After years of being the neglected middle child of The Elder Scrolls family, Oblivion has finally kicked down the door in a brand-new coat of Unreal Engine 5 polish. Yes, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is officially out. Not soon, not eventually, but right now. You can play it immediately—well, right after the obligatory 30GB download and maybe a cheeky Windows update.

It’s the kind of surprise drop that actually lands, unlike your average rogue arrow in the knee. Bethesda and Xbox quietly confirmed the remaster following months of leaks, rumours, and the usual Reddit sleuthing, and now it’s live on Steam, Xbox, and—surprisingly—PlayStation 5. That’s right, Sony folks, you’re invited to the party too.

Now, Oblivion has always lived in the shadow of its cooler, edgier siblings—Morrowind, the cult favourite, and Skyrim, the game that refuses to die. But this remaster gives Oblivion a chance to shine like a freshly enchanted Daedric sword.

This glow-up is the result of a joint effort between Bethesda’s Dallas and Rockville teams, alongside Virtuos, who’ve sprinkled in just enough modernisation to make the game feel fresh without turning it into a bloated open-world mess. Unreal Engine 5 now breathes new life into its world, characters, and environments. Think of it as slapping a 4K Instagram filter on your 2006 high school yearbook photo—and somehow, it works.

Gameplay-wise, it’s been given a hearty kick up the trousers. Combat feels more responsive and physical, the clunky levelling system has been refined to lean more towards Skyrim’s style, and there’s a brand-new UI that doesn’t look like it was borrowed from a medieval Excel sheet. Oh, and it includes every single bit of DLC released back in the day. Yes, even that one where you decorate a house. Riveting stuff.

This might just be the perfect pacifier for the never-ending wait that is The Elder Scrolls VI. Will it finally arrive before the next console generation? Who knows. But until then, at least we’ve got a revitalised slice of Cyrodiil to wander through.

And best of all? If you’ve got Xbox Game Pass, it won’t cost you a single septim.

All Notable Changes In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Game

• The base game.
• All add-ons and DLCs from the original game (Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine).
• Deluxe edition: new quests for unique Akatosh & Mehrunes Dagon armours, weapons, and horse armour.

Visuals

• New real-time lighting system.
• New character models and landscapes and “every single asset redesigned from scratch”.
• Lots of new character and combat animations.
• New lip-sync technology for NPC voice lines.
• More ambient details like insects and fish.
• Redesigned menus and interfaces.

Gameplay

• Levelling is now inspired by Oblivion and Skyrim systems. You can still level skills by using related action; like bunny-hopping to gain Acrobatics levels.
• Third-person camera is updated with reticle and extra functionality.
• Lockpicking comes with new visuals.
• Persuasion comes with new visuals.
• Newly-recorded NPC dialogue for different races.
• Sprinting.

System Specs

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel Core i5 10600K
• Memory: 32 GB RAM
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT or Nvidia RTX 2080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 125 GB available space