Bethesda has officially unveiled The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and it’s out now.
The rumours were true: game publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer Virtuos both revealed and released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on the same day (22 April, 2025) this week. The new version of Oblivion blurs the lines between remakes and remasters, however, as it has been retouched and recreated from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 with new mechanics, new textures, improved character models, and so much more.
Here’s the game’s reveal trailer:
Everything that has been improved in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is officially out now. The 2006 RPG has been touched up greatly by Virtuos’ Paris game studio, in collaboration with its original maker Bethesda Game Studios, and published by Bethesda’s publishing arm Bethesda Softworks.
The remaster was created using Unreal Engine 5 to create new and breathtaking environments, more detailed character models, better lip syncing–which extends to non-human characters–and atmospheric effects. Much of the game’s textures and objects have been recreated from scratch, ranging from weapons to sweetrolls, with a new real-time lighting system bringing everything to life.
That being said, Bethesda isn’t adding anything significant to the original game as far as environments and story content go. This is still 2006’s Oblivion with a fresh coat of paint, with a few gameplay improvements to bring it up to modern-day standards. For example, combat animations have been fully refurbished, with separation between the upper and lower body for more realistic movement.
Combat in 2006’s Oblivion also lacked sound effects, visual effects, and hit reactions; all of these are included in the remaster for punchier combat. The game's third-person perspective has also been improved with a crosshair, with the developers specifically highlighting Starfield as a point of comparison.
That's not all, however. The game's levelling system has been improved for better progression, UI and UX elements have been updated, new dialogue was recorded for the remaster (however, iconic lines like “Cheese for everyone!” have been maintained). Different races are also voiced differently, where the same voice actors were previously used for multiple races.
What's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered about?
For those who haven't played Oblivion, expect to dig into an epic fantasy story much like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Here's how Bethesda describes the game:
Stop the forces of Oblivion from overtaking the land and experience all (and more) that the predecessor to the award-winning The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has to offer. Step inside a universe bursting with captivating stories, encounter an unforgettable cast of characters, join storied guilds, conquer the legendary Arena, and ultimately become the Champion of Cyrodiil.
It should be noted that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will also launch with the original The Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine story expansions. Funnily enough, it will also launch with the original game’s infamous horse armour DLC–known to many as one of the very first instances of video game microtransactions in history–as part of a Deluxe Upgrade package.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass.
