Elder Scrolls IV: Forgotten Remake Review

Yes, the original version of Oblivion doesn't see any scruff. There is no beard in the character creator, nor a beard, which can be found in the huge province of Sirodir. Adding a beard to a few NPCs around the world does not change the core experience of forgetting. In fact, half of the characters I encountered in my adventures are still unsettling, even with facial hair and improved graphics. For some, this can be offensive – especially when juxtaposed with the shocking visuals of the remake, but for me, it’s not forgotten without some really disturbing character models. This is part of the “charm” mentioned by the game director Todd Howard in the show stream.

Benevolent people also seem to understand the “charm” of trademark forgetting, as the remade Bethesda Jank remains intact while gently re-campus some of the more obsolete mechanisms. Pursers will certainly find something to work hard, and beginners may scratch their heads on some of the remaining janks, but the return of Forgetfulness feels like the most logical compromise. The visuals have been completely recreated to take advantage of Unreal Engine 5, but the characters still don't look quite right. The attack animation has been redone, but the combat is usually still bad. The streamlined horizontal mechanism retains the system-like system, but it is much more difficult to soft lock. The UI and menus have been integrated and refreshed, but Oblivion's iconic map screen is the same as the original. For the most part, Forgetful remakes manage to make familiar and fresh.

The biggest surprise is its demonstration. Forgot to remake looks great. Virtue and Bethesda Game Studios have taken advantage of Unreal Engine 5, and there is no doubt that Bethesda Game Studios' most impressive game has been released. Dynamic lighting, vibrant skybox, wider color palette and surreal textures are remade for the current agent AAA Sheen that players expect. These enhancements also extend to the role model, as NPCs are very detailed. You can see their freshly grown beards and hair on their pores, but they are still a little incredible. In most cases, NPCs look even more alien when they open their mouths. There is a strange disconnect between surreal visuals and weird faces and outdated facial animations. The problem is that embarrassment is part of making forgetting so special and there are a lot in the remake.

The key part of this awkwardness is the iconic vocal performance, thankfully benign and BG choose to retain most of the original vocal work. Of course, we can still hear the booming voice of Wes Johnson everywherethey even left some tobacco that had never been cut from the original game. However, introducing a handful of new voice actors to the re-record line of different races. It makes sense considering that about eight people recorded hundreds of characters’ lines, but I found myself missing out on old sounds from time to time. The weird delivery of beggar “Thank you, sir” was redone and it felt good. The awkward voice switch has become typical for me and has changed a bit disappointing given the benign left in Flubs.

As far as I know, most sound effects are the same. Flares and recovery sound almost the same, but they can feel out of place when paired with new effects and lighting technologies. This isn't a bad thing, but changing most of the presentation feels weird, but keeping those outdated sound effects intact.

Benign seems to understand the “charm” of trademark forgetting, as the remake keeps Bethes Dayank intact while gently re-campus some forgetting mechanisms

In addition to speeches, the Forgotten Fight, third-person cameras and leveling systems also received the biggest rework. New attack animations make melee combat more talented, with the bow aiming much easier, enemies reacting to hits rather than just grunt feet or roaring, while adding sprint buttons to get in and out of battle for more operability. All of these tweaks can be collaborated with third-person camera options. While the third person is still not the ideal way to forget, the camera options are much better than the original. This is all tied together by an improved leveling system, which is more forgiving for casual players.

While these adjustments to combat and upgrades make forgetting more approachable, its moments of combat are still terrible. It lacks other first person, the influence and weight of melee-centric games, has long been thought of. Most melee fights will boil so much that they block between swings and back off between swings. Given that in 2006, this is forgiving, but in 2025, it's hard to ignore this. This is offset by all available tools and a more flexible upgrade system. When I was tired of wielding my sword, I turned to the bow. When I was tired of popping the enemy with the arrow, I switched to the spell. When I was tired of spells, I thought of some bones fighting for me. This is not an elegant solution, but at least it prevents the battle from getting stale.

Despite the flaws, I have always preferred Skyrim's forgetting system. By choosing courses and specializing in certain skills, I feel even more compelled to play a specific role. My forgetful characters are doing well in some things and attracting others, and that's it. The key is to use these advantages to upgrade. Recreators can still allow you to pick (or create) courses with a few major skills that greatly speed up the upgrade process when you are trained. Each skill that is not a major skill can still be improved and factored up. This means you still encourage you to develop a playstyle built around the class, but if you decide for 10 hours and you want to pick up hallucination magic, there is nothing to stop you from doing that. Remaster also retains some weird skills and attributes, such as track and field, which allows you to jump high and speed, which only increases your sport speed. I invested a lot of speed out of curiosity and there was no reason to use the new Sprint button because my character seemed to be faster than my horse even without the sprint. More importantly, these changes make it harder to create a bad class and soften your level – I often had this problem when I was a kid playing forgetting.

There are indeed a lot of mistakes in the remake of Forgotten, but as far as Bethesda RPG is concerned, it could be worse. In 20 hours I experienced a crash and saw several visual weirdness, mainly in terms of lighting – like awkward reflections and weird shadows. Performance is great on my 4080TI, but there are certainly some frameworks that are down in the open world. Although the deck verified the deck, the performance on the steam deck is still rough. The visuals are muddy, performance often drops below 30fps and is hooked regularly. I don't recommend playing on Steam deck unless it's your only option.

Remaking or re-engaging forgetting is a strange effort. It's a messy game, on paper – almost every possible way out of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim combat is superior, its world is more visually obvious, the dungeon design is more concentrated, the sound performance has some nuances about it, and of course, the characters look better. But if Bethesda Game Studios and virtuous studios reconstruct forgetting with the intention of matching or exceeding Skyrim, they will miss this. You can't retake or recreate the magic of Wes Johnson's roaring, “and pay with your blood!” Roxey Inn doesn't feel like Roxey Inn without ridiculous conversations, you pass through the door in a second. Hell, I think, without its weird persuasive mechanism, forgetting is not forgetting, and I still can't fully understand it after nearly 20 years. These rough edges are what gives forgetting traits, and when they are polished you will have a fairly versatile fantasy role-playing game.

There is one Youtuber of Bacon_ who has been emphasizing this forgotten “charm” for nearly a decade. In most cases, their clip encapsulates all the forgotten experiences within 15 seconds. They have become iconic. For the past few days, Bacon has been re-creating Oblivion Remaster, as funny and weird as I remember. This looks small, but I think there are a lot of explanations for the forgetting of kindness. Re-created recapture is enough to make it one of Bethesda Game Studios' most popular games worth re-creating.