Well, hello hello! Fancy meeting you here again!
I suppose you’ve returned to my weekly rant on the state of the gaming world, or perhaps my opinions on certain games and their prized expansions fulfil a certain itch?
Fret not, weary traveller, I’ll do my utmost to entertain you more than a pyjak being chased by a pack of varren on Tuchanka!
However, this week’s delve does not dwell near the spaces of Mass Effect; unfortunately, we’re going somewhere a little more…Magical.
Today, I’ll talk a little bit about another game that’s near and dear to me, The Elder Scrolls.
Now, I’ve done a piece or two on the Oblivion Remastered, and made mention of my joys and gripes with the brilliant comeback that it was, as well as my hopes for the next TES game, and I even delved into the modding scene that is still currently thriving, especially due to the fact that many of the current modders are trying to bring new life into Oblivions most popular mods from way-back-when.
There was a lot to digest in playing Oblivion, and I’ll just make a tiny little remark that I made with my previous rant:
They better not use the Creation Engine.
Now, a lot of folks from online forums and even Reddit would turn around and say that the only reason Oblivion Remastered was made in Unreal Engine 5, by Virtuous Studios, is because Bethesda was too lazy to do it themselves, or because they’re too afraid to take the leap away from their prized game engine that they just dumped the task of remastering Oblivion into another’s lap, but I would disagree.
To me, the effect that Oblivion Remastered had on the gaming world was that of an inferno, hotter than the planes of Oblivion, hah…Get it? Cause it’s – nevermind.
The game was shadowdropped, and it sparked high sales immediately; the sales figures for Oblivion Remastered indicated over 4 million players within its first few days of release, and even became the third-best-selling game within the United States for its first week, selling 1.4 million copies on Steam alone.
Currently, the player count sits at just over 9 million players, and rising, whether or not all those Grand Champions are still traversing Cyrodil or just getting lost in all those windy tunnels and caves and fortresses, or perhaps are sitting back to relax and enjoy a different world altogether.
Now, there are hints and rumours and mayhaps a leak or two here and there that finally made it past that iron dome constructed by Boethiah that Bethesda have seemingly set up around TES: VI, and all those subtle leaks lead towards the idea that Bethesda is keen on maybe kinda sorta shadowdropping their next game the same way they did with Oblivion Remastered, since that sent many into a frenzy that would make Lord Sheo be proud.
I’m not particularly in favour of it, mostly because I would like to know that Bethesda actually has this one in the bag and is set on delivering a masterpiece that will last as long as Skyrim has, but…Ya know, not make us wait for TES: VII for another 14/15 years.
There’s only so many times one Dragonborn can hear Nazeem ask me if I get to the Cloud District often, and I’m sure I’m gonna find a Nazeem equivalent in the next game, I’ve actually grown accustomed to hating on a specific NPC that grants me no boon other than endless annoyance and irritation, that while not having it would give me temporary peace, it just wouldn’t feel the same…
Anyways, back on topic, a shadowdrop might just work, and it would work even better if Bethesda learned that people went wild over the Unreal Engine, and if they actually chose to use that for the next Elder Scrolls game, it would definitely be a hot contender for the next decade.
And with how the modding community has kept both the original Oblivion and Skyrim, and now Oblivion Remastered, alive, it would not shock me if the community went haywire with the modding scene to add more glorious weapons, armours and loveable followers to the game.
I, for one, would be so psyched if there was some mention of Inigo in the next game, let alone seeing what they’ve done with our beloved Skyrim Grandma.
I’m excited to see all the new animations, all the new features, landscapes, magic and weapons and armour, I’m excited to see what they’ve done with the races, I’m excited for the immaculate fur detail on the khajiits and the sparkling shiny refractions on the scales of a saxhleel, and the beloved physics in yeeting an enemy off a cliff, and the potential for the sheer immersion of being in that world once more.
Even if they don’t go all that far, I’m sure the fans would pick up the mantle once more and add to it that extra something something to make it all that much greater.
There’s so much I’m excited for, but also so much I’m worried about.
By the 9 divines and the Daedric regents, I sorely hope it works out well and that Bethesda has listened to the fans, and that they’ve learned from what works and what doesn’t work.
Regardless, I’ll be quietly (not really) biding my time, hoping for a bright future for TES.