With the release of the classic and highly beloved Elder Scrolls games on Gamepass as part of the Bethesda acquisition, players are stepping foot back into the worlds of Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and Morrowind. Oblivion was an amazing entry bespeak for many get-go-time Elderberry Scrolls players merely the follow-up, The Elderberry Scrolls 5: Skyrim took things to the adjacent level.

It's remained one of the about iconic games in the past decade and has seen multiple ports and has sprouted an unabridged modding customs that is very active to this solar day. It'southward hard to find someone on this planet that hasn't heard of Skyrim in some sort of mode. Just ultimately, isOblivion better thanSkyrim ? When choosing Oblivion orSkyrim,there's a lot to consider.

Updated August 17, 2021 by Erik Petrovich: Rumors of a remake of The Elderberry Scrolls Four: Oblivion are abound with the announcement that no piece of work has been washed on the sixth entry in the series. While the game still holds upward perfectly fine today, there are certainly a few things that could use an update for 2021 – like the game's outdated graphics. At that place's a lot that Oblivion does better than Skyrim, though – its star-studded voice cast, for one. It's not a perfect game, but whatever fan of The Elder Scrolls series should give it a go. It's more user-friendly than Morrowind was, but information technology nonetheless offers more of a challenge than Skyrim always could.

12 Better: The Voice Acting Bandage

Game of Thrones Ned Stark sits on the Iron Throne

The voice acting in The Elder Scrolls Oblivion is both a benefaction and a drawback for the game, as it's phenomenally done but at that place's an overall lack of variety. However, while a player will normally be hands able to tell which characters were voiced by the aforementioned person (usually Wes Johnson, who famously voiced all Imperial males, Sheogorath, and others) there are a few standouts.

None other than Sir Patrick Stewart played the office of the Emperor for the introductory sequence, and Sean Bean played Martin Septim, the destined Emperor of Tamriel. The quality of their voice performances elevates the feel of the main quest ofOblivion.For as memed and repetitive as all other voices in the game are, one cannot deny how iconic "Stop! YOU VIOLATED THE Police force" has go in modern video gaming.

11 Not Better: Multifariousness of Vistas

Improved Trees And Flora mod for Oblivion

When information technology comes to Skyrim vs Oblivion,One thing that the sometime definitely has over the latter is the variety of locations, terrain, and everything else that makes a landscape interesting to look at. The Achieve looks completely unlike to The Rift, the buildings of Solitude are different from those in Falkreath, and looking out over Skyrim from the tiptop of the Throat of the World reveals completely different vistas in any direction.

Oblivion is dissimilar. There'due south no denying the classical beauty of the game's landscapes and rendering – vibrancy goes a long way in making things await prissy – but everywhere is green, hilly, forested, and generally lacking any kind of diversity. The view is practically the same from exterior the Purple City every bit information technology is looking out over Cyrodil from above Anvil. At that place are lots of mods that brand the game more than interesting to look at, but without these players have to get used to saturated green equally far as the center tin run across.

10 Better: Higher Difficulty Level

Oblivion is much more similar to traditional Elder Scrolls games rather than the newer modern RPG way that Skyrim adopted. The combat is much more difficult and the quests don't hold the histrion's hand every bit much every bit Skyrim does. Some of the quests actually crave the player to engage in the lore of the game. This could be both a good and a bad thing depending on the player's style. Information technology does definitely make the story and side quests a lot more engaging.

Skyrim can be adequately easy unless mods are added to make the difficulty levels more intense. This is obviously a scrap harder to practice on consoles as mods are quite limited. Fifty-fifty with its difficulty level, Oblivion is still very enjoyable but could be a turn-off from fans that started their adventures with Skyrim.

9 Not Better: Character Models

Oblivion female Dark Elf NPC

Ane of the major downsides almost Oblivion is that the graphics really don't hold upwards later on all these years, unlike Skyrim which still looks pretty decent. This isn't necessarily a major flaw but some players may notice themselves not liking the graphics style. There is something actually special about Oblivion's graphics. It could be nostalgia or but the fact that the world of Cyrodiil is extremely colorful and the character models sometimes look hilarious.

Overall it isn't a reason to not want to play the game but a lot of players may detect themselves wanting to download mods to make the graphics a bit better. There are a ton bachelor that enhance the game's look while keeping it shut to the original game. When information technology comes downward to OblivionvsSkyrim , though, the more modern title hands takes it.

8 Improve: Oblivion Gates

The Oblivion Gates

The Oblivion gates are one of the most interesting things to e'er be introduced into an RPG game. They appear randomly and are quite terrifying at first. They human action equally bridges between the Mortal Globe and the Daederic World. The enemies within tin can exist quite challenging to kill at offset and it'due south very rewarding to close the first couple of Oblivion Gates that appear in the game.

