19 years later, the Oblivion Remaster is here

The rumors and the Steam listings were real: Oblivion is back. On Tuesday, Bethesda formally announced a remaster of the 2006 open-world RPG — developed by Dark Souls: Remastered studio Virtuos — and then promptly released it.

The precursor to Skyrim is available right now on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X for $49.99. PC players can get it on Steam. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will have access to it on PC and Xbox too.

Oblivion Remastered uses Unreal Engine 5 to give the entire world a high-resolution makeover with improved lighting and textures. While it’s technically the first Bethesda game to run on an engine separate from the studio’s propriety ones, it still uses parts of the old engine to keep things close to the original.

1/3Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks

The remaster has changes to the UI and leveling system to be closer to modern RPGs. Enemy combat animations, sound and visual effects are more realistic to add some heft to the game’s first-person combat too. There’s even a sprint button now.

“We’ve modernized a lot, but it’s still the same incredible adventure and the same carefully crafted world,” a Bethesda’s external projects and studio director Tom Mustaine said during the stream.

Naturally, everyone’s next question is whether or not you can create a stairway into the sky with paint brushes, or reproduce any of the other bugs from the original Oblivion. Even though the game is still running on its original engine behind the scenes, we don’t know if any of these things have been changed yet.

The same goes for mod support, a feature that is usually synonymous with Bethesda RPGs. The folks on Nexus Mods are out there changing Skyrim and Fallout 4 into entirely different games. Bethesda didn’t say if existing Oblivion mods can be brought over, nor has it said if it’ll be as easily moddable as the original game. But given how popular the Bethesda modding community is, I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remaster is available now for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

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