Summary
- Oblivion Remastered introduces new movement tech like sprinting and enhanced skills for faster traversal.
- The Elder Scrolls 6 faces challenges balancing character speed and traversal inspired by Oblivion Remastered and Skyrim.
- TES 6's setting in Hammerfell may limit speed options like in Oblivion Remastered, creating a dilemma for gameplay.
It can be argued that Oblivion Remastered is not exactly a remaster and more of a remake, considering that it made some relatively big changes to the gameplay and formula, despite keeping most of what made the original game iconic intact, including its jank. As much as Oblivion Remastered's new leveling system makes things a bit too fast for all types of playthrough, and as much as players are flocking back to Skyrim for more modernized gameplay, there is one area where the game shines over Skyrim. However, it may be hard for The Elder Scrolls 6 to go in that same direction, considering the issue Skyrim had with it.
There are many core differences between Oblivion Remastered and Skyrim, to the point that they can't really be compared in some areas. For example, Skyrim cut the iconic spellcrafting from Oblivion and its modernized version, meaning that it may or may not return in The Elder Scrolls 6. Perhaps more importantly, Oblivion Remastered made further changes to the movement tech of the original game, adding the ability for characters to sprint at the cost of Stamina. This, combined with some other tools Oblivion Remastered has, puts The Elder Scrolls 6 in a rough spot because it may not be able to be exactly like either of its predecessors.
How Oblivion Remastered Proves Cheaters Can Actually Prosper
Oblivion Remastered has many ways in which it can be broken and allow players to "cheat" their way to improvements, and it's not a bad thing.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place With Character Speed
Oblivion Remastered's Athletics and Acrobatics skills make characters run faster and jump higher, which is combined with the new sprinting mechanic for a very speedy traversal system, especially considering that one can hypothetically increase their Speed attribute and take both Athletics and Acrobatics over 100 with spells. If players so wish, they can make their character extremely fast overall, making horses obsolete. Skyrim faced a similar problem in its making, but it went the opposite route, as going too fast on a horse or on foot would cause the game not to load.
Skyrim notably cut Athletics and Acrobatics, so without those and spellcrafting, the player character is mostly going to be much slower than that of Oblivion Remastered.
This was disclosed in a documentary by Jonah Lobe on YouTube explaining the process of creating Skyrim from the developers' point of view, with Todd Howard reportedly saying in a meeting that he would be fine with cutting horses if it meant making exploration feel better. The technology has improved since the days when Skyrim was made, but it's still possible that a character going at full speed with spellcrafting in Oblivion Remastered may not be fully translatable in terms of gameplay for The Elder Scrolls 6.
As such, the question of whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will be similar to Skyrim over other games like Oblivion Remastered or vice versa remains, especially in terms of character speed and traversal. The problem is that Oblivion Remastered makes it clear that sprinting and running in Skyrim is a bit too slow, but if The Elder Scrolls 6 ends up being more ambitious than its predecessor, then implementing that same speed may not be feasible for several reasons. For example, going faster than a horse effectively makes mounts moot, which is still not a great solution to the problem.
Why TES 6 Can't Use Skyrim's Approach to Speed or Oblivion Remastered's
It remains to be seen what The Elder Scrolls 6's setting will look like, but if it's indeed Hammerfell, with some locations having multiple biomes and points of interest situated at various levels of elevation, it may be hard to go back to Skyrim's speeds after Oblivion Remastered. Likewise, Oblivion Remastered's system may be a bit overtuned in general, and it may not truly fit from a lore perspective in Hammerfell, where there's a fair bit of desert areas where heat and sand would theoretically make it impossible to sprint across the map at high speeds.
If anything, TES 6 should at least bring Athletics and Acrobatics back. For now, players must wait and see until more of the game is revealed, but they shouldn't grow too fond of their character's speed in Oblivion Remastered.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 87%
- Released
- April 22, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Violence
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Action, RPG, Open-World, Adventure
