is Steam Deck verified, and its GPU requirements are pretty reasonable, too
We've perused the Oblivion Remastered system specs listed on the Steam page, and it looks like all the graphical improvements probably won't demand that you run out for a new GPU if you're hoping to head back to the Tamriel heartland.
Minimum specs expect an Intel i7 6800K CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce 1070 Ti or equivalent, while recommended specs are a tad more demanding at Intel i5 10600K, 32 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 2080. And hey, it's Steam Deck verified, too.
Okay, yeah—it's still Oblivion under there
Ah, yes. Now it feels like home from r/ElderScrolls
A fresh coat of UE5 paint can't hide the raw, beating heart of Bethesda jank.
Now to see if it can still provide a fond farewell.
Within a couple hours, there were more than 120,000 players back in Cyrodiil
Looks like all of that clamoring for a remaster over the years wasn't just noise. According to SteamDB, it only took a few hours before Oblivion Remastered's concurrent player count had blasted past 120,000.
Presumably, that's translated into an equal number of mudcrab deaths, if not more. Some might say it's a vengeance long past due.
20 years later, we're once again being forced to ask: Is horse armor worth buying?
We're living in the world that horse armor made. On April 3, 2006, Bethesda opened the Pandora's Box of cosmetic microtransactions by releasing the Horse Armor DLC, offering some pretty pony outfits for $2 USD—a pricetag that, knowing the level of outrage it inspired at the time, feels quaint compared to today's $30 Squid Game crossover skins.
Oblivion Remastered comes with all the original game's expansions and DLC, all the old horse armor included. But history, as we all know, repeats: There's new horse armor to buy. For $10 more, you can get the Oblivion Remastered Deluxe Edition, which will get you two more suits of plate for your pony panoply. I'll admit that I admire the cheek.
Modders made Oblivion Remastered hornier in record time
I suppose this was inevitable.
Just over three hours after Oblivion Remastered was available for purchase, the Ahegao Short Sword mod appeared on Nexus Mods. Congratulations to modder Bub200 on the achievement of creating Oblivion Remastered's first gooner mod. We're all very proud.
I need a shower.
