Summary
For over a decade,Elder Scrollsfans have been working tirelessly to remakeOblivionwithinSkyrim, fittingly calling their ambitious volunteer project ‘Skyblivion’. In January, it made the bombshell announcement that it was finally nearing completion, aiming torelease later this year.
But then came the sledgehammer reveal that Virtuos Games had been working on an official Oblivion remake behind closed doors.
With Oblivion Remastered reportedly set to launch next week, beating Skyblivion to the punch, along with screenshots being unearthedjust yesterday, it’s easy to imagine how defeating this must feel for the team. But that’s not the case: Skyblivion still plans to release this year, and the talented volunteers behind it are incredibly proud of all the work they’ve put into the project, excited to share it with the world.
All love and no hate towards the people who made the official remaster.
“This changes nothing for me,“project lead K Rebel posted on Twitter. “This always was a passion project and still is until the end. For the community it’s a win-win as you get twice the amount of Oblivion this year. All love and no hate towards the people who made the official remaster”.
“I’ve Gotten More Out Of This Than I Ever Imagined”: Skyblivion Is More Than Just A Remake
When we spoke to the team back in 2022, they weren’t just excited at the prospect of reimagining their favourite game, bringing The Elder Scrolls 4 to an entirely new audience, they were also hopeful about what impact such a project might have on the community. “I would like to think people have learned from the streams, watching one of us use the Creation Kit and then trying to themselves,” landscaping lead Dee Keyes said.
Skyblivion isn’t just a remake. As a fan-led project, it brought the community together, and as Keyes hoped, it helped fans make the jump to modding, and even modders make the jump to game development — including Rebel himself.
“I’ve gotten more out of this than I ever imagined: friends, experience…” Rebel told TheGamer. “And it made me realise I wanted to work in the gaming industry, which I ended up doing, and at the end of the day, it only exists because Bethesda allowed it, so I guess if the official remake is real, it’s good that we’re still allowed to exist at all. Gonna focus on the release of our own version and stay positive.”
Even with an official remake underway, Skyblivion leaves behind an impressive legacy, inspiring countless fans to put their own stamp on the series. And it’ll be interesting to see how a community-led remake, sticking with the more familiar Creation Engine, compares to an outsourced one, built in Unreal Engine 5, as well as what creative liberties each team has taken. As Rebel said, fans are eating good this year.
