Despite being released with incredibly short notice from Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has surpassed my expectations in more ways than one, although it isn’t without flaws. Even with its issues, Oblivion Remastered has gone on to achieve an astounding amount of sales for such little marketing effort, reaching a peak player count of over 190,000 users on Steam alone. While Oblivion Remastered has no doubt been a smashing success for Bethesda already, there’s one critical aspect that might cause major problems for its replayability.
Even with the fresh coat of paint and a few worthwhile differences, Oblivion Remastered is a faithful adaptation of the original that manages to find a unique balance between a remaster and a remake. One of the most notable aspects of Oblivion Remastered is easily the massively improved visuals, and while it might not have the same charm as its predecessor, community-made mods can hopefully fix most of its shortcomings. Even if Oblivion Remastered has most of what I wanted from the game, I’m worried it won’t have the same possibilities as the original, thanks to this one major change.
Oblivion Remastered Doesn’t Officially Support Modding
A Concerning Direction For Bethesda To Take Moving Forward
Even if most of Oblivion Remastered‘s launch has gone without too many unexpected issues, one of the most concerning aspects is hidden away in Bethesda’s End-User License Agreement. According to the documentation found on Oblivion Remastered’s Steam page, Bethesda prohibits anyone who “use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods, or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the Game”. The EULA also goes on to describe a real possibility of anti-cheat programs being added in the future at the discretion of Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax.
A real possibility of anti-cheat programs being added in the future at the discretion of Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax
While this information doesn’t bode well for whether or not Oblivion Remastered will support mods in the future, the news might not be as grim as it seems. Although the information listed in the game files explicitly prohibits the use of mods to change Oblivion Remastered‘s game files, some fans have pointed out that the same descriptions were also present in Bethesda’s most recent Starfield, which even had official modding support added post-launch. Although there’s a considerable chance that Bethesda simply uses a standard template for their in-game EULAs, it still sets a concerning precedent for the future.
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Even if Bethesda has no plans on taking action against the modding community, it’s still a worrying detail to include in the game files, especially when it involves the slim possibility of having your access to the game being entirely revoked. Even if very few players will concern themselves with the EULAs of each game they play, there has still been a notable amount of controversy over the inclusion. While I’m not too worried about Bethesda taking action in the future, I still think it’s a significant oversight that goes against the core elements that make Bethesda games so iconic.
Modded Content Has Always Been A Core Part Of Bethesda Games
Regardless of what Bethesda’s continual releases of Skyrim over the years would have you believe, the vital aspect of Skyrim’s monolithic staying power is most likely attributed to the sheer endless amount of fan-made creations for the game. Being the pinnacle of a fantasy sandbox with years of tools to take advantage of, Skyrim‘s modded content can range from completely transforming the game from the ground up to simple quality of life improvements. Whichever kind of experience you prefer to play, Skyrim‘s dedicated modding community has countless creations to enjoy, with even Bethesda taking advantage of its popularity.
Modding has also been a fantastic way to keep the franchise relevant despite years without any new content outside of re-releases.
Given how painfully long the wait between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6 has been, modding has also been a fantastic way to keep the franchise relevant despite years without any new content. Bethesda has even acknowledged how vital mods are to their games by funding official mods with the Creation Club, finally letting console players in on the fun. Even if the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 still presses on without an explicit release date, revisiting Tamriel through the latest Oblivion Remaster is a fantastic way to pass the time, while enjoying the series at its best.
Oblivion Remastered Already Features Countless Fan-Made Creations
Despite Bethesda’s apparent warnings both in their EULA and official website, the Oblivion Remaster has seen a massive flood of fan-made mods becoming available, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It’s hard to imagine a Bethesda game without any modding capability whatsoever.
The hundreds of mods released on Nexus alone within hours of Oblivion Remastered’s release show just how dedicated the community is to the series. From content additions, performance improvements, quality of life changes, and patching out bugs long before Bethesda has a chance to, modding can go hand-in-hand to take the enhanced experience of Oblivion Remastered to greater heights.
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Despite Using Unreal Engine 5, Oblivion Remastered Still Has Bethesda’s Janky Charm
Oblivion Remastered has been remade from the ground up in a brand new engine, but still manages to have Bethesda’s strangely endearing charm.
Regardless of how iconic the original Oblivion was, there’s no doubt that the modding community significantly helped its popularity over time, much like its successor, Skyrim. Thankfully, Bethesda’s use of Oblivion‘s original engine, combined with Unreal Engine 5, means many of the preexisting modding tools and creations are easily transportable to the new game, giving the Oblivion Remastered modding community a massive headstart. The only downside to the change so far seems to be adding brand-new content from within the engines, but I have no doubt that dedicated fans will manage to crack the system with enough time.
Bethesda Could Be Planning To Add Oblivion To The Creation Club
Utilizing Bethesda’s In-House Modding Contracts
While Oblivion Remastered has shown it needs little intervention from Bethesda when it comes to fostering a powerful community of like-minded creators, the EULA could hint at a more unique proposition for its future. Given that the same EULA was used for Starfield, and Bethesda’s adamant refusal to publicly support community-made mods, these could be more hints that Oblivion Remastered will be receiving its own Creation Club content in a future update. Given that Oblivion Remastered is a fully finished game with only a premium upgrade available, adding microtransactions through Creation Club content wouldn’t be surprising from Bethesda.
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Even though Creation Club content is somewhat of a mixed bag, with complaints over poor quality and strangely implemented systems, it still has a massive benefit when coupled with community-made mods. Not only does the Creation Club let console players experience mods for themselves, but they can even offer high-quality additions to the base game at times. Regardless of Bethesda’s views on public mods, supporting them or adding a Creation Club would help foster a balance that would go well with the already massive community of fan-made content in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
Source: Steam
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
