Summary
- Keep custom spell creation and maintain balance to allow for creative playstyles.
- Ensure the HUD remains minimal and medieval-inspired for an immersive experience.
- Retain hands-free magic and hotkeys for action-oriented gameplay and player convenience.
Despite being around two decades old, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion continues to fascinate RPG fans and gamers with its groundbreaking world design, meme-worthy NPCs, and immersive, compelling quests. With word of a remake on the horizon, fans are eager to see what a reimagining of Cyrodiil and its otherworldly planes could offer.
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However, while there are plenty of remakes that did very well in recent years, there is a growing list of remakes that completely fumbled the job. Some of Oblivion's features and design choices may have fallen out of popularity in recent years, but removing or altering them would undermine what made the game a classic.
Custom Spell Creation & Broken Builds
Fun Should Always Come (Closely) After Balance
It was perhaps over a consideration of balance that custom spell creation was removed from Oblivion's follow-up, Skyrim, but not a decision that was too well received by fans. The custom spell-making system in The Elder Scrolls 4 may not be as accessible or flexible as Morrowind's, but it was beloved, thanks in part to Oblivion's upgraded magical visual effects.
Cutting this corner for balance would be a step too far and would deny magic users from roleplaying their "experimental mage" archetype. Spell-making is (literally) gated behind the Arcane University doors, meaning that mages cannot immediately break the game with overpowered combinations. That said, breaking balance in an Elder Scrolls in the late game is not a bug but an important contributor to the fun factor.
The Minimally-Intrusive HUD
The Iconic Medival Style Imagary Holds Lasting Appeal
Leaked details suggest that the HUD will be updated for younger, modern audiences. With today’s games offering a wide range of styles, from sleek and minimalism to dense, flashy interfaces, it is unclear what direction the remake will take.
Oblivion’s HUD is iconic for its medieval-inspired design, and while modernization would be welcome, players value the sense of freedom and discovery The Elder Scrolls offers. A cluttered interface could spoil this experience. Virtuos should include customization options, allowing players to control what appears on the HUD, from condition icons to floating quest markers.
Bright, Cozy, & Optimistic Atmosphere
Lived-In Worlds Are An Elder Scrolls Staple
When The Elder Scrolls 4 was first released in 2006, its visuals were cutting-edge. Today, many fans opine that its graphics have aged badly, even compared to its predecessor, Morrowind, from its NPCs to bloom-drenched environments. Although Bethesda's buggy, uncanny, and unintentionally hilarious NPCs certainly add to Oblivion's appeal, replicating them intentionally would probably seem forced. In short, they are unlikely to return. Any remake will inevitably come with a graphical facelift, especially through the Unreal engine.
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Virtuos will likely diverge from the smudgy, ice-cream-haired design of Oblivion's original NPCs. However, there is a risk of stripping out the essence that fans enjoy about The Elder Scrolls 4 in an over-zealous course correction. The worlds in Elder Scrolls games have odd, homely, and often whimsical places, as well as dingy dungeons and eerie crypts, and Virtuos should not lose sight of that. While it should go without saying, Oblivion's original soundtrack must remain intact in a remake, given that the music is half of the magic.
Hands-Free Magic & Hotkeys
A Spellsword And Holy Crusader Favorite
Binding the player character's hands to a key or button in Skyrim was a fascinating design choice and one that added a great amount of immersion. However, a feature that Skyrim players will likely appreciate when returning to The Elder Scrolls 4 is the dedicated, hands-free spell slot available to them, even while wielding a two-handed weapon or shield.
Skyrim had a "powers" button that acted as a hands-free option for once-per-day abilities or shouts). However, this still denied paladins, magical archers, or claymore-wielding spellswords their playstyles. Additionally, Oblivion's hotkeys, in which players can assign items or spells, allow for more action-oriented gameplay (although the 8 and 9 keys were admittedly hard to reach, especially without a num pad), in contrast to Skyrim's pause-and-swap quick-menu
The Intimate Scale Of The World & Quest Pacing
Rescaling Cyrodiil Without Losing Pacing
There may be a temptation to scale up Cyrodiil to make the Imperial homeland feel truly massive. While this may do wonders for immersion, there is a question as to whether Virtuos has the resources to fill a larger map size with compelling quests, characters, and memorable moments in the same way that Oblivion does with its map.
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The distance between places in the original Cyrodiil is just right, allowing players to get from A to B and run into adventures without getting overwhelmed or bored by vacuous open space. Fast travel and loading screens aren't the perfect remedies for the problem of massive distances, as some of the harshest Starfield critics would be quick to point out. As such, Virtuos should prioritize maintaining a balanced world size that preserves the pacing and accessibility of the original.
Statistical Progression & Other Roleplaying Staples
Save The Streamlining For Future TES Games
Bethesda is known for its streamlining of features and mechanics between games, but the total removal of statistical elements (attributes and classes) went too far for some fans. Giving the Oblivion remake the same treatment would homogenize builds and leave the game flavorless.
Even if classes and attributes were replaced by something like a perk system, its core identity would be lost. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, a remake would be the perfect chance to thoughtfully fine-tune these systems to make them engaging, intuitive, and fun.
A Hard-Earned Ascent Through Guild Ranks
The Toughest Climbs Are The Most Gratifying To Conquer
Skyrim fans may have noticed how quickly they progressed through the ranks of guilds. The Last Dragonborn can become the leader of the magical College of Winterhold despite knowing exactly zero spells, the leader of the rough, tough companions can be a stealth archer, and so on. Because of this, Skyrim became something more akin to a theme park than a lived-in world.
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Oblivion may have created friction with its players by making the ascent through the Mages Guild or Thieves Guild dependent on skill level or tasks completed, but in turn, ascention came with a huge sense of accomplishment. Without staggered promotion, Skyrim's faction questlines often feel rushed. Unless Viruos wishes to implement a difficulty slider for guild progression speed, it should leave it as it was originally.
Simple Combat And Forgiving Difficulty
Accessibility Is Part Of Why TES Has Such Appeal
A line in Virtuos' Oblivion remake leaks details how the studio plans on reworking Oblivion's blocking mechanics to bring it more in line with games like Dark Souls. While there is little chance that this will mean a remake will offer the same difficulty levels of a soulslike game, it is worth pointing out that, while the series has grown more into an action RPG in recent years, combat in an Elder Scrolls has never been difficult, deep, or mechanically complex, and for a good reason.
Forcing players to develop twitchy combat prowess and a technical understanding of new fighting mechanics would not only drive away those who enjoy the series for its atmosphere and story, but it would ratchet up the player's tension levels. Putting players on edge this way would spoil their ability to enjoy the slower, meditative parts of Oblivion's game loop (the friendly dialogue, exploration, and immersion experienced between encounters).
Moddability And Community Construction Tools
Giving Power To The People (And Long Life To The Game)
A great deal of what has given The Elder Scrolls its longevity in gaming culture is Bethesda's gracious and collectivistic attitude to its community and its willingness to share its development tools. Since Morrowind, fans have kept the game relevant through mods and large-scale passion projects that extend the game beyond that of Bethesda's creations.
While making games moddable can be a considerable cost during development, releasing an Elder Scrolls game without modding tools, or at least documentation, would just feel wrong. How Virtuos would extend such a branch to the community is unclear, but the Oblivion remake's staying power might depend on it.
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