Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remake: When is it coming out and what improvements can we expect?

We are only days away from the release of a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the precursor game to Skyrim... that is if we are to believe the rumour mill.

Despite not having been officially confirmed yet, this could end up being one of the big releases of the first half of 2025.

Here’s what we know about the remake of Oblivion, which first came out all the way back in 2006.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion remake will be released in the week of April 21, according to game journalist Jeff Grubb.

There’s been no mention of the game by Microsoft or publisher/developer Bethesda because it’s likely to be what’s known as a shadow drop. This is where the game is announced and released at the same moment.

It is, of course, a bit of a failed shadow drop, though, given the relentless speculation about the Oblivion remake. This project was also referenced in documents leaked a couple of years ago as part of Microsoft’s bid to acquire Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft had to defend in US courts.

While the game is referred to as the “Oblivion remake” by most, it’s likely to be called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, according to leaked images of the title screen.

Keen eyes over at the Oblivion Reddit have also spotted references to the game over at the Bethesda website, in part of its code, further suggesting we’re rapidly approaching the launch.

In the strangest news of all, the game’s release has even been “confirmed” by Xbox’s Support, spouting that it will arrive on April 21. However, this might only have happened because Xbox has offloaded its support to AI.

The Oblivion remake is expected to come to PC, Xbox Series consoles and PlayStation 5. There’s no word of it coming to Switch 2 yet.

It is also rumoured to land on Game Pass at release, although we expect only Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will have access to it initially.

In one of the more unusual game leaks of recent times, a Reddit user found Oblivion remake screenshots by inspecting the code of developer Virtuos’s website. Virtuos is a developer-for-hire studio known for its work on The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition and the coming Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.

The leak revealed the box art, and what appear to be final screenshots of the game in action.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released in 2006 for Xbox 360 and PC, before coming to PlayStation 3 in 2007.

This remake is expected to use the same core code as that game, which is likely why it’s called a remaster rather than a remake. However, it uses a separate, and much newer engine to render its graphics.

Unreal Engine 5 will be used to render the visuals, allowing for a much more modern-looking game without having to recreate The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion more or less from scratch.

For those who have only played Skyrim, Oblivion was the preceding game in the series. It doesn’t feature dragons, but is an open-world fantasy adventure just like its better-known sibling.

The main quest sees you enter Oblivion gates, which transport you to another plane of existence. It’s your job to close them and stop demons invading your world. As usual, though, you can ignore that quest line and follow those of guilds instead, or just wander about.

While the Oblivion remake is likely to use the original game’s code as its base, it is also expected to make some significant improvements to the gameplay and interface. Here are a few on the most-wanted list:

Level scaling: the original game has a near-broken level system. The world scales as the player levels up, but the amount the player improves with each level varies depending on the skills they use between each level-up. If you mostly use your “main” skills, you can find enemies get progressively more difficult — even basic ones like rats.

Combat: While Oblivion got rid of the “dice-based” combat of Morrowind, which could make it feel in the early part of the game that your attacks were doing nothing, it does feel clumsy by today’s standards. There’s a suggestion the reactions of the player and enemies will be improved to make fighting feel more dynamic and reactive.

Magic system: Oblivion’s magic system is easy to exploit by modern standards, in part because spells can be made incredibly powerful but last a very short time. While this is seen as part of the charm of the game, such mechanics are usually a bit more stable or less prone to exploitation these days.