Asking whether Oblivion Remastered is a remake or a remaster may seem like a strange question at first. After all, it's right there in the title. However, upon booting up the game, it quickly becomes clear that Oblivion Remastered adds much more than just a fresh coat of paint, with various systems and assets having been completely rebuilt from the ground up.

Oblivion Remastered Differences Improvements Changes Original vs Remake Knight City Guard
Oblivion Remastered: The Biggest Differences from the Original Game

Compared to the original, Oblivion Remastered changes much of the visuals and gameplay – but these differences don't sacrifice the game's soul.

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Oblivion Remastered improves upon the original game in just about every measurable way, yet still manages to hold onto the charm that helped to make its twenty-year-old predecessor so popular among players. Despite what its title suggests, Oblivion Remastered is as much a remake as it is a remaster, at least when compared to a lot of other modern titles with the "Remastered" moniker.

Is Oblivion Remastered a Remake or a Remaster?

The Creation Engine is still right at the heart of Oblivion Remastered, driving all of the world logic and gameplay. However, the visuals are now powered by Unreal Engine 5, helping to push graphics to the next level and making it much easier to make improvements in other areas like lip-synching and lighting effects. In the words of the game's executive producer Alex Murphy, the original Oblivion engine is the brain, and Unreal 5 is the body.

Oblivion Remastered isn't a remake like Final Fantasy VII Remake, where everything is redesigned from scratch, yet it offers far more than a standard remaster. It falls somewhere in between the two, with neither title quite right. It's easy to see why Bethesda opted to go with remastered, though. Much of the reveal was spent emphasizing the fact that Oblivion Remastered is still Oblivion at heart, and calling it a remaster supports this idea a lot more than calling it a remake would.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
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Action
RPG
Open-World
Adventure
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Systems
Xbox-1 PlayStation-1 PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 87%
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Released
April 22, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
Virtuos, Bethesda
Publisher(s)
Bethesda
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
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Engine
Unreal Engine 5