Summary
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis one of the most successful games of 2025, but not necessarily due to its nostalgia factor. Firstly,The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis an extensive upgrade of the original game — now almost 20 years old — as not only have its visuals been vastly enhanced using Unreal Engine 5, but many of its most crucial gameplay elements have been improved as well. However, one ofOblivion Remastered’s best qualities is not how much of an improvement it is over its predecessor but how revealing it is of where RPGs once were, how far they have come, and how far they have fallen.
One thing thatThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredreally highlights aboutclassic RPGsis how weird they allowed players to be with nearly every aspect of their character. In most modern RPGs, customization is not only highly valued but also generally present to some degree. Even so, that customization usually doesn’t take things quite as far as games likeObliviononce did, and instead tends to guide players along a path toward specialization and optimization.Oblivion Remasteredeffectively resurrects those days of freedom, as it places almost no limits on what players can do.
Oblivion Remastered Is a Reminder of Weirder Days
Oblivion Remastered Hearkens Back to Days of Experimentation and Personal Expression
Role-playing games have almost always included classes for players to pick from, andThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, like the original game, is no different. However, even thoughOblivion Remasteredhas several classesfor players to choose from, it does its best to ensure they never feel tied down to a specific playstyle. Even though players pick a class, they can still level up and use any skill at any time, no matter what class they’ve chosen. Their class really only defines the following:
Ultimately, this means players can essentially do whatever they want, regardless of the class they’ve chosen. Not only can they suddenly decide halfway through the game that they want to be a sword-wielding warrior instead of a fireball-slinging mage, they could even be a stealthy mage who specializes in hand-to-hand combat if they want to be. In that way, it’s not so much just the ability to be weird thatOblivion Remasteredhearkens back to, but days when RPGs were less aboutspecialized classesand more about experimentation and personal expression.
Oblivion Remastered’s Character Creator Is Robust Enough for Bizarre Creations
Another wayThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredlets players be weird with their characters is through its robust character creator. There are countless ways players can customize their character, to the point that players have made some of the most grotesque and odd-looking characters ever seen in a video game. One player even went out of their way to make acharacter that looks identical to Taylor Swift, and even though that doesn’t necessarily qualify as “weird” in and of itself, the thought of Taylor Swift wandering around Cyrodiil is abundantly strange.
One thing thatThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredreally highlights about classic RPGs is how weird they allowed players to be with nearly every aspect of their character.
In short,The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredtaps into a spirit thatmodern RPGsoften leave behind, where being strange, experimental, or downright ridiculous was part of the experience. It reminds players that role-playing was once less about sticking to an archetype and more about chasing whatever odd idea came to mind, no matter how impractical. In doing so,Oblivion Remasterednot only polishes a classic but also preserves a forgotten kind of freedom, one where being weird was not just allowed, but strongly encouraged.
