Summary
In some ways,The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastereddoesn’t need to give gamers another reason to play it, as it essentially markets itself by not only being one of the bestElder Scrollsgames ever made, but also a definitive classic RPG experience that many longtime fans consider one of their most formative. Even so, after the release of Warhorse Studios’Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2earlier this year, fans of that game who have yet to make their way over toOblivion Remasteredmay want to consider it, as the two happen to have a lot in common.
Whether it’s their open-world approach or their progression systems,The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion RemasteredandKingdom Come: Deliverance 2feel like cousins in a lot of ways. Of course,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2technically finds its roots inOblivionrather than the other way around, butOblivion Remastered’s improvementsnow bring it closer to the game thatKingdom Come: Deliverance 2is without compromising what it once was.
Oblivion Remastered and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Have a Lot in Common
Each Game’s Open World Takes a Similar Approach to the Other
One of the most prominent characteristics thatOblivion RemasteredandKingdom Come: Deliverance 2share is their open-world approach and world design. In an era when manyopen-world gamesnot only bloat their worlds with too much content but also hold the player’s hand the whole way,Oblivion RemasteredandKingdom Come: Deliverance 2stand out.
Firstly, each game’s open world largely relies on visual andaudio cuesto help guide players and encourage exploration, as opposed to map markers and spoon-fed content. WhileOblivion Remastereddoes include map markers and more are revealed as players explore, the map is largely empty until players discover locations for themselves. It does this primarily by setting them free in Cyrodiil, even to the point of essentially telling them to do whatever they wish. In the same way,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2doesn’t hand everything to players or fill its map with markers and instead piques the curiosity of players with distant environmental cues and the audio of nearby NPCs in need of assistance.
One of the most prominent characteristics thatOblivion RemasteredandKingdom Come: Deliverance 2share is their open-world approach and world design.
Secondly, each game takes a similar approach to environmental storytelling, telling stories without actually telling them. Players might happen upon the corpses of some guards and goblins inOblivion Remastered, or a dungeon might be filled with Vampires and yet have almost no explanation as to why.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s environmental storytellingtakes a similar approach in that, rather than simply filling players' quest logs with substories, it invites players to explore its world to discover even more stories that it doesn’t outright tell them.
Each Game’s Progression System Follows a Similar Set of Rules
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2andOblivion Remasteredalso share similar philosophies in their progression systems. Each game applies a “learning by doing” approach to progression, which sees players leveling up their skills, not by spending skill points on them, but by doing them.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s progression system, for example, sees players increasing their Speech skill by simply talking to NPCs and participating in Speech skill checks.
In the same way, players can level up their Lockpicking skill inOblivion Remasteredby attempting to open locks, even if their lockpick breaks in the process.
Fans ofKingdom Come: Deliverance 2who are looking for something that scratches a similar itch will find a lot to love inThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. Both games may differ wildly in tone and setting, but they share a deep respect for player freedom, discovery, and organic progression that feels increasingly rare inmodern RPGs.Oblivion Remasteredmay come from a different era, but its spirit fits right alongsideKingdom Come: Deliverance 2, offering players another chance to step into a world that rewards curiosity, patience, and commitment.
