Recently, Bethesda released a surprise remastering of the 2006 hit Oblivion.  Termed Oblivion Remastered there’s been some commentary that it perhaps should be called “Oblivion Remade” because it’s a bit more than just touching up the graphics.  The main changes from the original are:

• Vastly improved visual, beyond what you see in Skyrim and according to some, much better than 2023’s Starfield
• Skyrim creature comforts and a more Skyrim-like system, though this is mainly in character development.  The creature comforts I’m referring to are things like finally being able to zoom the map.
• Many game logic bugs from the original game fixed.

Briefly, if you loved Oblivion 2006, you’ll love Oblivion Remastered.  I played Oblivion quite a bit when it came out and thought the game’s overall design was very strong.  More on that in a moment.  19 years later, I’ve mostly forgotten the major plot points and surprises, so it’s all new again, though curiously I’ve discovered that there are a few random things that I do remember.  Mostly, these were unpleasant surprises, where there was a plot twist in a quest to my disadvantage.  I imagine there’s some evolutionary psychological phenomenon there.

I’m slightly disappointed that one of my all-time favorite quotes has a new voice actor: the way the Dark Brotherhood’s M’raaj-Dar used to sigh with exasperation, “By Sithis, I don’t have all day!” has been replaced by a new actor’s angry growl (though this can be changed back with a mod).  But I think that is literally the only complaint I have.  Now if they’d replaced Wes Johnson (the arena announcer), I probably would have returned the game…

For Skyrim Players

If you liked Skyrim, you’ll likely love Oblivion, though you should be aware of some differences.  Some of the big ones:

• You can’t get married
• The attributes/skill system is quite different, both in terms of how character progression works and which skills exist
• You can buy a variety of houses, but there is no Heathfire
• Influencing people is done via the Speechcraft mini game
• Picking locks is a different mini game
• Armor and weapons degrade and need to be repaired
• You need a certain level of skill for power attacks
• There’s no lycanthropy
• The “100% Chameleon” hack is available.  This is a game-breaking way to use magic and magic items, as it makes you invisible and virtually undetectable, and you can rip through the game trivially if you achieve this.  It was removed in Skyrim.

There are probably other differences – see the link above – but those are the major ones that stand out to me.  And all of these are relatively minor, because it’s still the same…

Elder Scrolls Formula

It astonishes me that after all the success of Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout, no one in the industry has copied the games’ formula.  I don’t mean the IP – obviously, no one else can make an Elder Scrolls game.  But the formula can’t be copyrighted.

This is how all of these games – Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout – work:

• Open world exploration
• Many quests and sub-quests.  These are actually very formulaic and limited if you analyze them, because they’re mostly fetch something or kill something.  But there is a lot of variety through the storytelling.
• Select dialogue from a menu
• Customizable character
• Sandbox play with an over-arching but optional (at least in terms of timing) quest
• Factions and world events

I don’t mean to say that making these games are easy – indeed, there’s a ton of writing, voice acting, art, and QAing that needs to happen.  But it’s surprising to me that that the system design hasn’t been swiped and used by another company.

It’s not like there’s only one company that does FPS shooters, for example, or side-scrollers.

Wither the Scrolls?

In a way, Oblivion Remastered is both delightful and disappointing.  Delightful for the reasons I’ve listed above.  Disappointing because of this timeline:

So Elder Scrolls games were coming out every 4-5 years, with Fallout games interleaved at roughly the same schedule.

But then…they stopped?  It’s been 14 years since Skyrim, and rumor is that the next one will be maybe 2026…or maybe 2028.  Which would easily mean 2030.

Sure, they’ve released other stuff and the online games make more money than the stand-alones I suppose.  Still, tons of game companies are making tons of money on games, and it’s bizarre that one of the most successful franchises in history has pretty much been left to rot for a decade and a half.

Does anyone think that if they made a Skyrim sequel that was on par with Skyrim, it wouldn’t be a smash hit?  Estimates are that Skyrim has generated $1.4 billion in revenue and sold 60 million copies.  Other than the super games (Minecraft, GTA, Tetris), Skyrim is in a cluster of the best-selling games of all time.

So…why?  People have been asking this for a decade and there’s no good answer.  Expectations build as time goes by, and we’ve already reached the point where the next game starts with a heavy burden simply because people will think “well, they’ve been working on it for 15 years…”

Until that game is out, enjoy Oblivion Remastered.

raindog308

Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, Raindog runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.

Beyond the command line, Raindog is a lover of German Shepherds, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.

His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.

You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.