You've seen this kind of thing before: the more games you buy this is a cunning ploy to get you to buy games you don't actually want but there are enough all-timers in the line-up here that I reckon you could easily fill your cart with games you might truly desire to play some day The tiers are as follows: you can pick up 2 games for $3.50 each The numbers are the same in British pounds There are 15 games to make your selection from including classic Bethesda Game Studios stuff like Morrowind but also Bethesda-published bangers like Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider but the point is I think you could easily assemble a patchwork of five or more games to bring everything down to its lowest price one of the best immersive sims of the last decade and a game whose name alone is certain to plunge the PC Gamer Slack into a diversion lasting at least 30 minutes That was a weak link in the MachineGames series here's that list of every game you can pick up: Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals Joshua WolensSocial Links NavigationNews WriterOne of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War you will then be prompted to enter your display name Oblivion remaster art lead is "excited to see their interpretation" The release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is theoretically terrible news for the creators of Skyblivion, a long-in-development mod that recreates Bethesda's 2006 RPG in the Skyrim engine you could argue that the official comeback care of Virtuos Studios renders Skyblivion unnecessary there's the usual worry that Bethesda's intellectual property lawyers are going to erupt from the toilets like radioactive rats and eat the modders alive The Skyblivion crew professed themselves undaunted by the news, however. "This always was a passion project and still is until the end," modder KRebel insisted last week "For the community its a win-win as you get twice the amount of Oblivion this year." And Bethesda have now met them with open arms by not only declining to sue the pants off Skyblivion for intellectual property infringement but handing the modders keys for the official remaster and even going on camera to say that they're looking forward to Skyblivion's release "Even though I worked on Oblivion Remastered, I'm still excited for Skyblivion," art and development lead Dan Lee comments in a video, as noticed by Passable Crumpet Gamer "I think what they're doing is very special and I'm excited to see their interpretation of what we've done in the past I think it's a great year for Oblivion fans." In case there was any lingering ambiguity about Bethesda's goodwill the video closes with some footage of the mod The Skyblivion team are naturally very happy about this. "Dan, we're just as excited to get Skyblivion into your hands this year as you are to play it!" they write on Bluesky "Thanks for the shout-out and kind words." As he puts it: "by whacking up the verisimilitude dial by making you believe that much more in every flickering flame or dancing shadow or rapturous sunrise everything that actually occurs in Cyrodiil becomes that much stupider." No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission Rock Paper Shotgun is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited This excellent Fanatical bundle deal lets you pick up five Bethesda games for just $15 giving you plenty to play after Oblivion Remastered Follow us for daily PC games news, guides and reviews on X, Facebook, Google News, and Steam. Or sign up to our free newsletter Todd Vaughn's retiring after 26 years at the company Todd Vaughn has retired from Bethesda Softworks sending fans into a brief panic at the thought of Todd Howard's departure which would also make for a sweet RPG sim now that I think about it he'll still manage to find a way to announce a Skyrim re-release." Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications Now that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster is finally out in the world fans are looking to the other big Bethesda franchise in the hopes we get the remaster treatment there Fallout fans have been teased recently with a Fallout 3 designer commenting that there could indeed a remaster in the works and it will bring the gunplay up to the standards of Fallout 4 Speaking in an interview with Videogamer “[Fallout 3 combat] didn’t hold up to shooters at the time.” “But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4 So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into [the remaster] This news made its way to Reddit where fans began to feel excited about what is possibly on the horizon “The Oblivion remaster has made me significantly more excited for a Fallout 3 remaster. I love Fallout 3 so that would be freaking awesome,” said one comment from killakev564 This is echoed by Washinout91, who said imagine Fallout 3 remaster like Oblivion that also keeps the same atmosphere I don’t want to urinate on anyone’s campfire given the popularity of the aforementioned Oblivion Remaster there could be enough passion in the community to see it released As this fan notes “After the success of the Fallout show and now the Oblivion remaster I would be shocked if Microsoft didn’t start getting on Bethesda’s ass about putting out more remasters.” “I’m playing Oblivion on gamepass, but fallout would be a day one purchase,” enthused one passionate fan Let’s just hope this is one of those potential rumours that plays out for everyone involved Topics: Fallout, Bethesda To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories we're happy to send you some reminders Home> News It seems like the location of The Elder Scrolls VI may have been confirmed courtesy of a huge map Announced in 2018, we still know nothing about The Elder Scrolls VI. It’s been seven years (and counting), and it feels like Bethesda is no closer to giving us a gameplay trailer or release date Check out The Elder Scrolls VI trailer below given that we know very little about The Elder Scrolls VI it’s anyone's guess where it will be set a Redditor believes they may have found the answer “The Elder Scrolls Online points to Hammerfell for The Elder Scrolls VI,” claimed gorgrath177, and to be fair, Starfield may also have teased the same location “The various maps and expansions for The Elder Scrolls Online cover most of Tamriel the biggest exceptions being Black Marsh and Hammerfell Given the environment from the announcement [2018] trailer we can immediately rule out Black Marsh,” they continued “Bethesda had likely avoided the region in the MMO as it most likely will be the region in its next mainline game with all the other clues throughout the years it is all but certain that the next game will be set in Hammerfell The Elder Scrolls VI: Hammerfell has a nice ring to it.” “I honestly find it funny that I’ll probably end up dying of old age before we get a full game set in each region,” replied South_Buy_3175 “This, plus the map image they teased a while back, the Pinterest account that was discovered and Emil’s post of himself in desert garb and riding camels pretty much seals the deal and has for a while,” claimed Professional_Monk317 “I still wish it were Black Marsh,” exclaimed AscendedViking7 “It'll be High Rock and Hammerfell,” suggested thaddeus122 Bethesda will put us out of our misery soon and reveal all the juicy details about The Elder Scrolls VI I feel that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered may have been a deliberate (but welcome) distraction Topics: The Elder Scrolls, The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda, PC, PlayStation, Xbox The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered can be extended via a free download that gives the RPG a huge performance boost Hands down, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is my favourite game in the ever-popular Bethesda RPG series, even more so than the beloved Skyrim you won't see me turning down any adventures in the lands of Tamriel regardless of the game Watch The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered trailer below “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered modernises the 2006 Game of the Year with all-new stunning visuals and refined gameplay,” reads the synopsis of the game “Explore the vast landscape of Cyrodiil like never before and stop the forces of Oblivion from overtaking the land in one of the greatest RPGs ever from the award-winning Bethesda Game Studios.” To no surprise whatsoever, pretty much as soon as the Oblivion remaster was released, modders instantly got to work creating free downloads to help improve what is already a fantastic game As reported by DSOGaming, one such new mod gives the official remaster on PC a huge performance