Opinion: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hit Harder Than Skyrim – And Still Does

Ask most gamers who were around for the Xbox 360 and, Red Ring of Death aside, odds are most of them will share a lot of fond memories with you. And The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion generated plenty of those memories for a lot of Xbox 360 owners. I’m one of them. I worked at Official Xbox Magazine at the time, and for whatever reason, the hugely successful port of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind to Xbox never quite hooked me. But right from the jump, Oblivion – which was initially planned to be a day-one launch title for the second Xbox – did. We did multiple cover stories on Oblivion leading up to launch – the screenshots alone blew everyone away – and I eagerly volunteered for each trip out to Bethesda in sleepy Rockville, Maryland.

Then, when it finally came time to review Oblivion – and this is back in the days when exclusive reviews were a common, accepted thing – I again eagerly jumped at the chance. I returned to Rockville one more time and holed up in a conference room in Bethesda’s basement for four days. I spent four consecutive – and glorious – 11-hour days almost literally living in Cyrodiil, spending almost every waking moment inside this stunning, wide-open, next-gen medieval fantasy world. Before I boarded my return flight home, I’d clocked 44 hours prior to penning OXM’s 9.5 out of 10 review of Oblivion, which I wholeheartedly stand by to this day. It was an incredible game, filled with gripping quests (Dark Brotherhood, anyone?), off-the-beaten-path surprises (if you know about the unicorn, you know), and so much more. Because I was playing a submission build at Bethesda – meaning, a mostly finished version of the game on an Xbox 360 debug kit rather than a regular retail console – I had to start over when I got my final boxed disc copy of the game I’d already put about two full real-life days into.

I dropped another 130 hours or so into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion without hesitation,so it’s probably no surprise to hear that I’m absolutely thrilled it’s been remastered and re-released on modern platforms.

In fact, I’m envious of the whole generation of younger gamers who grew up with Skyrim and thus, that is The Elder Scrolls for them. Because for them, the just-released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will be their first “new” mainline Elder Scrolls game since Skyrim released (for the first of many, many times) over 13 years ago – while franchise fans of all ages continue to wait for The Elder Scrolls VI, which is likely another 4-5 years away.

Although if I’m being honest, I doubt Oblivion will hit the same way for them as it did for me in March of 2006, because, for starters, it’s a two-decade-old game (side note: shout-out to Bethesda for delivering this week instead of waiting an extra year when Oblivion will hit its far-more-elegant-sounding 20th anniversary instead of just having passed its 19th). Other games have built upon what Oblivion did, including several by Bethesda itself: Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. And second, it just doesn’t pack the same visual punch that it did in 2006, when I’d argue it was the first true next-gen game of the HD Era ushered in by the Xbox 360. Obviously the remaster looks better than the original release – that’s the point, of course – but it doesn’t stand head and shoulders above nearly every other game as something that you’ve never seen before. By definition – or at least in practice – remasters aim to make an older game look modern on current platforms. It’s a sharp contrast to a proper remake a la Resident Evil, which carries the expectation of starting from scratch and, in turn, looking as good or better than anything else on the market.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the right game at the right time. By taking full advantage of HD televisions and expanding the scope and scale of what gamers could expect from an open-world game, it was a punch in the face to console gamers who, up to that point, had spent their entire gaming lives seeing their interactive worlds through an interlaced 640×480 television. (Although speaking of punches in the face, prior to Oblivion’s March release, in February 2006, EA released Fight Night Round 3, which was jaw-droppingly gorgeous itself.)

My memories of Oblivion are plenty, as it was a world with so much to discover and so much to do. For first-time Oblivion players, let me give you a recommendation: either blast through the main quest as quickly as possible, or save it until you’ve exhausted every last sidequest or open-world activity. Why? Well, the Oblivion gates will start randomly spawning and pestering you once you start down that main questline’s path, so for my money it’s best to seal them off straight away.

Anyway, the technological leap made from Morrowind to Oblivion might not ever happen again – though I suppose if we wait long enough for The Elder Scrolls 6, maybe it will. But at the very least, playing Oblivion Remastered won’t present such a staunch difference from any release of Skyrim, and for that I suppose those same younger gamers who grew up with Skyrim won’t get what I had. But no matter if you’re playing Oblivion for the first time or you’ve clocked hundreds of hours with it, its fully realized medieval fantasy world and the surprises and adventures contained within it have always made it my favorite Elder Scrolls game. And I’m thrilled it’s back, even if its surprise release was spoiled many times over before it finally showed up again.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.