The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, the second or maybe third-best game in Bethesda's long-running Elder Scrolls RPG series, turned 19 yesterday. In Canada, 19th birthdays are traditionally a very big deal: 19 is the legal drinking age in most of the country, and so you can imagine how the celebrations typically go. But in the world of Tamriel, well, it's apparently a little less of a noteworthy milestone.
This is how Bethesda opted to mark the moment: A sweet roll. With a candle—just one—jammed into it. And a message that's best described as polite.
Well, whatever. At least they remembered to send a card, right?
- Bethesda refuses to announce that Oblivion remaster to spite me specifically, so I'm consoling myself with this gamejam based on its terri-brilliant persuasion wheel
- Starfield promises it still exists as silence drives fans to space-madness, but it mostly just annoys everyone: 'They are deliberately choosing not to communicate more'
Even so, not everyone is happy, and the reason is the oft-rumored, never-revealed Oblivion remaster that quite a few fans thought would make a fine birthday gift. The presumed existence of the remaster leaked in 2023, and which despite the best efforts of PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens to will it into being, remains utterly and absolutely unannounced.
Some optimistic fans took the relatively quiet celebration as a sign that the Oblivion remaster is imminent—the fakeout gift hiding the real surprise—but others seemed a little less inclined to patience:
pic.twitter.com/jJhWa9Iz8AMarch 20, 2025
Me, waiting for that "surprise" Oblivion Remastered announcement: pic.twitter.com/6Un8xOG5y6March 20, 2025
At least one fan saw a certain subliminal symbolism in the sweetroll:
One guy on Bluesky cut right to the heart of the matter. "Great. Will I ever live to see another TES game?" Atom Zorg wrote. "Since the last one came out, I've gained a bachelor's degree, got married, and had kids that might have jobs soon."
Sounds silly, right? Except The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, the last mainline game in the series, arrived in 2011—14 years ago, which is indeed long enough to go from livin' the college life to "it's about time you kids started pulling your own weight around here."
Characteristically, there's been no reaction from Bethesda to the birthday doldrums, leaving us to continue waiting and wondering. Maybe the big two-oh will finally give Oblivion fans what they want—or maybe we'll just get Skyblivion, and we can all be happy with that.
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