boost. Created by P40L0, ‘Ultimate Engine Tweaks’ is available to download right now for free via NexusMods this mod allows Oblivion Remastered to perform better than ever resulting in a much smoother and more enjoyable experience for Cyrodiil adventurers this particular mod is a PC exclusive and is currently not available on consoles The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out now on PC Topics: The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda, Mods, PC and that’s why it’s been such a shock to see Oblivion reimagined in nearly every way “I was assuming this was going to be a texture update,” Nesmith said “I didn’t really think it was going to be the complete overhaul that they’ve announced it to be.. “That’s a staggering amount of remastering,” he added I’m not sure remaster actually does it justice.” he attempted to label what he’s seen from Oblivion Remastered so far: “The closest that could come [to categorising it] is Oblivion 2.0.” “We know many of our longtime fans will be thrilled to revisit Oblivion and the land of Cyrodiil,” Bethesda’s statement added “But there are also so many who have never played it We can’t thank you enough for all the support you have given us and our games over the years when you step out of the Imperial sewer – you feel like you’re experiencing it for the first time.” Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe). It is a full blown remake and they should have marketed it as such. Looks good. Too bad I am not fan of Elder Scrolls or Bethesda games in general. If only Sony had Microsoft's money. They have the library I care about when it comes to remakes/remasters. We all thought it would be too. I really wish more devs attempted this. The first dev to figure out how to import the geometry of an older game like this into UE5 and streamline the process to more easily replicate older game worlds with modern textures and graphics (via machine learning, AI, or whatever other means) is going to make bank. I still can't believe no one's tried to come up with a tool for importing an older game's world/dimensions/geometric mapping to newer engines like UE5 for speedier remakes. Obviously I'll be the first to admit I clearly don't know enough about game development myself to know how feasible that would be in the first place. Still I wonder why no one is even exploring the concept yet (that I know of). This definitely falls somewhere in between with it functionally behaving like a remake, but mechanically is a remaster, assuming the comment below is accurate and the original game engine is still being used. The unreal 5 coat of paint has done it wonders. Make sure to disable those awful unreal engine screen space reflections on pc though. Could not find a way to do this on ff7 rebirth for water was driving me mad. Why devs would choose this method is beyond me it's a buggy mess. It's absolutely a remake. The team behind it deserve all of the flowers Like, Bethesda and Virtuous should stop gaslighting people. We all know they plan to sell another \"remake\" in a few years, but this time they will call it a remake on the cover © 2025 Eurogamer.net a brand of IGN Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 Mansell Street Level 3, London, E1 8AA, United Kingdom. No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission. Eurogamer is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited. Bethesda Game Studios has emerged as a juggernaut in the triple-A space and a $7.5 billion acquisition from Microsoft solely on the strength of its tried and true design principles Bethesda’s been responsible for some big hits and even bigger misses over the years, and since the shocking (but not really) release of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remaster has us all rethinking our long-calcified tier-lists we thought it was time to take a fresh look at ranking the studio’s output long time before The Elder Scrolls VI is anything more than a dramatically and perhaps prematurely revealed logo and while that’s a bummer for everyone dying to play it at least it means this list won’t be obsolete anytime soon although I’ve definitely got a soft spot for the latter game’s dark humor and infinite armies of cartoon dwellers captured in the charming Vault Boy style prestige sandboxes that immediately come to mind when one thinks of a capital B capital G “Bethesda Game,” though admittedly we’re starting out on a rather humble foot with… The first entry in the franchise isn’t last because it’s a bad game it’s last because nobody knew what they were doing The Bethesda of 1994 had basically only made sports and Terminator games you traveled the world competing in medieval gladiator battles The developers quickly realised it would be a cool idea if your fighters could walk around the cities and dive into incredibly difficult dungeons on their behalf The result is an impressive little first-person RPG that’s very much of its era a “where-the-hell-do-I-go-em-up” in the vein of Ultima Underworld and Might and Magic Arena has loads of arcane systems and randomized loot and extremely clunky movement that will make you forget everything you’ve ever learned about using a mouse Declaring your debut the start of a new franchise is a gutsy move that more often than not ends in failure, but the extremely flawed Arena was still successful enough to set Bethesda on a path that would fulfill its prediction, and boldly go beyond. The NASApunk sci-fi setting was a welcome departure from the low-tech locales of Tamriel and the Wasteland, even though it’s starting to wear out its welcome, but it’s ill-suited for Bethesda’s style. They’re great at creating one big connected world, full of discoveries, nooks and crannies, and intricately staged skeletons with nearby flavor notes. Instead, Starfield boasts 1,000 procedurally generated planets with what feels like a dozen different points of interest repeated between them. Now, we've solved more than a few dragon claw puzzles in our day, but somehow that never felt as aggravating as landing on a new planet and stumbling across another abandoned cryo lab or mine. Dear god, the mines. If you’re bored in a samey Draugr dungeon, you can just walk to something cool around the corner. But in Starfield you’re just kinda stuck dejectedly wiping out the pirates, hoofing it back to your spaceship, and blasting off with a sigh. It might seem harsh to place Starfield so close to something as primitive as Arena, but it’s easier to forgive the shortcomings of a gallant first effort from an inexperienced team than those of a $200 million triple-A behemoth that promised the moon and failed to deliver. its second RPG ever is one of the most impressive feats of algorithmic open world creation that ever existed though it’ll go slightly quicker if you’re okay with staring at the back of this horse's head for days on end as your precious time on Earth slowly whittles away Fallout 76’s pivot towards live-service, revenue-generating, trend-chasing slop gave fans grave doubts about Bethesda’s stewardship of the Fallout franchise, but they didn’t exist in a vacuum. Discontent had been brewing for a long time, even as sales skyrocketed. beyond the wildest dreams of Tim Cain and the rest of the Interplay/Black Isle crew that created the original isometric RPGs in the ’90s Streamlined gameplay and welcome quality-of-life features can turn a niche cult classic into a mainstream blockbuster but balancing that accessibility without sacrificing depth and complexity is no easy task while haters might contest that some of the Fallouts are superior scientifically determined and legally binding so let’s see how it stacks up Oblivion is the foundation of modern Bethesda games and every Bethesda game (and Bethesda wannabe) since 2006 have used Oblivion as the template rather than its predecessor The awkward pause and zoom in to start a conversation the ramping-up power fantasy designed to make a lowly prisoner feel like the most important being in all of Tamriel… It’s all here in pretty much its final form The main plot sees you fending off a demonic Daedric invasion alongside a Sean Bean-voiced bastard in a cinematic saga that borrows bigtime vibes from Peter Jackson’s wildly popular Lord of the Rings trilogy but Oblivion’s individual missions have a lot more going for them Instead of Skyrim’s fairly rote assassinations on behalf of the Dark Mother your devotion to the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion is tested by specific kill conditions that make you feel like an Argonian Agent 47 while Skyrim’s introduction to the Thieves Guild effectively amounts to getting approached by a recruiter the only clues to their existence are scattered posters and urban legends Maybe it’s the