Summary

  • Nobody can beleive how good Oblivion Remastered looks.
  • The senior designer of the original game believes it's more than just a remaster or remake.
  • The amount of work put into the game almost warrants it being called "Oblivion 2.0".

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered blew everyone away with its improvements. Despite being one of the worst kept secrets in the industry for years, we only saw leaked images of the game a few days before it was shadowdropped. Nobody believed that it would look as good as it did, but now that the game is out, Nighdive and Bethesda deserve applause.

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Players can't believe just how stunning the game looks, right down to the smallest details like being able to see the other side of Oblivion Gates. While it's called Oblivion Remastered, and Bethesda even gave a reason for it, many believe that it's more of a remake. However, Bruce Nesmit, the senior designer on the original game, feels like it's so much more.

Oblivion Remastered Is More Than Just A Remaster Or Remake

In a conversation with VideoGamer, Nesmith said that he couldn't believe how good Oblivion Remaster looks. While he thought it was going to simply feature upgraded textures, he was surprised to see how much work went into it. The industry term for this kind of relaunch is usually 'remake', but he believes that it has carved its own niche.

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“I spent a lot of years working on that game,” he said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it along with everybody else on the team. And I intimately knew every single scene that they were showing. And they looked amazing.”

He explained that "to completely redo the animations, the animation system, put in the Unreal Engine, change the leveling system, change the user interface. I mean, that’s, you’re touching every part of the game. That’s a staggering amount of remastering. It almost needs its own word, quite frankly. I’m not sure 'remaster' actually does it justice.”

He's quite proud that a game he helped create 20 years ago is still beloved by so many people. As for what category it would come under, if not remaster or remake, Nesmith said, "the closest that could come [to categorising it] is Oblivion 2.0".

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Like Follow Followed Action RPG Open-World Adventure Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 87% Released April 22, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Violence Developer(s) Virtuos, Bethesda Publisher(s) Bethesda 6 Images Close
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Engine Unreal Engine 5 Genre(s) Action, RPG, Open-World, Adventure Powered by Expand Collapse