The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has only been out for 24 hours, but already players are enjoying its nostalgia-fueled gameplay — bugs and all.
Every veteran Bethesda fan knows the studio’s games come with a generous dollop of jank. Oblivion, which first launched in 2006, was one of the chief culprits, with objects flying all over the place, characters making poorly-timed (but often hilarious) on-screen interjections, and things happening in the background that, in the context of what was going on in the foreground, were perfect meme material.
Nearly 20 years later, and Bethesda’s remaster (not a remake, it’s insisted), has all the “charm,” of the original, as Todd Howard put it. And that’s not an issue. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“Oblivion is back,” is what players of the remaster are saying in response to clips of the game going wrong in some way, or doing that Bethesda game thing of having a random NPC’s face steal the scene.
Even glitches players exploited in the original Oblivion have been found to work in the remaster.
The permanent bound weapons and armour glitch still works in Oblivion Remastered LMAO pic.twitter.com/Nzp8gCAucK
— Nerbit (@Nerbit_13098) April 22, 2025
And players are recreating Oblivion memes, trying to recapture the hilarity of the game’s NPC behavior as it was all those years ago.
Original for comparison pic.twitter.com/egYXGxe438
— crobb 🌹 (@corombb) April 23, 2025
None of Oblivion Remastered’s jank is seriously affecting player enjoyment of the game. For some it offers a warm familiarity. Can you imagine if the game had stripped all this out? It would feel… soulless, somehow, and nothing like the original fans fondly remember. Perhaps such attention on polish is best reserved for The Elder Scrolls VI.
Bugs, glitches, and memes are just one aspect of Oblivion Remastered’s success, which has seen players use the character creator to come up with some hilarious and nightmarish faces. There are also already loads of mods available, despite Oblivion Remastered not officially supporting them.
And it really does look like Oblivion Remastered is a hit. On Steam it enjoyed an impressive peak concurrent player count of over 180,000 on release day — a figure that’s set to increase as the game heads into its first weekend on sale.
We’ve got a comprehensive guide to everything you’ll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, and much more.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