eye-searing ugly bloom of the XBox 360 era or the dorky potato-faced characters stumbling through their lines It could be the ill-conceived progression system that forces you to grind minor skills for fear of losing precious stat points when you level up or the repetitive trudging through endless Oblivion gates The enemy scaling is sadly still intact, meaning you’ll find yourself running into gangs of filthy bandits bearing glass and Daedric gear. Most of the frustrating minigames have been retained, and the combat still feels strange by modern standards. But would Oblivion really be Oblivion without the jank? Without expensive horse armor and actors flubbing their lines? The Oblivion Remaster is still the same game. It might be a little too early to tell if the remaster will be worthy of a higher spot than Skyrim, but there’s a fundamental difference between the two games that’s more than just skin deep. Skyrim loses a lot of what makes the older Elder Scroll games so special your character build isn’t as customizable You can quickly become the leader of every single guild and the biggest decision of the game is who you want to back in the Skyrim Civil War which culminates in an epic battle of about 40 dudes clipping into each other outside of Whiterun In exchange for the simplification, Skyrim received massive, undeniable improvements to the moment-to-moment gameplay You can dash across the landscape and glitch hop your way up mountains Additions like dual wielding and weapon crafting finally make the kinetic act of combat enjoyable in itself and the brilliant addition of shouts allows you to drop dragons out of the sky and blast guards into the horizon with a single squeeze of a shoulder button the game was designed with controllers in mind as a glance at the oft-maligned default interface will tell you but that brings with it a tactile and responsive game feel that Skyrim’s PC-first counterparts lack But the real secret that separates Skyrim from Oblivion is its space. In past lore, Oblivion’s setting of Cyrodiil was an endless jungle of East Asian and Mesoamerican-influenced aesthetics and the odd Ayleid Ruin dot a landscape that fails to leave much of an impression compared to Skyrim’s frozen tundra Skyrim’s geography becomes second nature as you climb enormous mountains and explore endless caves all the while knowing that the warm glow of Whiterun at night is just a cozy walk away it’s a place you wouldn’t mind settling down and living out your days in a comfy Lakeview Manor raising honey bees with your werewolf wife at your side It’s no wonder so many people found themselves lost in Skyrim over the years compelled to purchase the game over and over again with each slightly-improved release Skyrim and its suite of mods are the first thing to install on any new computer just so you know it’s there – a true “forever game.” Which brings us to the greatest Bethesda game of all time, coming in hot from the isle of Vvardenfell, it simply must be… No NPC is unkillable in Morrowind, not even the essential ones. In most Bethesda games, if you bludgeon a story-integral character to death with the Mace of Molag Bal, they just take a wee nap and rise again to move the story along. Morrowind instead presents you with the haunting yet somehow liberating message: “the thread of prophecy is severed… restore the weave of fate or persist in the doomed world you have created.” But that individuality comes at a cost. For every person enamored by riding giant bugs as public transit or reading 36 volumes of a Dunmer god’s wisdom, someone else decided to play Halo 2 instead. Bethesda made a very conscious decision to make Oblivion more inviting, and its investment obviously paid off. Still, it’s hard not to ponder what could have been. Reflecting on Morrowind, one can’t help but think of Baldur’s Gate 3 – a modernized, uncompromised take on the classic CRPG genre that took the video game world by storm when it was released. BG3 isn’t a retro novelty throwback, nor is it a dumbed-down trend-chasing crowd pleaser. It’s simply what fans of the first two games could have envisioned a long-delayed followup would look like, which begs the question: How would an actual sequel to Morrowind work? And would today’s audience accept it? It has been hard to play the Oblivion remaster because for all the good things that game has going for it everytime you actually have to engage in combat the experience is flat out attrocious I finished Cyberpunk and immediately jumped into Starfield and I couldn't get through more than a few hours of it Watching both of those games side-by-side is like watching 2 games from completely different generations I remember being a kid and firing up Morrowind for the first time The feeling of freedom was something I had never really experienced in a game before at the time Oblivion will personally always be GOAT for me because I was 13 when it came out and old enough to actually fully understand what I was doing (combat in Morrowind was tough to grasp as a 9-year-old) but for whatever reason the intro to Morrowind still sticks in my head as one of my favourite gaming memories I put 90 hours into starfield and I don't remember any of it I've honestly never felt this way about a game before Not gonna lie—seeing Morrowind take the top spot felt really good I honestly thought Skyrim or Oblivion would edge it out just on popularity alone But Morrowind was one of the first RPGs that truly blew my mind growing up It was the first game where I could steal anything and just play however I wanted—no hand-holding so I think people kind of take it for granted now I remember doing quests where you didn’t get a waypoint—you had to actually read the quest description and use landmarks to figure out where to go Sometimes it was super vague and hard to find.. it really felt like you were on a real adventure Valheim is probably the only other game in recent memory that gave me that same raw but I agree with most of what the writer articulated The only part of it I remember is the spell that lets you jump across the map which was really cool to pull off on the OG XBOX because it would essentially be a completely new experience for me I may be one of the few people left that have never played Skyrim I played Morrowind for the first time a year ago I can't possibly understand anyone that treats it as the best on this list It's literally only playable if you have a guide or hundreds of hours to wander around and find stuff Even the main quest has moments where the game basically goes \"Okay the world has awful to navigate (especially the northern part) I understand people not wanting Hand-holding for exploration Link to the Past is a great example of a game that tells you to explore but still gives you a good heading even the original Legend of Zelda does a better job of giving you a direction Arena and Daggerfall are unplayable to a modern gamer I actually bought Fallout 76 on a deep sale just because of how much I love the universe Stuttering and dated graphics are just the tip of the issues in that thing The ship building and space combat was cool Some of the factions' storylines were good They overshot on their ideas and couldn't execute them all but revolutionary for what it did and the freedom it gave you Unplayable in 2025: Every other game on the list but the only way you can put Morrowind on top is to frame it relative to its release date it just can't stand up against later releases It's not until after Skyrim that you can begin to find Bethesda games that are worse than their predecessors Honestly I really enjoyed fallout 76 although it did have a lot of negatives to it if they were to remaster fallout 3 I hope they will add some new features to it to make it up to date So I never played Morrowind until recently and maybe that is one of those moments where it's like \"you had to be there.