Original Oblivion Dev Comments on Remaster

Following the shadow drop of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, a former Bethesda developer who worked on Oblivion‘s original release praised the updated version. The former Bethesda developer stated that calling Oblivion Remastered a simple remaster did not do justice to the changes and efforts made to the original version.

Though it had been one of the worst-kept secrets in Microsoft’s and Bethesda’s repertoires of late, Oblivion Remastered was fully revealed during an April 22 live event that was streamed on social media. Following the stream, Oblivion Remastered was shadow dropped on PC, PS5, and Xbox consoles, and quickly became a success on Steam. A few hours after its sudden launch, Oblivion Remastered had over 128,000 concurrent players on Steam. Oblivion Remastered currently holds an 82% positive rating on Valve’s storefront at the time of writing.

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Publisher of Clair Obscur Refers to Oblivion Remastered Releasing in the Same Week to “Barbenheimer”

Kepler Interactive took to social media after Bethesda Game Studios’ shadow drop of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. They compared the release of their upcoming game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the Oblivion remaster to the “barbenheimer” phenomenon that occured in 2023.

However, the sudden launch of Oblivion Remastered and its comparisons to the original 2006 game have drawn the attention of a former developer of the latter. In an interview with VideoGamer, former Bethesda game developer Bruce Nesmith stated that calling Oblivion Remastered a simple remaster would not do the project justice. Nesmith said that a remaster would be similar to the asset updates featured in Skyrim: Special Edition, and that the reworked mechanics and animations featured in Oblivion Remastered fell somewhere between a remaster and a full-on remake of the entire game. In short, Nesmith dubbed Oblivion Remastered an “Oblivion 2.0” of sorts.

Original Oblivion Developer Praises The Remastered Version

• Former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith praised the work put into Oblivion Remastered.
• Nesmith stated that Oblivion Remastered was more than a simple graphical revamp.
• The term “Oblivion 2.0” was what Nesmith used after stating how some mechanics were altered.
• Oblivion Remastered was shadow dropped on April 22.

During his time with Bethesda, Nesmith was Oblivion‘s original senior game designer and was also a lead designer for Skyrim‘s original launch. Nesmith retired from game development in 2021, as Bethesda turned its attention to Starfield. Since then, Nesmith continues to write and publish literary role-playing game (LitRPG) books.

Although the main story of Oblivion and its expansions remained unchanged from the 2006 release, some quality-of-life updates to movement speed were added to Oblivion Remastered. While the original core of Oblivion remains part of the remaster, Bethesda and Virtuos used Unreal Engine 5 to power the game’s graphics and physics. However, players will have to set aside plenty of storage space, as Oblivion Remastered requires approximately 125 GB to install.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 remains in development, the surprising launch of Oblivion Remastered has taken the gaming industry by storm. As players explore the remade Imperial lands of Cyrodiil and fight back against invading Daedric forces from the titular plane of Oblivion, it remains to be seen what the remaster’s long-term legacy will be.