How to begin The Shivering Isles in Oblivion and the remaster

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered comes with all of the DLC from the original game, and that includes the Shivering Isles expansion. While there’s already a ton of stuff to do in Cyrodiil, Shivering Isles adds over 30 hours of additional quests and exploration in a whole other map zone.

The remastered version of the game makes some changes to the Shivering Isles expansion and other DLC to better incorporate it into the base game, so things are a bit different than you may remember. If you’re new to Oblivion, you might not even realize that you’re starting a whole new expansion when you pick up the first quest.

How to start the Shivering Isles DLC

Here’s how to start the Shivering Isles expansion in Oblivion Remastered:

1. Visit Bravil.
2. Ask the locals about rumors to learn about A Door in Niben Bay.
3. Go to the Strange Door east of Bravil.
4. Go inside to start the expansion.

In the original Oblivion and its Game of the Year edition, you’ll be barraged with DLC pop-up messages as soon as you step out of the sewers after the tutorial. The remaster gets rid of those, so you have to seek out the Strange Door on your own to add the Shivering Isles quest to your journal.

You can head straight to the strange door without asking around Bravil if you’d like, and there’s no minimum level requirement for Shivering Isles. The DLC doesn’t lock you away from the main quest, either, so you’re free to come and go as you please.

A Door in Niben Bay

The starting Shivering Isles quest is called A Door in Niben Bay. It’s automatically added to your journal if you head straight to the Strange Door, but you can also learn about the quest by asking NPCs about rumors in towns like Bravil. Most of them will run through the usual lines about the Thieves Guild or Kvatch, but you’ll eventually hear about the Strange Door if you ask enough people.

Since every major settlement in Cyrodiil has fast travel points unlocked by default, you can teleport right to Bravil and take a short hike east to the Strange Door so you can start Shivering Isles ASAP. Once you arrive, you’ll find a pair of guards that can share some more details about the glowing gate.

Shortly after meeting the guards, a crazed Dark Elf named Belmyne Dreleth will emerge from the gate and start attacking. He’s one of many adventurers who have entered the Strange Door and lost their sanity in the process. Once he’s dead, a strange voice seeking a true champion will beckon you into the gate.

This is the start of the Shivering Isles. When you cross the threshold, you’ll meet Haskiil, right-hand man of the Daedric Prince of Madness Sheogorath. You can either refuse his offer and walk right back out the door to Cyrodiil, or you can choose to venture further into the Shivering Isles to help Sheogorath with his problems.

When should you start Shivering Isles?

While you can technically start the DLC whenever you want in Oblivion Remastered, you should wait to start Shivering Isles until about level 20 before seeking out the Strange Door.

Oblivion Remastered has addressed some of the level scaling problems that were present in the original game, so Shivering Isles should be much more accessible to low-level players who want to skip straight to the DLC. However, the loot you can find on the other side of the Strange Door is best suited for a high-level adventurer.

If you’re patient and wait until around level 20 to start the DLC, you’ll find the best possible equipment. If you try to do Shivering Isles early, any unique weapons and armor you find will quickly be outclassed by other gear you’ll find when you head back to the base game.