\" Gameplay wise this is barely playable and you have to use mods to even get it to work at all So maybe I just missed the boat on this one.. One thing Morrowind did better than the others: skill requirements to join a guide and advance in rank it won’t because they’ll keep it open for “accessibility” but having guilds that have requirements gives it more meaning It’s lame when my barbarian who I’ve put zero points towards anything magic can just talk to a guy or cast some low level spell and 10 quests later I’m the new mage’s guild guildmaster Like you mentioned it's all based on personal opinion and I'm varied in the order of my own list but everything you included I agree is classic material I'd probably go with Fallout 4 as my all-time favorite I really enjoyed what you wrote here and I usually don't reply but I felt compelled to give you some positive feedback I'll look forward to more of your stuff in the future I was glad to see Morrowind take the top spot Morrowind was the game that got me into Bethesda games and I invested a ridiculous amount of hours into it on my original Xbox It's probably the Bethesda game I've played the most entirely and I would love to see it one day get a remake or at least the remaster treatment Oblivion got Lower public opinion but FO4 is still good fun although I played it a couple of years later with mods I've still not properly played Starfield but Fo76 being above it is v rough I know 76 improved a lot but a full on sp rpg should be beating it Almost at the end of Expedition 33 and it's been sublime from start to finish Never had it on my bingo card to be Goty but I'll eat my non existent hat if anything comes even close to dethroning it as GOTY this year I got to play Morrowind on Xbox but i just couldnt get into enough to buy it so i rented it like 5 times It was one of those unpopular games that no one rented so it was discounted to $1.50 for 2 nights lol The gameplay was very limited which is why Oblivion was such a huge leap especially with the combat system and is my favorite of all Bethesda games Oblivion used to be my most played game of all time @ 250 hrs I've been a fan of Bethesda games ever since I laid eyes on Oblivion screenshots in OXM back in 2005 I've put hundreds of hours each into Morrowind I'm a bigger fan of fantasy in games than sci-fi (typically) I knew I could take this ranking seriously a fully modded(2,357 mods) 4K ultra setting Skyrim is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had Morrowind and Skyrim are my top three in whichever order the first time I double handed casted a flame spell on a bandit I fell in love Oblivion is one of the greatest but for me Skyrim comes on top Revisiting Oblivion is a 'chills' experience its such a wonderful game full of interesting characters and a wonderfully realized world being able to revisit them is hugely edifying and massively inspiring I've tried some of the Fallout games a long time ago and couldn't get into them Please email if you would like to be allow listed Being criminal scum's hard enough without having to pull classic tricks so you don't get locked out of key faction questlines Warning: Spoilers for Oblivion's Thieves Guild questline lie ahead Hold on, let me explain before you haul me back to that cell opposite Valen Dreth. Bethesda's asking Oblivion Remastered players for input on stuff they'd like to see improved about the game, with a whole Discord channel dedicated to this useful moaning Forget 99% of it, though, there's one bug I've encountered so far that I reckon needs fixing before anything else, because if I hadn't been able to get a classic trick from the original to work it might have locked me out of finishing one of the game's best faction questlines I'm playing Oblivion Remastered and working my way through the Thieves Guild questline cos I'm cool so I've prioritised that and the Dark Brotherhood over those nerds at the Mages and Fighters Guilds I get midway through a quest in Leyawiin called 'Ahdarji's Heirloom' which tasks me with stealing a ring from Countess Alessia Caro She puts it in a jewelry box in her quarters when she goes to sleep so all I've gotta do is sneak in there through a secret passage even though the Countess is very much asleep in the bed I've had to shuffle around to get to it It's a classic Oblivion bug from 2006 repeating in the remaster and one of the ones that might have some consequences beyond giving you a laugh Luckily, a quick google reveals I'm not the first person to run into this in the remaster - plenty of people have and they've handily tested some of the classic tricks people used to pull to solve this issue in the OG Oblivion because it's just a fresh paintjob for a janky old car that seems pretty similar under the hood the main ones work just fine in the remaster and waiting in-game 24 hours (not necessarily in that order) because the other option was the can of worms that would be trying to physically block a Count who'll call the guards if he spots me from sleeping on the right hand side of the bed and get rid of the problems that cause you a minor heart attack cos you might not get to wear the sexy Gray Cowl of Nocturnal Have you had trouble fingering Countess Caro's ring in Oblivion Remastered VG247 is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited Delegate Marc Korman (District 16, Montgomery County) has provided an update on the MD 355 resurfacing project that has been ongoing this year, with the update coming from the Maryland State Highway Administration. Del. Korman shared the following on social media on Friday: “We have an update on MD 355 resurfacing project. Due to recent rain delays and the decision to extend the project limits to address deteriorating asphalt at the I-270 ramp, MD 547, the Randolph Road ramp and Pooks Hill Road (CCMS), our anticipated completion date is now May 16, 2025, weather permitting. Please note that this completion date may be extended if additional rain impacts paving operations, as we’re closely monitoring next week’s forecast. As a reminder, construction is during off-peak hours, weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and overnights, 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.” With the advent of SSDs and improvements in technology spending a lot of time waiting for a loading screen to do its business in a video game can feel archaic in 2025 But one former Bethesda developer has cautioned that they will probably always be a part of Bethesda games because of the way Bethesda games are designed Bethesda games are open-world RPGs that involve opening lots and lots of doors You’ll probably need to trigger a loading screen to open the door although it can be made faster with more powerful hardware Sometimes just leaving one area and going to another area in a Bethesda game triggers loading Bruce Nesmith, who worked at Bethesda on everything from Oblivion to Starfield, told VideoGamer that segmentation is an important part of Bethesda game design A totally seamless open-world isn’t feasible for the type of RPGs Bethesda makes because segmented areas backed by loading lets the games keep track of item placement and physics states after the player leaves an area which helps create the sense of leaving a permanent mark on the virtual world “Everybody who complains about them assumes that it’s done because we’re lazy or we don’t want to follow the modern thinking on stuff,” Nesmith said “The reality is the Bethesda games are so detailed and so graphics intensive… you just can't have both present at the same time.” “I can’t have the interiors of all these places loaded at the same time as the exteriors,” Nesmith continued And all the fancy tricks for streaming and loading and all that So you’re actually better off stopping the game briefly doing a loading screen and then continuing on “If you make a game that has less going on it’s a tighter experience and not a [true] open-world experience it’s not that anybody at Bethesda ever wanted to do it if the game was going to have the experience we wanted it to have.” Nesmith said the use of loading screens in Bethesda’s RPGs have been “a necessary bane of the existence of Bethesda since time immemorial." fans were surprised by just how often you’d trigger loading from on-foot traversal to simply heading into city buildings Players said Starfield’s loading broke immersion and added frustrating pauses to gameplay and modders worked to remove as much of it as possible in the years since The city of Neon was a focus of the loading complaints This cyberpunk-style urban area would often trigger a loading screen just for opening doors But did it have to be this way? Last year, Nate Purkeypile, who worked at Bethesda Game Studios from 2007 before leaving in 2021, expressed his surprise at the sheer amount of loading the game ended up launching with “It could have existed without those [loading zones],” Purkeypile said some of those were not there when I had been working on it and so it was a surprise to me that there was as many as there were.” why did Starfield launch with so many loading screens Purkeypile said part of the segmentation of the game has to do with the way the Creation Engine “A lot of it is gating stuff off for performance in Neon,” Purkeypile confirmed Ahead of Starfield’s launch, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard revealed that the game would release locked at 30 frames per second on both Xbox Series X and S to ensure “consistency” of performance we do lock it because we prefer the consistency where you're not even thinking about it “And we don't ever want to sacrifice that experience that makes our