Xbox Just Shadow Dropped A Stunning Remake From The Creators Of Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is real, and it’s available right now on all major platforms.

As had been all but confirmed since a 2023 leak, a from-the-ground-up remake of Bethesda’s seminal RPG has been co-developed by Bethesda and Virtuos Studios. The game has been rebuilt entirely in Unreal Engine 5, with dynamic, real-time lighting, and character models and other assets remade from scratch. Third-person animations have been completely reworked to look less awkward than they did 20 years ago, and the environments feel more alive as insects, running water, and other little details add vibrancy to the places players visit. Based on the game’s showcase, it all comes together to give the world of Cyrodiil a fresh, near-photorealistic look.

“From the very beginning of this project, we had one rule,” said Bethesda’s Tom Mustaine during Tuesday’s reveal. “We weren’t going to do this if we weren’t going to be able to do it right.”

Virtuos has worked with Bethesda on past projects, and seems to have done a spectacular job bringing this classic into the modern age. The game’s original story, which saw players racing to stop the murderous cult known as Mythic Dawn from unleashing the Daedric Prince of Destruction into Tamriel, remains the same. The remaster also includes the Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles expansions, the latter of which is often hailed as one of the best RPG expansions ever made.

On top of the visual improvements, some convenient changes have been made to how Oblivion plays. Players can now sprint, a modern standard that wasn’t in the original. Combat feels more impactful, as enemies and the items they hold actually react to player attacks. The UI and inventory management have, mercifully, been redesigned, and the game’s leveling system has been reworked to be a middle ground between Oblivion and Skyrim.

On the other hand, old minigames like lockpicking return untouched, meaning all those hours you spent getting good at breaking into homes will still be useful here. Mustaine also promised that, despite remastering the audio and adding a bunch of new voices to the original’s small pool of voice actors, the game will retain the cheesy quirkiness of the original’s NPCs. Their campy, storybook delivery is still here for your entertainment, even if their faces are a bit less round than before.

As someone concerned that this janky old charm would get tossed out with the bathwater, this was a surprising touch that I’m glad Virtuos and Bethesda considered. Both teams seem to understand exactly what makes Oblivion special all these years later.

But the best part is that you don’t have to wait for this big release. The game is available right now to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, and it’s also available on PS5 and PC for just $50. It’s a no-brainer purchase if you’re a returning veteran or one of the many, many people who sunk countless hours into Skyrim.

Oblivion Remastered should be a great way to keep Elder Scrolls fans busy after nearly seven years (and counting) waiting for The Elder Scrolls VI. Todd Howard, Bethesda’s director and executive producer, acknowledged that the long-awaited game is still in development, and it also seems that Oblivion won’t be the only Bethesda classic getting a much-needed facelift. That 2023 leak suggested that a similar remake of Fallout 3, also from Virtuous, is in the works, in case the wasteland is more your style. In the meantime, though, you have mudcrabs to go deal with.