Hello there! I have been genuinely surprised by the release of this game. Not only were there leaks before they casually shadow dropped it during their presentation, but I thought that whole thing was a well-made hoax by some passionate fans. It was also not done by Bethesda in-house, but by Virtuos. Before I get into what I think about it, I will preface that I am playing it through Game Pass, so the price of the game didn't really impact my perspective. Another thing I should mention is that I am looking at the game as it is available commercially, because mods should not be a factor in taking a critical look at a game.
Starting the game
When I first opened up the game, I have to admit, I got a bad first impression due to the main menu kinda missing the vibes the original was going for. The 2006 game made a point of the main menu being a pan of the map of Cyrodiil, setting up the sense of adventure and discovery, while the remaster has the main character doing a hero pose in front of what is presumably the Kvatch Oblivion Gate, conjuring a more ominous vibe and being reminiscent of the Oblivion Game of the Year Edition promo art. After the whiplash of expectations relating to the main menu, the game itself feels pretty close to the original.
Graphics
The way the game looks hit me instantly, especially remembering how Oblivion used to look. I will not beat around the bush, the UE5 graphical upgrade looks absolutely stunning while still retaining the signature The Elder Scrolls design. It does not look anything like the original Oblivion, the rolling green hills are gone, being replaced by ones with more wilted grass and a few more rocky outcrops and the dark dungeons don't have the blue hue anymore (unless they are Ayleid ruins, which are really blue). It seems they have added fog to the game, which also changes the mood as opposed to the original, which had clear weather at most times and was showered in bloom too. All that makes the day less like an idyllic fantasy, but the changes they introduced to night make it feel more magical: the night sky is simply filled with stars.
Gameplay changes
There are a few changes they introduced in the remaster. The first of those changes, and most noticeable in the moment-to-moment gameplay, is the introduction of sprinting. It drains fatigue when active (as opposed to running, which doesn't do that anymore) and is linked to the Athletics skill, overwriting the skill perks which were originally also related to the fatigue consumption of running.
The second noticeable change is how leveling works. In the original release, leveling was a complex affair because you would get attribute bonuses based on the skills used to level up, up to a maximum of 5 bonus attribute points. It led to people making entire spreadsheets to maximize the skill and attribute gains. It also had a quirk of not applying attribute gain bonuses retroactively (like bonus health, magicka, or fatigue). All that has been thrown out in the remaster, now you get 12 attribute points to spend each level. You can invest those attribute points in exactly 3 attributes of your choice, with a maximum of 5 points per attribute, the only exception being Luck, which takes 4 points to level up once, and you can only invest those 4 points per level up. The attribute bonuses are also applied retroactively to your stats. All this somewhat serves to counteract the aggressive level scaling, because you get, on average, more attribute increases per level up, keeping you more competitive with the enemy and enemy equipment replacements at certain levels, so you can't screw your character up that bad anymore.
The third thing I noticed is that they added regenerating health outside of combat. In the original game, you could only get health through spells and potions. I don't really have an opinion on this one, since spamming healing spells was already monumentally easy.
The last change I noticed is the fact that they fixed a very funny and useful bug, the brushes in the game now have gravity, so you can not create platforms in the air by just dropping brushes from your inventory. No more stairways, I guess.
Small, pointless changes
The devs of this remaster introduced a few things that are small and pointless, but I want to mention them anyway. The first one is a thing that stirred a lot of dumb controversy, and it is changing the Female or Male selection in the character creator to Type 1 and Type 2, respectively. The change is pointless because the game still addresses you as a man or woman, and certain quests go further and change flavour text to fit the gender. It is also a non-issue in the game overall, because you only see the option for a few seconds when creating your character. Another pointless change is how the dodge animations originally were a janky dodge roll or backwards flip, and now they are more boring side and back steps.
New bugs
I am disappointed that they introduced some new bugs in this remaster, the most annoying of them being getting stuck in loading screens sometimes when leaving interior cells. The only way to get out of that state is to forcibly close the game, which is a huge bummer and breaks the immersion. Other bugs I've noticed relate to the physics going wild, especially when relating to corpses.
Conclusion
Oblivion Remastered is pretty damn good and it is a great way to experience Oblivion (especially since it includes all the DLC of the original), even though it has some issues and some changes I either don't agree with or am bewildered by, but I would not recommend paying the full price for it as opposed to waiting for a discount or playing it through Game Pass.
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