Video Game

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

The Actual Review

Game time:

PC: 48 hours
Xbox: I am not sure played the OG one in 2007. My first game.

Gameplay

Look, this game originally came out in 2006 I think and so you have to accept a little bit of limitations on the game play. However, they made some really good updates with the remaster, such as stealth and running. I honestly think those limitations work in favor of the actual gameplay at times. Block is this button, attack is this button, heavy attack is hold the attack button.

One of the systems that didn’t work for me in this game that felt so pivotal when I played it years ago is horse riding. Because they introduced sprinting and the horse I bought just disappeared once, I never really got another on. Between just the play style of running and finding POIs and then using them for fast travel later, I never felt like I needed the horse, which is unfortunate since the Dark Brotherhood horse is awesome.

It is a good RPG. The skill tree in this got updated from the 20 year old version and that made it decent, but I’m not a fan of how long it takes to get to full level of a skill. I prefer a points system where you get some many points per level. My personal choice though.

Graphics and Sound

The update is beautiful. I’ll post a like to the old version to the new version below, but graphically it is outrageously beautiful. The Oblivion Gates are honestly, just mesmerizing when you compare it to the original. For this being a shadow drop, it’s amazing what they were able to do. This game has always been beautiful to me.

The sound design feels like a weak point that I feel should have been updated as well. Maybe it was, but it just felt underwhelming. Actually, now that I am writing this, one of the things about the sound design that I didn't like is that the music just constantly looped the same song. While it is iconic, it is annoying after 45 hours. "Why don't you just turn it off?" Because it is also used as an indicator if you are in a fight. So you kinda can't.

Story and Characters

Quick note. I did not play Shivering Isles. I didn't enjoy when I played years ago and just had no desire to deal with all the unskippable dialogue sections. I always found him annoying and I know that is almost sacrilegious, but I just never enjoyed it. Maybe I played it too late from when I played the first game, but I just couldn't get into it the first time I played it.

As for the story, we will talk about it within the seven main different story lines. You have the main story, the Thieves Guild, The Fighters Guild, The Mages Guild, The Arena, Knights of the Nine, and The Dark Brotherhood.

The easiest, but most boring honestly is the Arena. It is fun to play and gives you a simple quest line. You also get to see some of the different creatures you'll fight throughout the game. The mechanical structure of having to go back to the guy over and over again to get a new fight is honestly annoying.

The Fighters Guild is decent, but I feel like they made it out to be a bigger issue than I felt in the game. Side note, it was the first questline that I played back in the day.

The Mage's Guild is honestly really compelling. You get this pressure of a looming Necromancer and you are fighting to stop it since he is a figure from the lore. Not bad at all. You don't need any magic if I remember correctly.

The Knights of the Nine is interesting. This almost a crusade against the old gods. It is simple like the arena questline and the story is written simply too.

The previous ones were in no order, but these are. The third best of the final three is the Thieves Guild. This starts as a story about just stealing and selling that stuff. But then it leads into so much more. A tale of an Elder Scroll and a new leader. It is honestly an explosion of new information with each major mission.

The second best one is the main story line. You have Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean voice acting two of the major roles. If heard/read an interview of Patrick Stewart talking about the back history he got on the Emperor and how much he loved it. His performance is so good that I'd love to see him play a live action version of the same role. Sean Bean doesn't die right away! Isn't that amazing? He is good too. Just really helps push the story forward. This story is pretty good with some issues for me. There is a lot of fetch quests and repetition with the saving of Bravil as you go from city to city, ask for help, they say no until the Oblivion Gate is closed. By the second city, I was just sprinting and jumping (I had 100 in athletics and acrobatics by the time I did this quest) around the barriers to get to the main tower I needed and just ran through it to the end. It was just tedious at best which really knocks down this story line for me.

The best story line in this game, and the best side storyline of all time that I think I have ever played. This is a mini Hitman game built into it. There are twist and turns and just really cool storytelling that happens in this storyline that has legitimately sat with me for almost 20 years.

My Rating

I think this might be one of the best games ever created. It's storytelling is outstanding, the gameplay is fun, and now with the remaster is unbelievably beautiful. I was so excited to replay this when it was announced and so hesitant to finish It as I know I will probably never go back and replay it anytime soon. Might be another 20 years. This is has a rating of "GET THIS GAME" for obvious reasons and if you have about 50 hours +, you should play it.

Parental Rating

While the update does make this game more visual, they didn't really add more or more realistic blood than the OG game. My parents say me playing the OG game didn't have too much to say at the time. I will say that there are times of dialogue having some racial undertones or are outright racists depending. There is also a lot of violence and believing in different pantheon of gods. I mean the whole game is basically preventing Satan from entering earth. I don't think they would particularly like it, but their objections would be for the violence mainly.