When I was a kid, I woke up one Christmas morning to unwrap my very first PS3. It was an exciting step towards games I could have only ever dreamed of, now sitting in the palm of my hands. The console would go on to give me fond memories inLittleBigPlanet’shand-crafted universe,Skate’sSan Vanelona and Port Carverton, andJust Cause 2’sPanau, among many, many others.
But that Christmas morning, I particularly rememberThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. I’d never played any of Bethesda’s games before, and had no idea what an ‘Elder Scroll’ even was, but I dove straight in regardless. The classic opening, where you step out of the Imperial sewers and into a vast green expanse, was not only a significant moment in my adventure, but a significant moment for me and my relationship with video games as a whole.
Now, I’m 27 years old, andOblivion Remasteredjust gave me that moment all over again.
An Oblivion Gateway Into Fantasy
I’ve been waiting and wishing for an Oblivion remaster or remake for over a decade now, and with each time Skyrim saw the fresh light of day, that desire deepened. I love Skyrim, but there’s something so special about Oblivion, so to see it slip further into the past would always leave me feeling a little sad.
This was also my firsttruefantasy game. Sure, I’d played games like Harry Potter on the PS1 and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on PS2, but Oblivion let me live out an adventure that was entirely my own. I wasn’t a preset character, there was no concrete way to play or progress, and something especially unique about Oblivion is that we’re not made to be ‘the chosen one’ - we’re tasked with helping the chosen one, instead.
Am I the Dragonborn? No, I’m his bodyguard.
Coming back to Oblivion Remastered, after all these years, is refreshing: almost every game will have you play the role of an important character, and it makes sense - we’re the protagonist, we’re usually the one who will save the world or harness some kind of ancient power. But that only ensures Oblivion remains as special as it’s ever been; we’re entirely unimportant, and any greatness will have to be achieved in a world much bigger than us.
Oblivion Remastered Takes Me Back To The Way I Used To Play Games
Aside from seeing the beauty of Cyrodiil in a stunning new light, I’m also finding myself falling back into the pattern of playing games in the same way I did all those years ago. As a kid - and one entirely new to this scale of video game - I didn’t understand the concept of reloading my save when something went wrong; anything that happened, happened, and there’s a beauty in that I wish I could bring myself to replicate nowadays.
Instead, I all too often reload saves to get the result I want, andI’ve realised how much that can actually change the experience of a game. But back when I first played Oblivion, that wasn’t the case.
Seriously, I feel like I’m going to wake up and Oblivion Remastered was just a dream.
When I was a kid, my horse in Oblivion died somewhere in the northern mountains. I don’t remember how, but it was devastating. However, reloading an earlier save wasn’t something that even crossed my mind. Instead, I grabbed some cloth from my inventory to lay on the horse, and placed lit torches on either side of it, creating a sort of funeral for my trusty steed before I pressed on through the harsh weather on foot.
I always kept this innocent memory in my mind, and it’s one of the first things I think about when I recall my experience with Oblivion. As my new adventure through Oblivion Remastered began, now that I have almost 20 years of life between then and now, this memory was at the forefront of my mind. To that end, I’m staying true to that mindset - what happens, happens, and I want to let Cyrodiil once again engross me in its fantasy, through the good and the bad.
As the portals to Oblivion opened, so did a doorway to a deeper love for fantasy - and almost 20 years later, they’ve opened once again, and I’ve stepped through with zero hesitation.
