Bethesda has officially confirmed the heavily-rumored Oblivion Remastered can be purchased and ed today, April 22, for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, and is also available as a day-one Game title.

The game was officially revealed during a live stream event from Bethesda Softworks on YouTube and Twitch. It featured developers from both Bethesda and Virtuos, the partnered studio primarily responsible for revamping Oblivion. In addition to the significant graphical updates, the livestream highlighted a number of other changes, including an improved third-person perspective and new, unique voices for each of Cyrodiil's races. Oblivion Remastered comes with all additional content released for the original game, including the two major expansions, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles.

New Features Hope To Build On The Original Experience In Oblivion Remastered

Enhanced But Not Completely Remade

Virtuos was adamant throughout the reveal that the core of Oblivion is intact. In fact, a large majority of the game logic appears to have been preserved in Oblivion Remastered, with Unreal Engine 5 described as the remaster's "body" controlled by the "brain" of Oblivion's original programming. That said, there are a number of changes Oblivion Remastered has made to the original experience. Most overt is the visual overhaul, which replaces the bloom-heavy graphics of the 2006 original, but also noticeable are a UI and UX revamp, modernizing the scroll-like texture of the game's menus and HUD, and improved audio effects.

Significant mechanical changes were covered in the Oblivion Remastered announcement as well. The leveling system has been reevaluated and altered to be a combination of both Oblivion's and Skyrim's. Skyrim's influence extends to the addition of a sprint capability, which wasn't possible in the 2006 original. Animations have also been reworked across the board, from hit reactions in combat to facial movements when speaking to NPCs. A key area of Virtuos' focus was also modernizing Oblivion's third-person mode with an over-the-shoulder camera (as opposed to over your character's head) and proper crosshairs.

Our Take: Oblivion Remastered's Extensive Changes Breathe New Life Into A Dated Game

I Can't Believe It Came Out Almost Two Decades Ago

The above changes to Oblivion are likely to be a disappointment to some longtime fans, and I am personally cautious about preemptively celebrating some of them, but it's still promising to see Virtuos and Bethesda approaching Oblivion Remastered with such gusto. There's clearly a lot of ion and thought put into these changes, and the 19-year-old Oblivion arguably needed the work; it was cutting-edge in 2006, but is beyond clunky compared to more modern games.

The game looks familiar, despite the massively improved models and textures, right down to the pattern on a Silver Sword. The way a skeleton swings a weapon looks practically the same despite some clear improvements in how its torso moves separately from its lower half – something specifically pointed out by Virtuos during the reveal. Rumors had long suspected this was a full remake of Oblivion, but now that it's been shown off, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is clearly the correct title, and this first look is a promising introduction to the revamped classic.

Source: Bethesda Softworks/YouTube