This is one of the best remasters out there. It's the original Oblivion nostalgic experience, just with upgraded modern graphics and some of the game-breaking bugs fixed, almost being a 1:1 remaster.
Oblivion itself is arguably the best Elder Scrolls game of the entire saga. It combines the deep, pure RPG elements of Morrowind with the action RPG mechanics of Skyrim, creating a perfect mix that can appeal to everyone.
The main dungeons are very entertaining to explore and navigate. Sadly, the secondary content and the Oblivion Gates are boring and repetitive, recycling the same thing over and over, which is my main complaint about this game.
I tried to complete the 60 Oblivion Gates as a personal challenge, and the concept of the gates became stale after the first five.
As always, it has an amazing OST, thanks to Jeremy Soule's unique touch, which makes the world feel vast.
And speaking of the world being vast, the immense proportions of the main cities (compared to other games in the saga) make this game feel much more immersive than Skyrim ever did. It makes you feel like you are in a real medieval metropolis.
If you play without fast travel (which I did, and I recommend it to everyone), you will find tons of interesting things to do along the way, and you will feel more absorbed while exploring and more engaged with the main story.
The main story is pretty basic but feels larger, more epic, and more important than it felt in Skyrim (even though in that game, the scale is higher).
This time you are not really the Chosen One; you are merely a tool in the grand scheme of things, while the main character, Martin Septim, is always at the center of the plot.
The side quests are good, as they have always been with Bethesda. There are many unique and iconic characters (and "Oblivion NPC moments"), with interesting concepts and stories that sadly always end in a fetch quest that makes you travel across the map, but they are still cool to do.
All of the Guilds, including The Arena, are very different from the main plot and are fun to complete, each having a branching storyline that lets you start from the bottom until you reach the highest rank, becoming guild master in a more natural way than in other Elder Scrolls games.
As usual in Elder Scrolls games, and this is one major complaint I have with the entire saga, the combat is really bad, filled with sponge enemies, offering no reason to play on higher difficulty. Instead, the game encourages you to lower the difficulty a little bit so you don't fall asleep during combat encounters.
The only good aspect of it is the magic system.
It is nowhere near as good as it was in Morrowind, but it still allows you to cast spells with your weapon in hand, making a Battle Mage the most fun playstyle, while also letting you create your own custom spells.
And finally, the DLCs... and what a good experience those were.
The first one, Knights of the Nine, embarks you on a pilgrimage journey through the world, discovering all the shrines of the Nine Divines, then starting a search for the iconic artifacts (the holy relics) that compose the armament of the legendary demigod Pelinal Whitestrake, becoming the Divine Crusader to put an end to Umaril the Unfeathered.
The second one, the Shivering Isles, is a refreshing experience compared to the main game. It makes you enter another Oblivion realm (that thankfully doesn't resemble a Doom level), taking you to the reign of the mad god Sheogorath, who tasks you with a simple quest: stopping the apocalyptic event known as the Greymarch, which is easier said than done.
It provides a lot of hours' worth of content and is always at the top of the list of the best DLCs ever made, featuring a city divided into two factions (Mania and Dementia), full of strange and bizarre NPCs with even weirder stories and dialogues, and full of new dungeons to explore, with a spicy twist at the end of the main storyline that makes your character become something you would never expect.
I would give this game an 8.5/10. Recommended to everyone who likes RPGs.