games feel really We're really happy with how it feels even in the heat of battle And we need that headroom because in our games Since launch, Bethesda has worked to improve the game, with 60fps now possible as part of performance mode The question will be whether Bethesda can make meaningful improvements to loading screens for The Elder Scrolls VI which fans hope will mark a significant level up for the studio’s technology While you wait to find out, we’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me. Here's why.","@type":"NewsArticle","datePublished":"2025-05-01T13:14:12.720Z","headline":"Ex-Bethesda Veteran Explains Why Its Games Like Elder Scrolls and frankly I'm baffled why so many people seem offended by the loading in Starfield They act like no modern game should have loading screens under any circumstances Except there are open world games with no loading…they just load stuff without you knowing It’s been common practice for most other companies for decades now Literally there are fan mods for Skyrim and Starfield that remove the loading and make interiors and exteriors seamless…Nintendo does it for both BotW and TotK and those games run on a tablet from 2015 (To be fair Nintendo does a smart in-world explanation for world resets) I guess it doesn't bother me because I grew up in the PS1 era when loading screens were more common and lasted much longer I don't even notice the 3 second loading screens in the Oblivion remaster The item location permanence is one of the things that make Bethesda-developed games unique The stage/actor system is also entrenched in this design and it's what allows for such modular control over these games That allows for the simplicity of mod creation as well but people don't realize that the modability of these games wouldn't be nearly as high if they had tried to change to a different ultimately less responsive game design structure open world games with different design philosophies and goals that you can play Bethesda knows that there is an audience for their flavor of game regardless of whether you or I are a part of it I mean idc if they want to make all their indoor areas as separate levels but it's 2025 we have SSD's and better hardware to help load levels faster Bethesda just needs to upgrade their outdated tech so loading those levels happens instantly like other games Bethesda's problem is that they use an outdated If you need a loading screen to enter a 2-square-meter store definitely there's something wrong with the game's optimization such as being able to jump from the highest level of Neon and fall directly into your ship you'll have to wait up to four loading screens to get to the same place you can jump directly from the second-floor balcony to the dance floor This proves that most loading screens are completely unnecessary and redundant ruining the gameplay experience as it constantly slows down revealing that the graphics engine is inefficient and unable to take advantage of the hardware it runs on Cyberpunk is a huge open word with thousands of areas buildins elevators and random objects to take and there is not any single loading screen I've never played these games but I've checked out footage to see what the fuss was about and I must have missed the parts where it's incredibly detailed and graphics intensive I guess the people at Bethesda have never heard of Naughty Dog to focus on something happening on the other side of the planet that the player can't see You have to wait a minute because some bees are mating in another hemisphere Are fog walls patented by From Software or something God of War and Devil May Cry wall off large sections of the map during combat sections to help load the next bit just throw in some enemies whilst it loads Give us something to kill whilst we wait for the next section They could've hid the loading screen better in Starfield Especially the air lock doors where it already takes some time for them to open and when using your grav drive on your ship one of my favorite parts of the remaster has been having it on my ps5's ssd but after 60 hours I've yet to see one that lasts longer than 5 seconds It's grea after decades of playing OG Oblivion where there would be 2-3 minute loading screens constantly I understand this from a programming point of vue but it is possible to program an engine that loads assets using separate cpu threads while not interrupting gameplay You just have to balance how much is loaded and how frequently And those bethesda games do that in the open world already The issue comes from when you have to load into a dungeon/building But even that can be loaded using separate threads without interrupting gameplay It would require a major re-programming of their engine though It would be a considerable engineering work Maybe they've done a cost analysis from a business pov even if there are a lot of loading screens they could absolutely cut down on a lot of the clutter There are tons of items that barely serve any purpose other than existing.. That's why segmentation is important for them.. It has to function within the bounds of an engine that is at least 20 years old If they completely rebuilt the engine so that its programming logic took advantage of modern hardware instead of being a Frankensteined piece of software that just has received endless patching to its main base they could keep what they/fans love about the games while also optimizing better but it'd also result in a better product moving forward I remember a loading screen for a general store It never bothered me having to wait a moment to load levels What bothered me is when load times started becoming frequent and lengthy Last gen games in particular became a chore I remember just not wanting to play the arcade modes in Soul Calibur 6 and Tekken 7 because they tool forever to load I've been playing Star Citizen by cloud imperium games and they seem to have figured out item persistence with no noticable loading screens.. And I would argue that their game is just as detailed and many magnitudes larger in scale it's been in development since I was in diapers.. I remember when loading screens had mini games to play while you wait looks 10x better than any Bethesda game and doesn't have loading screens The dev can go fire himself for being exposed as a fraud Honestly it's been time for them to move to a new game engine for the past 10 years Why they still use an outdated game engine is baffling Bethesda games are partly beloved because we all know object persistent worlds are more interesting to interact with. how many times in a game have you done something only for it to poof out of existence after 30 seconds or walking slightly away They keep track of so much stuff it puts server side games to shame and you might not even realize it but it's encouraging world interaction and your own creativity in ways other games just can't. Sure the special jank is there but the tech resources to smooth it out are being put to better use and eventually will be solved. and Bethesda has been using the same engine since Morrowind at the core but had they focused more on that side of tech. we all would cry foul as large chunks of interaction people don't even consider vanish and your brain tells you this doesn't feel good even if 1 thing is 10x better there are 100 things 2x worse They have been letting us plant Fables acorn and watching is grow since before Peter ever spoke his famous empty promises but you never noticed because quite frankly it had rough edges..but it just works I didn't mind loading screens until the loading on my ship in Starfield Every game I've played since then that has loading screens gives me loading PTSD 🫨 I didn't need to read the article and know why but not masking them with an animation like opening a door rather than a black load screen is another And on the 5th day - after God created the animals which roam the earth and the multitudes of fishes which swam in it's many waters God said \"And let there be loading screens\" - and there were loading screens God looked upon his loading screens and they were good Now Bethesda is calling on players to suggest where it (or at least, where developer Virtuos) goes from here. In a channel on its Discord called #oblivion-suggestions like the few people asking if Bethesda could do them a solid and just wholesale port Skyrim's combat system over to Oblivion one of the most popular is an adjustment to Oblivion Remastered's difficulty a little easy on its default difficulty setting of Adept I hardly take damage from anything and I struggle to find an enemy I can't kill with three arrows or a couple of fireballs There's no Goldilocks difficulty that feels good to play and that seems to be a sentiment shared by a whole bunch of people