The moment I heard that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was real, I jumped out of my cinema seat and rushed back home, leaving behind a lot of confused audience . Just like everyone else, I had been eagerly anticipating it being shadow-dropped, buying into every rumor and leak - although not the ones desperately hoping the IV would switch to VI at the end of the announcement, revealing to the world when The Elder Scrolls VI would finally come out, as fun as that would have been.

Fortunately, Oblivion Remastered is doing well, extremely well, in fact, and that's largely down to the fact that it rather faithfully adapts the original experience. From the many flubbed lines of dialogue to the clunky gameplay, strange character designs, and whimsical world, there's a lot that Oblivion Remastered undoubtedly gets right. However, there are also a few things it gets wrong, one of which is a new addition to the experience. As much as I can see its value, especially for newcomers, I can't help but feel it is a mistake.

I Love Oblivion Remastered

It Is A Nostalgic Treat

I played a lot of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as a child. It was one of four games I owned on PC - the others being Fallout 3, Medieval 2: Total War, and The Sims 3 - so I invested as much time as I could into it. I became deeply familiar with Cyrodiil over a dozen or so playthroughs, although, amazingly, even by the end, I still didn't understand how the leveling system worked. I haven't touched the original Oblivion in well over a decade now, yet, when I watched the reveal for Oblivion Remastered, it all came flooding back.

Oblivion Remastered isn't a remake, or at least isn't being classed as one, but it certainly feels like one. The effort Bethesda and Virtuos have put into it is incredible, not just from the improved visuals, but all the smaller additions that help make it feel like the game it should have always been. Remasters often feel like how I a game looking and playing, but Oblivion Remastered, despite its title, feels undeniably better than the original experience in almost every way. I have truly loved exploring Cyrodiil again and getting to grips with all of its minor tweaks.

Oblivion Remastered Adds More Voice Acting

It Makes The Cast Significantly More Varied

One of the new features in Oblivion Remastered is additional voice acting. The original game's cast was extremely limited, consisting of just a handful of people, all of whom voiced multiple characters. They did an irable job, their voices forever cherished by those who played Oblivion at the time and anyone who has since watched the countless memes on YouTube. However, and rather understandably for a modern update, Bethesda and Virtuos felt the game needed a more varied cast.

New voices now fill roles previously done by that aforementioned handful of actors, which is why we now have different Imperial Watch guards saying the iconic "Stop, you've violated the law". It also means that each race sounds distinct from one another, something that helps make Oblivion Remastered's world feel far more believable and immersive. I completely understand the need to put new voices into the game, but I can't help but feel like it has fundamentally ruined an iconic part of the original experience.

I'm Not Sure I Love Oblivion Remastered's New Voice Acting

It Feels Too Different

I've written in the past about how Oblivion Remastered should avoid ruining the original Oblivion's best features, voice acting included. I was genuinely surprised then when they kept not only a lot of the original cast, but many of the flubbed lines, like when Tandilwe's voice actor asks to do her line again - something that's rather ironic considering she's the Master Speechcraft trainer. However, these new voice actors, despite doing a great job, add an unfamiliar sound to a world I felt I knew like the back of my hand.

There's nothing quite as distracting and discombobulating as wandering through the Imperial City and hearing a voice I've never heard in Oblivion call out to me. It is a minor thing, something that I'm sure I'll quickly get over, but something that reminds me that this isn't the same Oblivion I played over a decade ago. Perhaps that's the issue. Playing Oblivion Remastered for the first time felt like I was trying to recapture the memories of my youth, to embody that creative and free spirit I once had, attempting to do everything as I had all those years ago.

New voice acting is undeniably a necessary change for Oblivion Remastered and one I'm genuinely glad is in the game.

In doing so, I failed to accept the changes that made the game better. New voice acting is a necessary change for Oblivion Remastered and one I'm glad is in the game. Bethesda has also kept a lot of Oblivion's bizarre quirks in the game, all the weird features I had hoped would make the final cut. However, nostalgia is a powerful force, one that can ruin something new just because it feels ever so slightly off. I don't want it to, and I hope that I'll come to appreciate the new voice acting as much as newcomers undoubtedly will.

New Players Will Appreciate A Varied Cast

They Won't Be Used To How It Was Before

Those who have never experienced the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will likely enjoy the new voice cast, especially as they do a remarkable job of mimicking the tone and style of the original voice actors. While they sound out of place to me, they'll fit right in to those unfamiliar with the previous Oblivion experience. The same can be said about the game's new visuals, which do somewhat rob the game of the original's ethereal atmosphere, but are far more palatable to a modern audience, or the handful of updated features like leveling, sprinting, and even the third-person perspective.

Oblivion Remastered sits in a strange place for me. It is so steeped in nostalgia, so perfectly positioned to spark that sense of wonder within me, and yet I have long since moved on from the person I once was. That's not to say that I can't have fun playing Oblivion Remastered - the opposite is true - but that my experience with it is going to be vastly different. Of course, although it will take getting used to, I just hope that my 2025 Oblivion Remastered experience, although different, will be just as enjoyable as it was back in 2006.