After fifteen years of Skyrim memes and endless re-releases, it’s easy to forget that Tamriel used to be a place of bright, sprawling countryside and crumbling imperial citadels rather than just frozen tundras and dragon-filled skies. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered brings the fourth entry of the saga to the Switch 2, and after putting some serious time into it, I’m happy to report that Cyrodiil still holds up. Thanks to a fresh coat of Unreal Engine 5 paint, the game looks better than ever, though it brings along some of that classic Bethesda jank that long-time fans will recognize immediately.
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More Than Just a Visual Polish
This isn't just a lazy texture pack. Bethesda has gone in and tinkered with the UI, the leveling system, and even the way combat feels. The animations have been beefed up to make weapon strikes feel more tactile, and the third-person movement is noticeably smoother. It’s clear they’ve tried to bridge the gap between Oblivion and the more polished feel of Skyrim. You still aren’t dual-wielding weapons here—you’re stuck with the old-school "weapon in one hand, spell in the other" setup—but the addition of Joy-Con controls, including gyro and touchscreen support, makes navigating the menus and aiming spells feel surprisingly intuitive for a game originally built for a mouse and keyboard.
The writing remains the real star of the show. Whether you’re dealing with Patrick Stewart’s voice-over as Emperor Uriel Septim or diving into the legendary questlines, it’s clear why this game earned its reputation. The Dark Brotherhood’s "Whodunit?" quest is still a masterpiece of design, and the Thieves Guild heist remains one of the best moments in the entire series. When you add in the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions—the latter of which adds a massive map and another 40 hours of content—the value proposition here is undeniable.
The Performance Letdown
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While the game feels great to play, it’s a bit of a tragedy that it’s locked to 30fps on the Switch 2. Bethesda is targeting 1080p in docked mode and 900p in handheld, but even then, the frame rate isn't perfectly rock-solid. Wandering through dense forests or crowded interiors will occasionally cause the performance to dip, which is a shame given that other platforms are enjoying a 60fps experience. Oddly enough, I found my handheld sessions to be the most stable, with the game running much smoother on the smaller screen than it did docked.
Despite the choppy performance, the atmosphere remains untouchable. Jeremy Soule’s score is still perfection, and wandering the landscape while that iconic soundtrack plays is enough to make me forget the frame rate drops. If you want to jump back into Cyrodiil, you can grab the base game or shell out for the physical deluxe edition, which—in a cheeky nod to gaming history—includes that infamous horse armor. It’s not a perfect technical port, but it is a damn good excuse to lose another hundred hours to the best RPG of the seventh console generation.
Original coverage: www.nintendolife.com.
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