For $49.99 – or less, if you played on Game Pass – The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is a pretty impactful release. It showcases Virtuos’ remastering skill on Unreal Engine 5, which is all the more important given that it’s also working on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (and likely many other upcoming projects). It’s a new avenue for Bethesda Game Studios, previously only known for releasing new titles rather than going back and remastering or remaking the classics. The outstanding value of Game Pass, Microsoft Shadow Drop King (or contender to the crown), you know the rest. However, it also highlights how enjoyable the original Oblivion could be. The many secrets and hidden mechanics of Cyrodiil, the incredible quests and factions (The Dark Brotherhood still holds up to this day), and, of course, the irreverent charm, which Virtuos retained, bugs and all. Though it touched up the gameplay plenty, especially with the combat and addition of a sprint button, the visual overhaul is undoubtedly the gateway into the remaster and fully appreciating how well things have aged. This brings us to the natural question. Should The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim also receive the Oblivion Remastered treatment? Wait, stop. Hear me out. I know what you’re thinking. “That Skyrim, which launched in 2011 and has since received three different re-releases?” Yes, the very same Skyrim, which also received a VR version, Switch port, and an Alexa version to poke fun at Bethesda constantly re-releasing the game. Which ironically released before the Anniversary Edition. At a glance, the world seemingly needs a Skyrim Remastered as much as another version of The Last of Us. Plus there’s the mod community, which has carried the original game so far. Between dozens of new NPC combat styles, retextured enemies, an overhaul to the UI, higher resolution textures, new armor sets, revamped combat, and total conversions which completely change the game, what could a remaster offer that modders can’t? However, that wasn’t exactly the purpose behind Oblivion Remastered. While Virtuos improved several important elements and fixed the irritating leveling system, it left the core of the game intact. In fact, it’s running primarily on the Gamebryo Engine for its physics, combat, and other gameplay aspects, while all of its assets and environments were rebuilt from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5. While combat feels better thanks to hit reactions, improved enemy animations, and sound effects, the core is still very much the same. NPCs have improved facial reactions and lip-syncing, and even if their dialogue remains unchanged, it’s a different feeling compared to 2006. Or, to be more specific, it feels as immersive now as it did nearly two decades ago because Oblivion is now in line with modern visual standards. Again, an ingenuous balancing act, even if there are arguments to be had about the overall color palette. Imagine Skyrim with that same level of fidelity and polish, which improves the overall immersion while staying true to the original experience. That first moment when you encounter a dragon but completely overhauled to meet 2025 graphical standards in more ways than just improved textures and effects. And even if mods can offer all kinds of fidelity, rendering the game nigh-on unrecognizable – that too with several options becoming available for console players – ground-up recreation of all the assets is an entirely different beast. And while there are worries about mod dependencies, especially since Oblivion Remastered launched without official support, users were able to implement their own solutions within the very first week. Ultimate Engine Tweaks, Carry Weight Modifier, No Item Degradation, the High-Quality Music mod, and much more are available to enhance the experience, albeit only for PC players. When these will make their way over to consoles remains to be seen, but the fact that they’re available so quickly for the PC version, which shadow-dropped almost out of nowhere, the wait shouldn’t be too long. So, a Skyrim Remastered would feature a nice graphical overhaul, improvements to its core systems, and fairly significant mod support on PC if it ever happened. Best of all, it would likely include all the content updates and expansions, including all the extras and Creation Club content from the Anniversary Edition. It sounds like a great way for new players to experience the classic for the first time and long-time fans to rekindle their best memories of it, much like Oblivion Remastered. And with over 60 million units sold for the original as of June 2023, it would be a massive hit for Bethesda. This doesn’t mean there aren’t any challenges or potential problems. For one, Skyrim is an inferior experience to Oblivion in many regards. As successful and influential as the former was for video games back in 2011 and many years after, it received extensive flak for its continued streamlining of gameplay. You can’t attack while jumping, dodge, execute a power attack while falling, attack while swimming, etc. The role-playing system is fairly gutted, removing much of the character fantasy that makes Oblivion enjoyable. Don’t even get us started on the quest design, the magic system, or how much fundamentally worse the combat feels. You could argue that Bethesda and whoever it ropes in to develop this potential Skyrim Remastered could easily add several of these features. However, not all of them – Custom Spell is so fundamentally different that it wouldn’t fit. And if the changes are too extensive, it would go against the very goal of remastering Skyrim in the first place – to modernize the original without significantly altering its core. Of course, the developer could go ahead and do it anyway. Even if it wouldn’t make for the same experience as the original, maybe fans wouldn’t mind if the overall experience is better. However, there were complaints about Oblivion Remastered not being exactly 1:1 with the original in several facets. Would Bethesda risk deviating even further with a Skyrim Remastered, even if the result is better? If it does and sticks with Unreal Engine 5 for the foreseeable future, you can likely expect more significant performance issues. If Virtuos is onboard again, its experience could help mitigate the same, but it’s difficult to say for sure. Another problem is the development schedule. Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls 6, and while it may very well launch by 2030, for all we know, Oblivion Remastered took four years to make. If Skyrim Remastered is greenlit, would it take the same amount of time or longer? Would it arrive before TES 6 or after? If it’s the latter, will fans really care about the quality of life changes? Will newcomers want to dive in when something more contemporary is available? Unless the sixth game falls way below expectations, but Bethesda has never had that problem before, right? (*cough*Starfield*cough*) It’s also likely that the rumored Fallout 3 Remastered is being prioritized, and judging from rumors, that may be a long way off. If so, why commission a Skyrim remaster when another title that’s a guaranteed smash hit is coming up? Time will tell if Skyrim Remastered is on the docket or not. Bethesda is now aware of the sales potential behind its remasters, and while Oblivion Remastered is only $50, it could very well up the price for future titles. Game Pass will still present significant value in that regard. Given the price increases for Xbox hardware, accessories and first-party games, expect the subscription service to see another price increase. Either way, with how successful Skyrim has been, you have to believe that a remaster is more a question of “when” and not “if.”