The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Developer(s)	Virtuos Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks
Director(s)	Theo Gallego
Producer(s)	Veronique Bruneau John Faulkenbury Ricardo Mora
Designer(s)	Elliot Ribeiro
Programmer(s)	John Dean Dominique Faure Alexandre Lautie
Artist(s)	Daniel T. Lee Yago Pérez Diaz
Series	The Elder Scrolls
Engine	Unreal Engine 5 (graphics) Gamebryo (gameplay)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	April 22, 2025
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a 2025 action role-playing game co-developed by Virtuos and Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is a remaster of 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and includes a full graphics overhaul using Unreal Engine 5 and various other improvements, from sprinting to redesigned menus. Oblivion Remastered includes all of the original game's downloadable content, including the expansion packs Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. The game was announced and released digitally for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on April 22, 2025, to generally positive reviews from critics. It will be released physically for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on October 13.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered retains the open world structure and core gameplay mechanics of the original, including real-time combat, character leveling, skill-based progression, and questlines tied to multiple factions.^[1] The remaster includes a full graphical overhaul with modern rendering techniques, ray tracing, and updated textures and models. Non-playable character behavior has been revised using improved AI, and all animations have been updated. The user interface and control schemes have also been redesigned for compatibility with current-generation hardware. Audio enhancements include re-recorded ambient sounds, environmental effects, and limited redone voice work.^[2][3] Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, which are paid expansion packs of the original game, are included in the remaster.^[4]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is set in the province of Cyrodiil, and the player takes the role of the Hero of Kvatch, who is drawn into a conflict involving the Daedric realm of Oblivion after the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim VII.^[5]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was co-developed by Virtuos' Paris studio and Bethesda Game Studios. Both studios began development of the remaster in 2021. The developers used Unreal Engine 5 to enhance the visuals, while relying on the Gamebryo engine for the core to enhance elements like physics and combat.^[6] Initial indications of the remaster emerged in September 2023, when internal Microsoft documents (dated 2020) disclosed during the Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft case referenced, among other unannounced titles, an "Oblivion Remaster" slated for release in the 2022 fiscal year.^[7]

Further speculation arose in April 2025 following the discovery of in-game images and promotional materials on Virtuos' website, which were subsequently shared online. The images, found through an accessible WordPress file repository, showed recognizable themes such as the player's first view of the outside world upon leaving the tutorial quest, the Imperial City and its surroundings, and several other highlights.^[8][9] On April 21, 2025, Bethesda confirmed the remaster's existence by announcing a livestream scheduled for the following day,^[10][11] when the game was released for Windows through Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, in addition to day-one availability on the Xbox Game Pass.^[12] The live announcement on YouTube was watched by more than 600,000 people.^[13] On July 14, The Game Collection (an online video game retailer) announced that physical editions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X would release on October 13.^[14][15]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.^[16][17][18] OpenCritic determined that 87% of critics recommended the game.^[19] GameSpot's Jake Dekker praised the visuals as establishing "a new standard for Bethesda RPGs", and also highlighted the character models and the handling of original game elements. Dekker additionally commended the revamped leveling system, although he found the combat "still rough" and noted minor performance issues.^[20]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered reached 4 million players three days after release, with a peak of 216,000 concurrent players on Steam.^[28] In the first week of May 2025, the game had become the 3rd best-selling game of the year in the United States by dollar sales, while excluding downloads from Xbox Game Pass.^[29] It was the best-selling game in the US in April 2025; the game sold more copies in its launch week than the original Oblivion did in its first 15 months in the country.^[30] It reached 9 million players three months after release.^[31]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was released without any prior announcement, being available the same day as the start of the livestream. Certain indie developers and publishers criticised this decision, stating that the surprise release affected their games' sales. Jonas Antonsson, co-founder of Raw Fury, expressed his love for Oblivion and the fact that new players can experience the game, while also stating that surprise releases of this size cause smaller games to get "buried".^[32][33] Developer Mike Rose advertised his game Starless Abyss on Twitter, claiming that the release of Oblivion Remastered the same week has not been "fantastic for [the game's] launch."^[34] The official Twitter account of Kepler Interactive—the publisher behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, released the same day as Oblivion Remastered—posted a tweet, comparing the simultaneous release of the two games to the Barbenheimer phenomenon, while GamesRadar+ compared the launch to the concurrent release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal.^[35][36] Bethesda's official Twitter account later responded to Kelper Interactive's tweet with an image of celebrating NPCs from Oblivion in front of a television with Expedition 33, captioned "We can't wait to play!"^[37]

Despite a broadly favorable response from critics and industry publications, Oblivion Remastered has drawn notable criticism for its technical performance, particularly on the PC platform. According to an in-depth analysis by the video game technology blog Digital Foundry, the game was, at release, described as "one of the worst-performing PC games we've ever tested," with widespread issues attributed to poor optimization across a range of hardware configurations.^[38] Similar reports from players on platforms such as Reddit, the Steam Community, and Nexus Mods cite frequent stuttering, low frame rates, and inconsistent performance, even on high-end systems.

While Bethesda Softworks released a post-launch update aimed at resolving some of these issues,^[39] many players continued posting on various platforms about technical problems such as frame pacing instability. Community-sourced workarounds such as disabling Lumen hardware ray tracing completely, reducing many visual settings, and installing performance-enhancing mods have provided, and continue to be providing limited relief. However, the overall lack of optimization remains a recurring point of criticism among the PC player base.^[40]

Technical analysts attribute the poor optimization of the early version of Oblivion Remastered to the high demands and technical details of Unreal Engine 5 and its advanced rendering systems such as Lumen and Nanite. Shader compilation and asset streaming issues - most likely exacerbated by the integration of the older Gamebryo engine loop for game logic further worsen stutters, especially during open-world traversal.^[41][42] Combined with the limited development time typical of tight release schedules, this resulted in insufficient polish and optimization, even on high-end hardware. Additional issues such as memory management bugs have been linked to gradual performance degradation on consoles over extended gameplay sessions.^[43]

• Skyblivion – Upcoming fan remake

• Official website