Now we’re all sitting on our hands, waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6. Wondering what fun it will bring us. Are NPCs able to move, talk and fall off at the same time like something close to a human. Dreaming of a world full of undiscovered quests, unlooted treasure chests, primitive sweets.
But the human brain does not adapt well to incomplete information loops. It’s hard to live with the uncertainty of The Elder Scrolls 6 — as far as we can tell, it’s probably a bunch of bad crap. Our subconscious wants to solve problems, not just sit there.
This is the best explanation of why I want to install forget Came again recently. My memory of it so far is now just a haze of sugar-coated sheen, more of a vague feeling than a clear series of events. It almost feels like a new game, even though it’s made up of rather rudimentary pieces.
I was looking forward to a nostalgic hit and an afternoon of fun. What I didn’t expect was that Oblivion would stick with it in its own way and fascinate me again.
The point where you come out of the sewers and see the natural beauty of the world map for the first time — you know, bit? I’ve written about that moment for so many magazines and websites, and it stands to reason that it should throw me into a coma to actually play this thing. But that didn’t put me in a coma. This excites me.
Although I know exactly what’s going to happen. Even though I know every inch of the world map, and all the missions – the one you’re trapped in a painting, the cult that wants to bring back the Deep Ones, all those pearls – I’m still fascinated by possibilities and wondering. It’s a very bad thing for a game launched during the Blair government to be successful in this day and age.
The core genius of Oblivion is its topography, and the very careful placement of points of interest on the map. This feels a bit obvious for an open-world game these days, and in fact it’s been a marketing ploy for many E3 showroom developers over the years. “See that mountain on the horizon?” Yeah man, let me guess: can we go there from the start of the game?
But the truth is, there’s a certain level of subtlety to climbing up the top of the mountain and seeing something that distracts you from the critical path. Ubisoft games do this in the most vulgar way, turning the map into a pit of marker balls. On the other end of the spectrum, Elden Ring knows the power of saying nothing, showing just a little, and believing in the player’s curiosity. But Oblivion – without the perks of many other open-world design games to draw from – remains a master of wonder and adventure.
You’re never pulled out of a game and into a cutscene. The passage of time never strays from real time, unless, of course, you’re sleeping in a comfy bed (or a dreadful pile of burlap in a damp cave), and that continuity does affect the impact of seeing something out of the ordinary. Every time The Witcher 3 introduces a cutscene or shows you two camera angles where Geralt and an NPC are talking, it reminds you that you’re playing a video game. It combines the language of the game and the film, emphasizing some elements more than others, and when it does so, we know it’s all just the landscape around us.
But Oblivion promises that the realm you’re in is real and happens independently of you. Something huge could be happening. A brawl may break out in the Cheydinhal Mages’ Guild as you wander the ruins of Kvatch. You’re scrapped in the arena of the Imperial City, but who knows what dangers Bruma might face.
It makes you think like this by never straying from its consistent, unbiased worldview. When you first see Oblivion Gate – think about how most games will show you this. Portal to the filthy realm that monsters use to invade your world. game named thing. You’re talking about a cutscene of at least three minutes, probably before the long NPC prologue in the scripted sequence that takes you to the exact location where the game wants you to be when it first appears.
Not for old oblivion, though. You’re just told Kvatch is under siege. So you travel there and notice that the sky is redder than usual and several NPCs on the outskirts of town freak out and tell you to run away. And then you’ll see it — a huge, gleaming, fiery portal, just… standing there. It’s far more impactful for simply being in the world without the usual fanfare. It feels real.
The same goes for low-risk moments. Those walks and horses from town to town, the ones you set off on to get straight from A to B and clear some quests from your journal in time. Then you stare from a corner or an edge you haven’t been to before and you notice a strange ruin. Minotaur party. A traveler rides his tipping cart on the road. oh, then go onthink for yourself.
Forgetting often accompanies these moments and reveals that they are the beginning of well-written and unpredictable side quests. But even if not, even if the cave is just a cave with no ancient secrets in the ruins, you don’t feel like your time is wasted. Because this shift just makes the world feel more real and gives extra meaning to everything else you do.
I’ve surprised myself by choosing not to install any mods for this game; very different from my approach to replaying Skyrim. Well, if you want to know the truth, I did have one installed: my original player home, the one I used in 2005. It really feels like returning to my childhood home, which is to be expected when you think about it. It took me months to tell myself that this collection of polygons was my house. Apparently, my brain took this superficially and stored the memory accordingly.
But in terms of visuals, items, combat… I don’t see the need to change or update anything. I’m addicted to Skyrim mods, but Oblivion makes such a strong case for itself in its unaltered state.
This reminds me of The Elder Scrolls 6. How important it was for Bethesda Game Studios to preserve the real-time lapse of time and uninterrupted, continuous first-person perspective. To me, this feels like revisiting the absolute core of Oblivion’s Elder Scrolls games, and I’ve become convinced that even with the combat being so raw and the sound performance notorious, ES6 is still a great game if it builds a Fascinating world and keep the illusion of it functioning independently of you.
