Once you've hit my age (let's just say I'm a few decades in this race) you'll have heard the saying "You can't go back home" at least a few times in life, or hell, probably said it yourself. This is usually said when discussing nostalgic things, and the experiences we've had with them. I've been playing games since my parents got me an Atari in 1983. Games have always been a part of my life. There is one game in all this time that I can still remember the absolute...INSANE level of hype I had for it. That game is The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
When Oblivion was in development, the hype could not be understated. Morrowind had been a huge hit, and anyone that had played that game was looking at the promos and demos coming out for Oblivion with rabid anticipation. Fast forward to just before release day. There I am sitting at my keyboard watching Greg Kasavin do the first live stream of playing a game that Gamespot had ever attempted. Greg was planning to do a 12 hour marathon. I was glued to my monitor. I had never seen something like this before (streaming games was not a "thing" at that point. Greg didn't have access to a chat, but we were all losing our collective shit following along with just how awesome this game was).
Now, 20 years later, I was sitting in my home office, waiting for the download of Oblivion Remastered to finish. I mean, it had JUST been announced. I was already ridiculously hyped to dive back in after seeing the launch video. Would this be fun to experience all over again? After all, I hadn't really played Oblivion since I had beaten it after it had originally released.
As it turns out? Absolutely. Graphically, the jump to Unreal 5 took my breath away. In fact I'm pretty sure I had the exact same reaction walking out of the initial prison dungeon that I had in the initial release: "Oh....WOW." This was the first remaster that i'd experienced that had a graphics overhaul to the point where it looked as innovative and ahead of its time as it did when it released. Oblivion set the standard when it released. I'd daresay it did it again with the remaster this time around (for future remasters, at least!)
Sound and Audio are just as top notch as they were before. The sweeping, epic orchestral score pulls you right into the world once more, and it's at that moment, when the title card displays, that I realized...hell yeah. I'm back home again, and I can't wait to tear into this sandwich. The voice acting has all been preserved (i believe there may be some general tweaks or improvements) but it's all still there, lncluding the "Oh darn...let me try that one again." (I love that they kept that in!)
Gameplay is equally fantastic, and the improvements with UE5 really give it the nudges forward that the game needed. Reaction animations to hits in melee combat for example? A small change seemingly, but damn if it doesn't feel like a game changer. Fundamentally, everything is still here. It's just done better. Tons of quality of life improvements across the board, everything from menus, hotkeys/skillwheels, it's all more intuitive, and by proxy, more fun. And let's face, it, Oblivion was pretty awesome to begin with (for its time upon release)
In general, if you were a fan of the original Oblivion, you're probably in the middle of shutting an Oblivion portal as you read this, so yeah. But if you were on the fence or never got a chance to play Oblivion when it released? Absolutely go give this is a try if sandbox-y, be your own character, tell your own story kinds of games are your thing. Bonus if you have Game Pass, you can go download it now.
So...get on that!