on Bethesda's Discord—over 5,000 of them most of whom mentioned something about the gulf between Adept and Expert being too vast But it's not just difficulty that people are nattering about There are all sorts of quality-of-life changes they want Sorting your inventory by type rather than just weight It'd make finding potions and ingredients much less of a chore if someone at Bethesda or Virtuos could see their way to adding way more shortcut slots the channel is deliberately separate from the bug reports section Bethesda doesn't just want ideas for fixes it's open to making further changes to modernise Oblivion without compromising its mad soul I'm very curious to see if these suggestions get adopted in future updates and curious if it means we might see even bigger changes (new DLC?) later on down the line I thought it and Skyblivion—the fan mod that rebuilds Oblivion in Skyrim Special Edition—were diametrically opposed If one gets mega-popular it can only be to the detriment of the other In a world of litigious megacorps sending the lawyers after their most passionate fans for daring to touch their IP it's behaviour that's been a real credit to Bethesda and the Skyblivion team both In a just-released developer spotlight with art and development lead Dan Lee Bethesda gave yet another shout-out to the Skyblivion team "Even though I worked on Oblivion Remastered," said Lee "I'm still excited for Skyblivion." Bethesda even played some footage of the mod while Lee waxed lyrical about it "I think what they're doing is very special," continues Lee "I'm excited to see their interpretation of what we've done in the past I think it's a great year for Oblivion fans." The Skyblivion team responded to Lee's shout-out on Bluesky: "Dan we're just as excited to get Skyblivion into your hands this year as you are to play it Skyblivion is still set for a 2025 release after a lengthy development process and it's not letting Oblivion Remastered deter it from that goal Add together all the minutes of my life I've spent in loading screens and you could send me into quite a grim depressive spiral And since I'm someone with several hundred hours invested across various Bethesda games how many of those minutes were spent twiddling Daedric artifacts in Skyrim's load screens or looking at cool Netch concept art in Morrowind you're gonna be loading for a long time yet "It’s not that anybody at Bethesda ever wanted to do it "Everybody who complains about them assumes that it’s done because we’re lazy or we don’t want to follow the modern thinking on stuff," but he explains that the fact of the matter is that "Bethesda games are so detailed and so graphics intensive… you just can't have both present at the same time." it's really hard to keep track of all those weird physics and the precise spot you left your cheesewheels across Bethesda's enormous open worlds if you aren't giving the game a breather every so often and trying to make 'seamless' loading screens apparently—says Nesmith—caused unacceptable performance woes "I can’t have the interiors of all these places loaded at the same time as the exteriors," said Nesmith "that's just not an option.All the fancy tricks for streaming and loading and all that So you’re actually better off stopping the game briefly doing a loading screen and then continuing on." The alternative is to make games with "less going on," but then that would hardly be a Bethesda game "So it's just one of those necessary evils… if the game was going to have the experience we wanted it to have." and it certainly makes me think about Starfield's immersion-breaking spaceflight loads in a new light but I have to admit: the ability to pick up every item on a shelf has never really done much for me in Bethesda games It can lead to some fun outcomes—like the famous Skyrim trick of robbing shops by putting a bucket on the owner's head—but it usually just feels a bit purposeless If the choice is between that kind of complexity and fewer loading screens Bethesda would have to lean a lot more into the systemic weirdness it's spent a lot of games stamping down on to make that complexity something I care to preserve Es tut uns leid, aber Sie können auf diese Inhalte nicht zugreifen. Bitte lesen Sie unsere Datenschutzrichtlinie The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion™ Remastered bringt das Spiel des Jahres 2006 mit brandneuer atemberaubender Grafik und verbessertem Gameplay auf den neuesten Stand Erkundet in einem der großartigsten RPGs aller Zeiten der preisgekrönten Bethesda Game Studios die gewaltige Landschaft von Cyrodiil wie nie zuvor und hindert die Mächte aus dem Reich des Vergessens daran Entdeckt Cyrodiil neuReist durch die prächtige Welt von Tamriel und kämpft auf den Ebenen des Reichs des Vergessens Die von Hand gefertigten Details wurden akribisch genau nachgebildet damit eure Erkundung zum unvergesslichen Erlebnis wird Schreibt eure eigene GeschichteGestaltet vom edlen Krieger über den finsteren Attentäter bis hin zum runzligen Zauberer oder rauflustigen Schmied euren eigenen Weg und spielt auf eure Weise Stürzt euch ein episches AbenteuerBetretet ein Universum voller packender Geschichten und unvergesslicher Charaktere Meistert die Schwertkunst und nutzt mächtige Magie im Kampf um Tamriels Rettung vor der Daedra-Invasion Die komplette StoryErlebt in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered mit den zuvor erschienenen Storyerweiterungen „Shivering Isles“ und „Knights of the Nine“ sowie zusätzlichen Inhalten zum Herunterladen alles Werft einen Blick hinter die Kulissen des Studios und erfahrt um eine Legende wieder zum Leben zu erwecken – mit exklusiven Einblicken und bisher unbekannten Geschichten direkt von den Teams die das Original entwickelt haben und nun an dieser kühnen Neuauflage arbeiten SchließenSchließenSchließenSchließenSchließenJetzt kaufenDeluxe EditionStandard EditionThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – Deluxe Edition beinhaltet: Neue Quests für einzigartige digitale Akatosh- und Mehrunes-Dagon-Rüstung und -Waffen sowie Pferderüstungssets Storyerweiterungen „Shivering Isles“ und „Knights of the Nine“ Zusätzliche Inhalte zum Herunterladen: Fighter's Stronghold, Spell Tomes, Vile Lair, Mehrune's Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard's Tower, Orrery und Horse Armor Pack The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – Standard Edition beinhaltet: Holt euch das Upgrade* vom digitalen Hauptspiel auf The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – Deluxe Edition*, um Folgendes zu erhalten: *Benötigt das separat erhältliche Hauptspiel © 2025 ZeniMax Media Inc The explosive popularity of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has us once again debating which of Bethesda Game Studios’ role playing games is the best Some have shown their age more than others but they’re all genuinely unique in their own way and bring something different to the table so we put our heads together to pick a definitive clear cut champion From the early days of Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls: Arena and its shockingly ambitious sequel and through the modern installments we all know and love like Morrowind and Skyrim plus the most recent addition of Starfield It sounds like we may very well see a Fallout 3 Remastered or Remake before The Elder Scrolls VI sees the light of day and Fallout 5 is still a long long way off so hopefully this list is as future proof as a radiation-resistant underground vault there’ll surely be plenty of debate over the top three even though it wasn’t technically Bethesda COVID-19 Updates Vaccine and Booster Information View All Media Advisories View All Speeches & Testimony Sign up for a newsletter or update your subscription preferences on Friday afternoon after a woman was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint by a man who then barricaded himself inside a car Montgomery County police said around 2:30 p.m Friday they responded to a call for a kidnapping in the 10300 block of Old Georgetown Road near Democracy Boulevard Officers spotted the suspect’s car on the move nearby with a woman inside They followed the vehicle to Rockledge Drive near Interstate 270 where the woman jumped out and told police the man driving the car — someone she knew — had abducted her at gunpoint The pursuit continued along toward Old Georgetown Road and Beech Avenue where the suspect barricaded himself inside the car Police briefly blocked off the road while in a standoff with the vehicle’s driver later identified as 31-year-old Robert Deeter Montgomery County’s Emergency Response Team was called in Police said they arrested and charged Deeter with kidnapping He is being held without bond pending a bond hearing Below is a map of where the incident occurred: WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here. © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Terik King is an Associate Producer for WTOP. Before joining WTOP in 2022 he held roles producing podcasts, unscripted television and content for MTV, the NFL and independent documentary production companies. Copyright © 2025 by WTOP. