Summary
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredis pretty mucha remake in everything but name. It’s changed a bunch of stuff, added some new interesting mechanics like origin stories for every race, and even added new dialogue. However, a lot of the stuff that made Oblivion the game that we know and love has been kept around too,such as silly little Easter eggsandvoice acting slip-ups.
In fact, Oblivion Remastered is so faithful that it’s even kept some things in the game’s files that were never meant to see the light of day. In the original Oblivion, players could use console commands to find various characters that are hidden in the game’s files that were used for testing purposes. One of these was an NPC called Alban Corinus, who happened to be voiced partially by none other than Bethesda’s Todd Howard.
Oblivion Remastered Still Has Todd Howard Hiding In The Game’s Files
As explained by PC Gamer, and showcasedby YouTube user Uzis, if you open up the game’s console commands and type “coc toddtest”, you’ll be transported inside a house with multiple NPCs. This location was a test cell that Bethesda used to try out certain features, and an early version of the disposition mechanic that allows you to grow closer to NPCs can be seen when talking to Albin Corinus.
You can very clearly hear Cornius voiced by Wes Johnson, but it’s mostly Todd Howard doing the ever-so-slightly wooden voice acting, and you can even romance the Bethesda director if you so wish. Keep picking the ‘Happy’ dialogue option, and Corinus will be so smitten by you that he’ll say “I can’t recall ever loving moments, like this moment, with you.”
On the other hand, if you don’t want to get cozy with Todd Howard and would rather him call you a nasty name, you can keep picking the ‘Angry’ option instead. Eventually, his disposition will drop so low that he’ll start swearing at you, and Todd Howard reprimanding you sounds about as bizarre as you can imagine.
Even though it’s slightly uncomfortable, it’s nice to see that Bethesda has chosen to keep bits of Oblivion’s history in the game like this. It could have easily removed the test cells, but instead chose to remake them along with the rest of the game, though one could argue flirting with Todd Howard would probably have been better left to our imaginations.
