Oblivion Remastered by Bethesda Features a Noticeably Browner Palette Than the Original

At long last, the Oblivion Remastered game has hit the shelves, and it’s certainly taken a modern turn. By ‘modern,’ I’m talking about an abundance of brown tones—everywhere. We have brown mud, brown water, and even brown grass. Almost everything is drenched in brown hues, which leaves me, a long-time fan of Bethesda’s vividly colorful fantasy world from nearly two decades ago, feeling a bit conflicted.

When you put screenshots of the old Oblivion side by side with the remastered version, the differences are strikingly clear. There’s a pervasive haze that seems to cloak every scene, giving the impression that the whole world is part of a bonus level in PowerWash Simulator—just waiting to be restored to its original luster.

On the detail front, there’s been undeniable progress. Torches emit a warm glow in the shadows, water sparkles under the sun, and docks now seem like they’re constructed from real wood instead of resembling moss-covered stones. Yet, for some reason, actual mossy stones have turned into a charcoal color. Whereas the original game bathed its grassy hills and trees in brightness, the remaster with its Unreal Engine 5 touch seems charred in comparison.

The interiors in Oblivion Remastered feel marginally better. Take the iconic game intro where you escape prison with the esteemed Patrick Stewart—it’s all about the suffocating stone passages with the occasional light peeking through cracks in the roof. It admirably captures the chilly essence of the original experience. This might demonstrate what a difference the enhanced lighting can make when it’s not grappling with overly dark textures.

As for the faces of characters from the original, they’ve definitely undergone a transformation in the remaster—and that’s largely a positive shift. Ideally, I’d love to see those quirky, blurry NPC faces in glorious 4K, but I can’t complain too much about the intricate detail of wrinkles and pores, especially if it leads to better facial animations. Rest assured, their voices still have that same charm when they speak.

I just can’t shake the muddy look that the outdoors have acquired in this remaster. Then again, I might be biased given how I felt about Virtuos turning Dark Souls’ stylistic bonfire into something far too realistic in its remastered form. It’s entirely plausible that as you delve deeper into Oblivion Remastered and explore more areas, the visuals could start to make sense. If they don’t, at least the original Oblivion remains at our fingertips for nostalgic adventures whenever the mood strikes.