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. it also made some people worried that a long-in-development fan mod which also aims to recreate the aging RPG would face legal issues or be overshadowed when it arrives later this year That doesn’t seem to be the case as Bethesda themselves seem very excited for the project Bethesda even included gameplay footage of the ambitious fan mod in the spotlight video “I think what they’re doing is very special and I’m excited to see their interpretation of what we’ve done in the past And I think it’s a great year for Oblivion fans.” The team behind the mod replied to the dev spotlight video on BlueSky we’re just as excited to get Skyblivion into your hands this year as you are to play it,” posted the Skyblivion devs on social media You said it best: It is a great year for Oblivion fans.” Maryland marries the orange crush — and more intel All-day neighborhood favorite Simona Cafe completes its DMV-wide domination this summer A newly announced location en route to Bethesda will join the three-year-old original in Arlington Its third locale in Maryland will offer a familiar lineup of drip coffee The 1,300-square-foot cafe with a large patio (4520 East-West Highway Maryland) is slightly larger than the other two “[Bethesda] has such a great mix of things — offices and neighborhoods,” co-owner Jad Bouchebel tells Eater House-made syrups currently build springtime drinks like a honey and rose latte Cafe director and partner Tito Peña sources beans from Falls Church’s Rare Bird with rotating appearances from guest roasters like Richmond’s Recluse Coffee Pitango Gelato just announced plans to debut in Logan Circle this summer. Its eighth area cafe will serve Vigilante Coffee drinks, Italian baked goods, and house-made gelato in 20 flavors, including its ever-popular Sicilian pistachio. The 1,027-square-foot space designed by EastWing Architects will also sport a 10-seat interior Attendees at WrestleMania 41 witnessed an electrifying spectacle with a teaser for DOOM: The Dark Ages' latest trailer bleeding-edge tech and pursuit of awesome action on display see for yourself as the DOOM Slayer wages war against the forces of Hell in the full trailer here: WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre brought an extra dose of DOOM to the Las Vegas crowds at WrestleMania. Donning a custom outfit inspired by the Slayer’s armor, McIntyre’s ring entrance popped off in front of the massive audience on top fans worldwide tuning in live to one of the biggest events in sports entertainment this year Stand and fight when DOOM: The Dark Ages launches on May 15 for Game Pass Receive two days’ Early Access, along with the Digital Artbook & Soundtrack, the Divinity Skin Pack and more by preordering the DOOM: The Dark Ages Premium Edition – visit DOOM.com to learn more We’re sorry but you may not access this content. Please review our Privacy Policy DOOM: The Dark AgesGet your DOOM: The Dark Ages Wearable Helmet Replica today!Featuring LED lighting and bundled with extra goodies this accessory makes a stunning addition atop any Slayer’s mantle DOOM: The Dark AgesPresenting the DOOM: The Dark Ages Limited Edition Collection Get battle-ready with these themed accessories and peripherals fitting of the DOOM Slayer DOOM + DOOM IIDOOM + DOOM II Update 3 Release NotesDOOM + DOOM II Update 3 adds SIGIL II and various mod-related improvements/fixes DOOM + DOOM IIDOOM + DOOM II Update 2 Release NotesUpdate 2 adds Multiplayer Mod support for DOOM + DOOM II and game improvements/fixes DOOM: The Dark AgesPrepare for DOOM: The Dark Ages with our PC specs Be ready for the PC launch on May 15 with our minimum, recommended and Ultra 4K specifications. Intense ViolenceBlood and Gore© 2025 ZeniMax Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Per the news release: The robbery took place on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at approximately 2:00 p.m., when at least two suspects in a white SUV, pictured above, robbed the letter carrier in the 9900 block of Broad Street, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. The vehicle was last seen fleeing westbound on Lone Oak Drive Bethesda, MD 20814. The US Postal Inspection Service is seeking any information, to include video footage, and the identity of the suspect occupants regarding this incident. We block international traffic. Please email if you would like to be allow listed An ‘Elder Scrolls Direct’ of sorts culminated in the surprise shadow-drop which near-immediately transformed into hundreds of thousands of concurrent players This moment of global hype and celebration feels like a much-needed port in the current storm Bethesda Game Studios has been facing in recent years From conducting years-long damage control to rectify Fallout 76’s misfire launch to the lackluster reception of its new sci-fi universe the studio’s most recent output has had many fans asking the same question: Has Bethesda lost the magic There’s fiercer competition in the RPG space these days with Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds franchise both garnering critical acclaim as Elder Scrolls and Fallout spiritual successors But while Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 may be years away from reclaiming their crowns this re-release of Oblivion may be a step in the right direction – just not in the direction you’d expect This all leaves the developer with a big problem. With The Elder Scrolls 6 “years away” and Fallout 5 just a whisper in the hallowed halls of the studio’s corridors how can this once-iconic RPG developer enchant their fanbase once more and slowed Fanatical and Green Man Gaming to a crawl Steam’s concurrent players stood at 125,000 and the game is firmly the #1 best seller The enthusiasm Bethesda fans have for Oblivion burns as bright as the flames that spill from the Oblivion gates themselves The message from players is clear: if you (re)build it What better way to keep fans engaged and invested during these long development periods than to invite them to take a trip back to the mysterious isles of Morrowind or the hollowed-out husk of the East Coast While Bethesda’s main development staff toils away on long-gestating new projects trusted partners like Virtuos can use historic blueprints to craft remasters in shorter time frames Such remasters are based on games with built-in audiences and for many they’re the first real RPGs gamers will have sunk their teeth into during their respective generations Restoring these works also invites a whole new generation to become obsessed with the inner workings of the land of Tamriel or crawl out from the post-apocalyptic fallout into Las Vegas and D.C Bethesda has already strategically uplifted its own catalogue once before. Fallout 4 was discounted by up to 75% during the Fallout TV show’s first season on Prime Video, alongside a cleverly scheduled next-gen update which brought over certain homages from the show. As a result, Fallout 4 sales jumped over 7,500% in Europe alone despite being nearly a decade old Looking back to Microsoft’s leaked Bethesda roadmap many noted that a Fallout 3 remaster was listed to follow Oblivion two years later It’s important to note the timelines from this original presentation have shifted – Oblivion was originally cited as fiscal year 2022 it appears a Fallout 3 remake could be on the cards for 2026 – just in time for Fallout Season 2 While a Fallout remaster seems inevitable now given the second series’ shift to New Vegas could it be possible that Bethesda’s early conversations with showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet mean that a surprise New Vegas remake could be in store Given the synchronicity of the show’s first season to Fallout 4’s vibe and aesthetic could Bethesda level-up its craftiness even more for the upcoming New Vegas-centric second season It shadow-dropped Oblivion – it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a New Vegas Remastered trailer is lying in wait for us at the end of Fallout Season 2’s finale Morrowind is not as easy a game to remake as Oblivion It sits on the precipice between Bethesda’s evolutions as a studio – it is literally built differently to our modern understanding of an Elder Scrolls game there are no quest markers (players must literally write down directions given by NPCs Whereas Virtuos was able to overhaul some of the more finicky systems of Oblivion the entirety of Morrowind is a finicky system but it’s also why it’s difficult to remake To remake Morrowind is a dangerous tightrope Modernize it too much and you risk losing the magic it was originally imbued with Leave too many antiquated systems in place and it’ll feel worse than an almighty skooma hangover Sab Astley is a freelance writer who has written for IGN, Polygon, TotalFilm, Rolling Stone, Radio Times, and Metro UK. How does a AAA publisher \"get back on track?