After one of the more hectic releases for a video game in recent history, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered released about a week ago, and gamers are scrambling to once again visit the land of Cyrodiil. For those unfamiliar, the Elder Scrolls are a series of fantasy RPG’s by Bethesda Games Studios. The story of Oblivion has you working with the last son of the empire of Tamriel to close the “Oblivion Gates” to the hellish realms of Oblivion. All the while helping out with miscellaneous things around the capital province of Cyrodiil. With the most recent mainline game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, coming out in 2011.

Needless to say, fans of the franchise have been starving waiting for more Elder Scrolls. But even still, one question still lies in the heads of those considering purchasing the game: is it worth it? 

Is Oblivion Remastered “Worth It?”

Looking solely at the updated content, if you already own the game and have played it through, probably not. There’s just not enough changed to warrant buying the game over again. Besides the absolutely beautiful visuals, most things changed are just quality of life. Improving movement, simplifying leveling and the UI, and a few bug fixes, does not, a new game, make. If you haven’t bought the original, or just bought it and can still get a refund, get the Remaster. It’s worth the purchase in your case (or you could even get it with Xbox Game Pass).

“I’m New, What Do I Do?”

As stated earlier, there’s not many changes between the original Oblivion and its Remaster. Due to the original being a 2006 Bethesda RPG, there are several features which range from unintuitive to torturous. If you know what you’re doing though, the game gets much easier. 

First things first, in Oblivion there are many different pieces of weapons and armor enchanted with magic properties. In the case of weapons, these will need to have their magic charge replenished every once in a while. In order to do this you will need Soul Gems. If you want a whole arsenal of magic weapons, but don’t want to constantly use up these semi-precious resources, start off by finding the Umbra sword and Azura’s Star. These can trap souls on death and act as a reusable Soul Gem, respectively.

Secondly, if you’re banging your head against your keyboard every time your lockpick snaps in that awful lockpicking minigame they use, try these helpful tricks. One thing that might be messing you up is that you’re going too fast. Instead, try pushing the pin up a couple times to get a feel for its movement before making your attempt. Also, one exploitable bug is that if you make repeated attempts to set the tumbler while pushing the pick up will count the attempts without breaking the lockpick, allowing you to level up lockpicking quickly and making that awful minigame that much easier. Or you can get the Skeleton Key artifact which enhances your lock picking by 40 points while also acting as an unbreakable lockpick. You do need to be at least level 10 to get it, though.

Finally, if you’re investing in heavy armor, doing the Knights of the Nine quests early on would be worth it for the crusader gear, the only gear in game which you can level up with you. You can do this by simply placing it on its stand whenever you reach a level where it gets upgraded. 

There’s a whole slew of additional things that one might find useful while adventuring around Cyrodiil. But in those cases, more often than not, you might find that working things out yourself is much more fun than using any online guide.