Bethesda will finally show off its long-awaited The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remake today.
Teaser imagery can now be seen on Bethesda’s social media channels pointing to today’s date, 22nd April, and a time: 4pm UK. (That’s 11am Eastern or 8am Pacific if you live across the pond.)
Bethesda then links to its Twitch and YouTube pages, directing you to watch the game’s announcement trailer when it drops. But when will the game itself be available?
As Eurogamer previously reported, amidst a sea of leaks, Bethesda has been planning to announce and shadow drop the game this week on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, including via Game Pass.
Bethesda’s Oblivion Remaster has been one of gaming’s worst kept secrets over recent months, with screenshots popping up in the files of developer Virtuos’ website this month, and references to the game on Bethesda’s own site just days ago.
That’s not to mention the years of references to the project spotted in Microsoft documents and whispered by a former developer.
Over the long weekend, the leaks continued. Fans spotted a SteamDB listing for the game, while others claimed it had suddenly turned up in their Steam accounts. Others noticed that the game’s US ratings board listing had suddenly been updated too.
The Oblivion Remake is expected to be a new version of Bethesda’s classic Elder Scrolls game built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 by port studio Virtuos.
According to an earlier leak by a ex-Virtuos developer, the game will feature newly reworked stamina, sneaking, blocking, archery and hit reaction systems, as well as a fresh HUD.
How will it feel to play? Well, here’s Virtuos design director Nicolas Roginski speaking in March 2024 to 80.lv seemingly about the project, without actually naming what it is.
“We are working on a very big, unannounced project,” Roginski said. “Our approach for the design work of this remake is simple but challenging. It’s challenging, mainly because of players’ perception of their old memories. We tend to recollect things much better than they really were.
“Hence, if we deliver the reality of what gaming was like in the earlier days, there is a good chance that players will be disappointed because it won’t match the ‘feeling’ of their memories.
“To produce a quality remake, we aim at recreating the ‘feeling of the memory’, not the actual memory. Our design approach at Virtuos is ‘Keep, Improve, Create’.”
Earlier this month, Eurogamer’s Jim Trinca called on Bethesda to “remake Morrowind, not Oblivion, you cowards”. I fear that ship has now sailed. Tune in at 4pm today to see Jim be disappointed, I guess.