Ex-Bethesda Dev Declares a Winner in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Most Absurd Face Category

Oblivion is back, and it’s not just because Bethesda’s remaster is a nostalgia-fueled trip down memory lane. It’s because of all the funny faces.

Oblivion Remastered, developed by remake specialist Virtuos using Unreal Engine 5, has a long list of visual and feature improvements. It runs at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, as you’d expect, but other changes are more meaningful. Everything from the leveling systems to character creation, and combat animations to in-game menus have been improved. Meanwhile, there’s lots of new dialogue, a proper third-person view, and new lip sync technology. The changes are going down well with fans, some of whom believe Oblivion Remastered would be more accurately described as a remake. Bethesda, however, has explained why it went down the remaster route.

IGN has already reported on how the funny character faces players have come up with are going viral, and rounded up some of our favorites. But now someone who actually worked on the original 20 years ago has declared a winner.

Jeff Gardiner worked at Bethesda Game Studios for a whopping 16 years, starting with Oblivion before becoming lead producer of all its various pieces of DLC. In a tweet, Gardiner, now boss of Something Wicked Games, revealed that when testing the original Oblivion the developers at Bethesda would compete to see who could come up with the most absurd face. You can imagine some of the faces the team built, but, in Gardiner’s opinion, there’s one recently made in Oblivion Remastered that would have won all those years ago.

The nightmarish face in question was created by YouTuber and NASCAR/ARCA driver Cody Dennison, aka CAMELOT331. In a tweet, CAMELOT331 described his creation as “my magnum opus,” and named him ‘Sir Vancealot.’

Towards the end of development when we were all playtesting Oblivion, we used to all compete to see who could make the most absurd face. Have to say, I think this would have won. https://t.co/12Xd5VBBoZ

— Jeff Gardiner 🎮 (@jg93) April 24, 2025

Obviously, Sir Vancealot leans into the JD Vance meme, which revolves around horrifying pictures of a bloated Vice President of the United States.

You’ve heard of JD Vance?

Well, here’s 3D Vance. pic.twitter.com/iD1ALg2x2y

— Klara (@klara_sjo) March 5, 2025

CAMELOT331’s tweet showcasing Sir Vancealot has been viewed an incredible 2.1 million times, so he may well be the most famous Oblivion Remastered character creation yet. Gardiner’s stamp of approval will no doubt help, too.

Of course, Gardiner’s tweet has sparked a flood of similarly outlandish character creator faces in the replies, some of which are just as troublesome as Sir Vancealot.

Ooo I think this is awesome

— Jeff Gardiner 🎮 (@jg93) April 24, 2025

We’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including comments from another former Bethesda developer who said it’s so impressive it could be called “Oblivion 2.0,” and wondered what it might mean for a theoretical Fallout 3 Remastered.

We’ve got a comprehensive guide to everything you’ll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.