It is clear that Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are two of the best games ever made. Many gamers rate both amongst the best RPGs of all time, especially post-apocalyptic adventure Fallout 3.
This is why many were ecstatic when a bunch of leaked documents coming out of Microsoft’s case vs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC for short) in the US revealed that Bethesda Game Studios might be working on remasters of Fallout 3 and Oblivion.
Of course, this leak must be taken with a pinch of salt, as the documents in question are from a time before Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and its parent company Zenimax. Therefore plans for those remasters might have already been scraped, with Bethesda now gearing up to focus exclusively on The Elder Scrolls VI after having launched its sci-fi RPG Starfield last year.
These remasters could still be in the works, though, and its clear that many gamers would love to see a remaster of Fallout 3 hit shelves this year (2024 is the release year according to the leak). The 2008 game set in post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. is looking pretty dated these days, truth be told. And having played it back in the day, I was annoyed by some of its quirks, like how the world around you would freeze during conversations with other characters, it’s slightly cliched main plot (as in other Bethesda games the side quests are more interesting here) and the slightly quirky VATS system used for combat.
Fallout 3, though, was surely Game of the Year material back then, so it’s a pity that only the original PS3 version is available to play via streaming for those with a PS Plus Premium subscription on PS5. Xbox Series X can enjoy the game in 4K and 60 frames per second via backwards compatibility though. Meanwhile, the PC version can be made to look a lot prettier via user mods as is the case with other Bethesda games, although many players might not want to dabble with these.
An official Bethesda remaster (if it is actually incoming) would need to give the game a much-needed visual upgrade, and also bring some improvements to gameplay in order to make this classic RPG more palatable for modern audiences. It’s clear though, that many RPG fans would prefer to see Fallout New Vegas remastered instead, even if it doesn’t seem that updating the legendary spin-off made by Obsidian is a priority for Bethesda.
Remastering The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion does appear to be of interest to Bethesda taking the leaked FTC papers into account, though. Oblivion looks even more dated than Fallout 3, and is stung even more by the limitations of the company’s old Gamebryo engine: character faces in particular look bad.
Role-playing classic Oblivion could be getting a remaster.
Those looking to play the medieval fantasy RPG on PlayStation 5 (or PS4) need to do so via PS Plus Premium streaming as this came out only for PS3 back in the day, as is the case with Fallout 3. Meanwhile, Xbox Series X users can play at 60 frames per second and 4K resolution via the console’s backwards compatibility feature. It still looks a bit long in the tooth, even if this does lessen the need for a remaster somewhat. And the PC version runs fine on modern PCs at the same resolution and frame rate, and can be modded to look better too, of course.
Nonetheless, Oblivion is one of the best-selling games of the Elder Scrolls series, so it makes sense for Bethesda to release a remaster. Actually, one might be in the works right now at Paris-based studio Virtous Games, as one former employee revealed in a post on Reddit. The remaster would be running on Unreal Engine 5 according to the leaker, who claims it could be either a remaster or remake, slated to launch sometime next year. An early 2025 release date would be the case if the project (which is codenamed “Altar” at Virtuous) turns out to be a remaster, by year’s end if it is a full-fledged remake.
The thing is, there’s a fan-made remake of Oblivion named Skyblivion, which is scheduled to launch in 2025. It’s looking pretty good too, with the volunteers behind the game reworking many aspects of Oblivion, including its dull and repetitive dungeons. This seems to have some backing from Bethesda, as the Maryland company has been in touch with the Skyblivion team as the project lead himself said in an interview with IGN, also the Skyblivion mod has been featured on Bethesda’s own website too…
So does this lower the probability of Bethesda’s remaster being a thing? Not necessarily if Bethesda’s / Virtuous Games’ effort is just a remaster with updated visuals and gameplay tweaks, while Skyblivion is a take on the original which would provide a different experience to playing the original or a Bethesda remaster.
Either way, it would certainly be a great thing if Bethesda started talking about its remasters of Fallout 3 and Oblivion soon enough, if it’s actually planning to release these in the near future.