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Emily Serwadczak
Guest
Released in 2006, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was a groundbreaking feat. From the open-world map to its ambitious questlines and highly involved RPG mechanics, it set a new standard for fantasy games. Fast forward to today, and after further immense success with the ‘Elder Scrolls’ franchise, Oblivion Remastered arrives, aiming to recapture the magic while smoothing out the rough edges.
The most noticeable change in Oblivion Remastered is the visuals. The world of Cyrodiil has never looked better. Almost. Everything has been upgraded with stunning new textures, from the lighting to improved character/NPC updates. That said, some NPC animations and facial expressions still feel a little stiff by today’s standards (which can be distracting during dialogue-heavy moments), but the characters in Oblivion never really looked very pretty and while much of the character creation has been improved upon to include more options, Bethesda has made some baffling choices in their updates. Making a character that looks exactly how you want is one of the biggest draws for me in RPGs, and having an abundance of nose sliders to the very few eye or mouth choices was the first thing that gave me pause in the remaster. Then I remembered how limited the character creation was in the original. The characters and NPCs look incredible now compared with their 2006 counterparts, but it wouldn’t be Oblivion without some truly bizarre faces and expressions.
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