The online community was thrown into a frenzy about the Oblivion remake. The video, shared excitedly by this very gamer, shows Cyrodiil as nothing less than a wonder with present-day graphics; one would say that someone took the 2006 classic and pumped it with next-gen steroids. Reactions? Chaotic, in the best way possible.
The original tweet read simply, “Oblivion remake looks BEAUTIFUL” and three crying emojis were added, followed by a link to the footage. No official announcement from Bethesda, no studio confirmation-just somebody’s labor of love or maybe an early leak from a really big project? Either way, the internet is wobbling on its knees at the moment.
The drama gets spicier with the comment about Virtuous. For the uninitiated, Virtuous is the supporting studio credited with some insane-level visual upgrades-like the Shadow of the Colossus remake and Ghost of Tsushima’s PC port. But if they are involved here? Ohhhh buddy. These don’t smell like fan mods-we might be looking at a full-blown Oblivion remaster here.
Bring on the Imperial City, complete with crazy textures-every brick looks as though it’s been carved by the hand-watering reflections are acting like real water, and lights? Chef’s kiss. Almost like someone used CGI to transform the original potato-faced NPCs into actual humans. The entire illustrious lines of “STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM” would have sounded 200% more fearsome player-anxiety inducing with these visuals.
Now here’s where things start to muddle-the absence of official announcements means there is a 50-50 chance that it is fake. It could just be one elaborately staged Unreal Engine 5 fan project (we’ve been seeing quite a few pop up lately). That could be a leaked test build from some secret Bethesda remaster. Or it might be Virtous teasing Microsoft with what they can offer once the acquisition of Activision goes through. The tweet gives no indication of context beyond “look at this pretty thing.” Somehow that just makes the hype crazier.
The silence of the replies to the original tweet is deafening too- you would expect a chorus of “SOURCE??” or “FAKE!”. But no. Just this one pretty clip blasted into the great emptiness while the Elder Scrolls fandom collectively combusts. Perhaps everyone is too busy trying to pick up their jaws off the ground to text?
The very existence would change the game if it is proven true. The beauty of Oblivion is its old charm in a janky-but-lovable presentation, but modernizing the titles would probably pull another completely new generation into the Shivering Isles madness. And botched or not, Bethesda could definitely use some nostalgic goodwill after mixed reception for Starfield.
As for now? We wait. And perhaps reinstall Oblivion just in case this turns out to be some crazy mod we can download tomorrow. In any case, the bar for visual fantasy RPGs was just yeeted into the stratosphere. Just don’t expect that Adoring Fan’s haircut to look any less ridiculous in 4k.