Skyrimdidn't actually accept anything like this. There are a couple of references to the Oblivion gates found within books and text in the world simply players never get to actually travel into i. It'd be very interesting if the next Elder Scrolls game implements Oblivion Gates in some sort of way but also improves on it.

7 Not Better: Belatedly Game Oblivion Gates

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Some players find Oblivion Gates to get extremely tedious towards the late game equally a lot of them get actually repetitive to consummate and offering the same experience as the last. That being said, it could exist a skillful thing that Skyrim did not bring them back in any sort of way.

A lot of the time the Oblivion Gates would offer a college leveled grapheme nothing to really reward them in the story besides pushing them closer to completion of the main story. Some of the creatures within the Oblivion Gates can be annoying to deal with fifty-fifty for college leveled players with good defence force and armor.

vi Improve: Exploration and Questing

oblivion-imperial-capital-city

Exploration is something that both Oblivionand Skyrim are almost tied on. Oblivion does feel a bit more than alive than Skyrim at times with random NPC's constantly coming upward to the actor and strange events happening almost all the fourth dimension while traveling. In that location's danger in cities, quests around every corner, and one never truly knows what they're getting into.

Side quests are written far better than in Skyrim, too. For instance, one quest sends the player inside of a painting to recover a lost creative person, and another puts the player in the role of Detective in a murder mystery mansion. It forces the player to really want to explore all around the world and find all the secrets deep within the world.

v Not Better: Leveling System

oblivion mehrunes dagon

The leveling organisation is ane of the major flaws of the Oblivion game. It may have worked out in the past but definitely doesn't concord up compared to Skyrim. Oblivion requires players to increase any of their major skills by 10 before reaching the side by side level. Once that'due south done, the actor will demand to find a place to rest in order to fully proceeds the level.

It's a system that just hasn't aged very well and could take the histrion out of the earth by having to travel somewhere just to gain an extra level. The arrangement in Skyrim is amend and requires far less grinding. Information technology feels more rewarding and progression has much more than replayability.

4 Better: Class System

Class System in Oblivion

While Skyrim gives the thespian more liberty, Oblivion feels more like a archetype RPG game. There's something special nigh really having to think out the playable character's background and picking out what they'll specialize in. Information technology'southward a lot more lore-heavy than what'southward introduced in Skyrim but may only stick out to fans of the older games or other games in the genre.

Information technology creates a sense of immersion that carries with the player throughout their journey. If the player wants to go a dagger-wielding thief, they tin specialize in that early on on. Being a mage in Oblivion feels far different than being one in Skyrim equally the spells feel more than rewarding to go.

Modding Community in Skyrim

The modding customs in Oblivion is non as proficient as Skyrim which has such a huge library of mods that are very accessible to players on both pc and console. Ever since the Skyrim: Special Edition release, panel players have been able to get their hands on some of the mods that are bachelor on PC.

While not all of them are available to console players, it still is an amazing feature that adds more than replayability to the game. Oblivion could eventually get this if it is always remastered. The mods available for Oblivion are great, typically total overhauls in nature, only they just are not on the level of Skyrim and probably never will be – what'due south better than Macho Man Randy Savage as Alduin, after all?

ii Better: The Imperial Arena

The Arena in Oblivion

The Arena is one of the all-time questlines in Oblivion. It'southward challenging, engaging, and extremely rewarding. The Loonshit takes the role player through a series of quests that have them battling against different opponents to progress through ranks to become the Grand Champion of the Loonshit. It's a feature that's sorely missing inSkyrim.

It's a pretty nifty manner to go money and the dialogue for the storyline throughout the quests is written extremely well. Some of the opponents can show to be very challenging. Information technology'south a pretty small part of the game that makes the Imperial City feel so much bigger and alive. Players can also bet on loonshit matches to endeavor to get some gold.

1 Not Better: Combat, Except For Magic

Combat in Oblivion

First-fourth dimension players will observe very quickly that the combat in Oblivion pales in comparing to Skyrim. It feels clunky, dated, and some enemies just take mode too long to kill unless the player grinds to upgrade their skills. The combat in Skyrim is much more than polished and feels a lot easier. Information technology'd be groovy to have an Oblivion Remaster that polishes the combat to be slightly better.

Some builds in the game feel pretty weak, such every bit early on game bows, and some weapons. The best affair to practice early on is become acquainted with magic as information technology's 1 of the best parts of Oblivion. Notwithstanding, Skyrim definitely takes the crown for having the best combat in an Elder Scrolls game at the moment.

Adjacent: The Elder Scrolls: Mods That Volition Make You Reinstall Oblivion