The gates of Cyrodiil swung open again on April 22, 2025, as Bethesda Softworks unleashed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on an unsuspecting gaming world. After years of whispers, leaks, and fevered fan speculation, the long-rumored overhaul of the 2006 role-playing epic landed with a thud, available the same day as its official reveal. It’s a shadow drop that caught even the most plugged-in gamers off guard, and the remaster is already sparking chatter across platforms from PlayStation to PC.
This isn’t just a fresh coat of paint on an old classic. The remaster, developed by French studio Virtuos with Bethesda’s watchful eye, rebuilds Oblivion from the ground up using Unreal Engine 5. The result is a visual leap that transforms the rolling hills and crumbling ruins of Cyrodiil into a 2025-worthy spectacle. Lip-sync tech, once a clunky hallmark of the original, now moves with eerie precision, thanks to Unreal’s latest tools. Audio’s been polished, the user interface revamped, and the leveling system tweaked to blend the best of Oblivion’s grind with Skyrim’s smoother progression. Encumbrance rules and non-combat perks got a modern facelift too, though the infamous persuasion minigame—love it or hate it—survives intact.
The game launched across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a price tag of $49.99. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can dive in at no extra cost, a move that’s likely to flood Cyrodiil with new adventurers. Both of Oblivion’s expansions, Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine, come bundled in, along with all the original downloadable content. Installation’s a beast, though—clocking in at 119.2 GB, a far cry from the original’s lean 4.6 GB. Getting the Adoring Fan’s fawning grin up to modern standards apparently takes some serious disk space.
Bethesda’s announcement came via a livestream on April 22, broadcast on YouTube and Twitch. The reveal was teased a day earlier through social media posts from Bethesda’s official accounts, flashing the Roman numeral “IV” and a cryptic promise that “all will be revealed.” By the time the stream kicked off, the cat was already half out of the bag. Leaks had been piling up for weeks—screenshots surfaced on April 15, hosted on Virtuos’ website under the codename “Altar,” and dataminers had sniffed out file sizes and platform details. Even Xbox Support let slip that the game was imminent, though Bethesda stayed mum until the last possible second.
The remaster’s roots trace back to a 2023 leak during the FTC’s showdown with Microsoft over its Activision Blizzard acquisition. Internal Microsoft documents, accidentally made public, listed an Oblivion remaster slated for late 2022. That timeline clearly slipped, but the project stayed alive, fueled by fan demand and Bethesda’s need to keep Elder Scrolls fans fed while The Elder Scrolls VI remains a distant speck on the horizon. The 2023 leak also hinted at a Fallout 3 remaster, though no word on that has surfaced since.
Virtuos, the studio tasked with the heavy lifting, isn’t new to remasters. Their track record includes ports and updates for major titles, and their design philosophy—shared in a 2024 interview—focused on recapturing the “feeling of the memory” rather than just slapping on shiny graphics. For Oblivion, that means preserving the game’s sprawling, sometimes janky charm while making it feel at home on today’s hardware. Early gameplay footage shown during the reveal stream highlighted updated combat mechanics and stealth systems, though purists will be relieved to hear the core physics and structure remain untouched.
The timing of the drop is no accident. With Elder Scrolls VI still years away—speculation points to 2026 or 2027 based on the same 2023 leak—Bethesda needed something to tide over a restless fanbase. Oblivion, a fan favorite for its sweeping quests like “A Brush with Death,” fits the bill. Its arrival has already spiked interest in the original, with Xbox player counts for the 2006 version jumping 85% in the days leading up to the remaster’s reveal.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Windows Store. It includes Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, and all original DLC. The game occupies 119.2 GB and costs $49.99, or free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.