Oblivion Remastered Proves the Original's World Is a…

Summary

Open-world games can overwhelm players with content, but Oblivion Remastered focuses on meaningful discovery.
Oblivion Remastered's muted color palette enhances the tension of the world's narrative.
Environmental storytelling in Oblivion Remastered allows players to discover and create their own unique stories.

The more open-world games have ventured into the future, the more they have given in to the idea that bigger means better, which inadvertently results in an overwhelming amount of content that is all but thrown at players. While this can result in a longer average playtime for an open-world game, however, the approach ultimately takes the joy of discovery out of the whole experience and can also have the opposite effect in the long run — an empty world that, despite being filled with content, has no life, purpose, or wonder to it at all. That's where games like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered come in, which apply an open-world formula that has become increasingly rare over the last two decades.

When players first stepped out into the world of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion almost twenty years ago, it was presented to them as an open-ended sandbox that refused to hold their hand while they crossed the street. This resulted in one of the most formative RPG experiences for those players, thereby cementing Oblivion in their history forever and subjecting everything that came after to it. Now, since Oblivion Remastered truly is a remaster rather than a remake, that philosophy remains intact, though with a brand-new color palette to emphasize the underlying tension of the narrative and environmental storytelling that is brought to life even more by Unreal Engine 5.

Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered Bethesda Honest Game-1

Oblivion Remastered Might Be Bethesda’s Most Honest Game Yet

Oblivion Remastered stays true to its roots by preserving its flaws, and that commitment to authenticity is what sets it apart as a Bethesda game.

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By Josh Cotts

Oblivion Remastered Shows the Personality of the Original Game's World

Oblivion Remastered's Muted Color Palette Reinforces the Underlying Tension

While it hasn't necessarily been universally received well, Oblivion Remastered exchanged the vibrant, saturated world of the original game for a muted, brown, and almost hazy color palette. Some likely believe this took the life out of Oblivion's world, and, to a certain extent, they would be right. However, the heart of Oblivion's narrative shows a world on the brink of destruction, with a tension below the surface ready to suck the life out of it at any moment. As such, a more muted color palette actually fits better in the grand scheme of things, and it helps characterize the world more appropriately.

Oblivion Remastered Environmental Storytelling Fills Out Its World

Something else Oblivion Remastered highlights about the original game's world and even brings it to life in a fuller, more meaningful way is its knack for environmental storytelling. Rather than spoon-feeding every quest and story to players, Oblivion Remastered, just like the original game, encourages players to allow their curiosity to not only lead them but to fill in the gaps of its world.

Players might wander into a dungeon only to find the corpses of some goblins and Imperial soldiers lying on the ground there, with no notes or visual and audio cues that would explain what happened. In this way, Oblivion tells its own story, and this is actually how it is throughout the game's depiction of The Elder Scrolls' Cyrodiil. In a way, this effectively makes Oblivion Remastered's world a character itself, which has been a philosophy of director Todd Howard's for quite some time in both The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series.

Something else Oblivion Remastered highlights about the original game's world and even brings it to life in a fuller, more meaningful way is its knack for environmental storytelling.

Oblivion Remastered brings players back to a version of Cyrodiil that doesn't rely on quest markers, constant rewards, or regular cutscenes to feel alive. Instead, its world feels meaningful simply because it gives players room to wonder, to get lost, and to uncover stories that are never fully explained. Rather than forcing players into a narrative, it trusts them to build one of their own, and in doing so, it makes the world itself feel like one of the most important characters Oblivion has ever had.

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