Ever since we learned via rumors and leaks that Oblivion was returning, it was unclear whether it would be a remaster or remake. The initial wording found in Bethesda’s internal documents shared during the Microsoft vs. FTC trial mentioned a remaster, but then we found out that Bethesda had enlisted another developer (Virtuos, the same one that’s doing Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater) to port the game to Unreal Engine 5 and make several improvements to areas such as combat, leveling, user interface,
Indeed, after the unveiling and launch earlier this week, many were surprised at the amount of work that had been done. One of them was original The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Design Director Bruce Nesmith, who became Lead Designer of Skyrim and also worked on Starfield before leaving Bethesda in September 2021 to pursue a career as a book author. Speaking to Videogamer, he said this is closer to ‘Oblivion 2.0’ than a mere remaster:
I spent a lot of years working on that game. 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.
I was assuming this was going to be a texture update. I didn’t really think it was going to be the complete overhaul that they’ve announced it to be… I would not have batted an eye at that. But 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. The closest that could come to categorizing it is Oblivion 2.0.
Interestingly, the new game is also heavily moddable. While its graphics run on Unreal Engine 5, the game logic is still powered by the original engine, so several original mods are being ported right now. This could pave the way to many further improvements from the already thriving modding community. There are already 270 mods on Nexus, and it’s just the beginning.
Do you agree with Nesmith’s statement? Vote in the poll and let us know below.
Is it true that Oblivion Remastered is more like Oblivion 2.0?