\" Not be creating new games in the year 2025+ but by instead remastering/recreating old games during their golden age! Some of which are nearly twenty years old! If that doesn't tell you what's wrong with media in our world right now, I don't know what does. I didn't care for what I played of Starfield, but it's very far from a bad game. Just because it wasn't Skyrim doesn't mean it's bad or unsuccessful. Bethesda doesn't \"need to get back on track,\" because they never left the track. Fallout 76 is a very successful MMO, Fallout 4 was amazing, even if not as good as Fallout 3 which is where Bethesda really peaked. What I find interesting is the pink and purple hairs that are now making all of the video games we enjoy say its no big deal to make the wo oke changes that they deem are required in \"modern games\", but it was a big enough deal to them to change the character creator in Oblivion from male and female to TYPE 1 and TYPE 2. Oblivion's their best game, that's why it's done so well. Morrowind is great in its own way, Skyrim in others - this is the sweet roll... spot. That and now it's their best looking game too? Easy. I don't think there's anything to read into here, other than they should get these guys on Fallout 3/NV (leaks suggest they already are). Voted Arena in the poll though bc I do think the first two need to be remade, but they'd be whole new games so it's not the same. Morrowind easier but that'd probably be more work too. ???...I mean, make Fallout 3 a thing. But Bethesda getting back on track would simply be for them to NOT implement bad ideas in their games.....They just need to quit ruining what works. Don't make power armor require fuel. Don't require settlement defense. Don't make planets that look identical to other planets, that also have identical enemy placement. Don't take away the joy of exploring.....etc. etc. Bethesda had the formula to make awesome games...but then they went down a weird road with Fallout 4, and it's been downhill since. But no, remasters won't fix their issues. It'll just give us gamers a better experience with their older games.....which is totally fine by me. Oblivion Remastered wasn't done by Bethesda Softworks. It was done pretty much entirely by Virtuos Studios, a multinational video game studio known for its support work. I'm hoping the same will also be true of Fallout 3, so I can also revisit the nuclear wasteland that DC has become. But that's not for Bethesda to look forward to, but for another support studio. People talk about Starfield this and that, but Starfield has long been just a side dish. Todd Howard's side dish, no doubt, but still a side dish all the same. Elder Scrolls 6 is the most important game for Bethesda in recent memory. Not Starfield. We will have to wait and see what Elder Scrolls 6 has in store for us before we start saying that Bethesda's best option left is to look to its past. Timing a FO3 remake with Season 2 of the show would be briliant. Especially if they shadow dropped it on the day the last episode comes out, maybe as the post-credit scene. I only played it for like 45 minutes last night, but it looked and ran great. It felt just like the old one, but looked brand new. It reminded me of THPS2 remake, felt exactly the same , looked new. I guess the best you could hope for with a remaster/remake? 🤷‍♂️ I had a ton to do last night and will again this evening, hopefully I can get some quality time in with this game by Friday I'd like to at least see console re-releases of Fallout 1 and 2 as I never played those. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas remakes or remasters I would definitely consider buying (and hopefully those performance issues would be gone). The story DLCs were great as well so hopefully they would be included. I don't see any point in remaking or remastering Fallout 4. This is probably the best remake ever created. It definitely outshines FF7 because we all know Square lost it's soul. Thank you Bethesda. Praise Todd How could you consider yourself a gamer and want to see any publisher or studio fail? EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Bethesda etc., became giants for a reason, I want their best...forever. Why doesn’t Bethesda doing anything with the old FO and TES games? Namely 1-2? Nostalgia and makeup is not a great strategy for growth. Not very interested. Diverting financial and creative resources to non-inovative productions for years is only justified if we are talking actual classics. I am not sure about Oblivion, but I would pay high for a remaster or remake of Morrowind, Chrono Trigger or Zelda Ocarina of Time. I’m loving it. I have bought Skyrim many times on different platforms over the year, but I’d buy Skyrim remastered tomorrow if they shadow drop it. Really looking forward to jumping in. Never had the chance to play Oblivion and I get to experience it in all its glory. Hopefully the gameplay has aged well. Consumers giving Bethesda the incentive to delay Elder Scrolls VI a few more years because they can charge full price for janky reskins of their old games is peak hilarious. Well done, consumers. How is re-releasing old games over and over getting back on track? It just fills the void while they take a decade+ to make a game. What Virtuous did with Oblivion remaster is astounding, but also likely very intense from development cycle. They may have been working on this for years. I don't know if older titles need all that honestly. I'd love to see the first two remade as those are the only two I haven't played. I did try the Skyrim/Daggerfall mod just to play through the main quest but it didn't really do it for me. As a lot of that game was procedurally generated, wouldn't that make it quite easy to remake? Questions for those of you who have the remaster. How are you finding the game so far? Do you think it needs a patch or 2 to iron out some bugs? Also my current wish list in order is: Days gone, Indiana Jones, Oblivion Remaster and Elden Ring. (wanna leave Elden Ring for last as Id like to take my time with that game. Would you change the order and put Oblivion first? Movies, songs, shows, consumer electronics all get remade with minimal improvements and it never bothers me. Devs remaking games doesn’t bother me either. Regardless of its quality, I don't begrudge Bethesda for trying something new with Starfield. I don't want to demand they be a factory that only makes two series. I do think they are in dire need of some new leadership though. Todd Howard clearly cares about games, but I think he's been behind some of the more harmful decisions plaguing the studio like the choice to wait a decade before even starting on Elder Scrolls 6. 1:1 remakes like this are always the way forwards IMO. There are enough enhancements and QoL improvements, but enough of the original is still there. the Skyblivion team shared news of Bethesda's outreach with their community we're beyond grateful for the generous gift of Oblivion Remastered game keys for our entire modding team Skyblivion is expected to release this year the team said that Bethesda has "always been supportive of community projects like ours" and that "there is no need for comparisons or a sense of competition" between the two games but those looking forward to Skyblivion will have to wait just a little bit longer Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com. Other companies would do that because it's competition for their own remake but this still feels genuinely wholesome in an otherwise often-ugly industry I think there may be a slight typo throughout this \"Oblivision\" article I have a feeling the remaster was more Microsoft's idea They understandably didn't want to let Bethesda to sit on the franchise for another decade but Todd and the other higher ups likely didn't want a New Vegas style spin off so they let another studio make this Hopefully Skyblivion will fix the bugs that Oblivion Remastered retains from the 2006 original 😶 I'll still be surprised if Skyblivion ever sees the light of day I feel bad for those guys after all the effort they've put in I honestly didn't understand half of the article because of a spelling error I know we aren't supposed to talk ppl down but you guys are running a business