The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion review

Our VerdictA liberating masterpiece.

Our Verdict

A liberating masterpiece.

PC Gamer’s got your backOur experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you.Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls, we’re publishing our original reviews of each main game in the series from our archives. This review first ran in PC Gamer UK issue 160, back in March 2006.

The fourth Elder Scrolls game becomes the first to break the 90% score barrier. Tom’s review makes it clear just how enamoured he was with the game. Where ourMorrowind reviewerclearly struggled to become immersed in world, here Tom is spinning multiple first-person tales of his adventures off the beaten track, finding surprising and detailed adventures as he explored the edges of Cyrodiil. Today, Oblivion is often seen as the weird middle-child of the series post-Daggerfall—not as weird and uncompromising as Morrowind; not as dense and modern as Skyrim. But reading through Tom’s review here, I can’t help but feel the pull to return.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

A trio of screenshots.

Need to knowDeveloperBethesda SoftworksMinimum system2GHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb 3D cardRecommended2.5GHz CPU, 1Gb RAM, 256Mb 3D cardRelease dateMarch 24, 2006$19.99View at Amazon293 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆

Need to know

DeveloperBethesda SoftworksMinimum system2GHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb 3D cardRecommended2.5GHz CPU, 1Gb RAM, 256Mb 3D cardRelease dateMarch 24, 2006$19.99View at Amazon293 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆

DeveloperBethesda SoftworksMinimum system2GHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb 3D cardRecommended2.5GHz CPU, 1Gb RAM, 256Mb 3D cardRelease dateMarch 24, 2006

$19.99View at Amazon293 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆

$19.99View at Amazon

293 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆

☆☆☆☆☆

Gleurgh. I have ‘The Look’ again. The slightly puzzled, blinking stare that seems to say “Where did my Mace of Embers go? Why am I now a pasty nerd instead of a lithe lizard-man assassin? What are all these metal monsters on wheels?” I can now only understand the modern world as a means of getting me back to Cyrodiil, Oblivion’s vast and absurdly beautiful realm. I am told that if I write this review I will receive just enough gold to buy food until the ‘weekend’ comes and I can return.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

But the real joy of Oblivion isn’t in those details. It’s in the story of your character’s life, the madcap path on which you career drunkenly through the game’s endlessly exciting possibilities, flitting from quest to quest. That part is tough to generalise about, and it probably wouldn’t give you much of an idea of the antics you’ll get up to anyway. It would be more informative—and more importantly, fun for me—to recount some of my adventures, the antics of Pentadact the lizard-man assassin turned thief turned saviour of the world.

Buffy’s Bluffing

“I didn’t expect you so soon,” Raynil spits inches from my face as his invisibility spell flicks off.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

A heavily armoured man next to an orb.

The way quests come to you in Oblivion is much more natural than the awkward strangers-asking-favours system of other RPGs. In the main quest you’ve been singles out as the one prophesied to find the heart to the recently vacated throne of the empire, so characters are helping you to that end. Signing up to a guild gets you work, for which you are paid, but incidental quests such as the one above are the result of you following up leads you overhear. No one asks you to expose that corrupt vampire hunter, you do it of your own volition when the evidence you stumble on starts to sound suspicious. It’s surprising how much more engaging quests are when your involvement with them makes sense. It’s even more surprising that every quest is as intriguing, story-rich and duplicitous as the case of the phony vampire hunter. No task is as simple as it sounds, every one draws you into the personal lives of several characters, and most turn into multi-part investigations that build to a heart-pounding climax—be it a duel, theft or daring getaway.

Our Elder Scroll reviewsThe Elder Scrolls: ArenaThe Elder Scrolls II: DaggerfallThe Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Our Elder Scroll reviews

The Elder Scrolls: ArenaThe Elder Scrolls II: DaggerfallThe Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Combat is often tough, particularly for a jack-of-all-trades character like mine, but the generous array of options at your disposal means there’s always a way to win. Blocking at the right time and strategic use of heavy blows, after which you’re vulnerable for a moment, will only get you so far. Beating a tougher character generally means backpedalling frantically as you stick arrow after arrow in his chest, suddenly remembering a spell that can incapacitate or calm him for a minute while you heal, vanishing into thin air with an Invisibility scroll, or mixing up an impromptu poison or potion tailor-made for the occasion. When your resourcefulness does triumph, ragdoll corpse-physics makes the killing blow hilariously brutal. Whether it’s a mace batting them into the wall, and arrow nailing them in mid-air as they pounce, or an Electric Touch spell blasting them across the room in spasms, the sight is so wonderfully unpleasant that you have to stifle a cry of appalled delight every time.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Another trio of images.

Out-of-town encounters can be reached on foot, but riding out on horseback at dawn is one of the game’s greatest pleasures. The others are riding out at dusk, riding out at night and riding out at midday. The lofty viewpoint, the heavy clopping of hooves, the shaggy mane where a gun would be in an FPS… it’s all sorightfor a fantasy game. Happily, horses are not the reserve of high-level characters: you’re given one not five minutes into the main quest. From the first time you saddle up and canter off into the green beyond, nothing else makes sense. How could we ever have been satisfied walking everywhere? The game has an efficient fast-travel map where you can click any major location you’ve previously visited to appear there, but you’ll find yourself forgoing it for the pleasure of putting your horse into cruise control and spinning the camera around to admire your handsome profile against the epic landscape.

Cult Following

At my touch, the man goes rigid, keels back and crashes down the stairs. I loot my stuff

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Book on a hand.

A Dark and Stormy Night

I’ve been invited to a party, my Dark Brotherhood contact tells me. Five other guests and I will be locked in a mansion, and tasked with a little treasure hunt: somewhere in the house is a chest of gold. That’s what the other five guests have been told. In fact, their absent host is someone they’ve each wronged in the past, and he’s inviting me to kill them. If I want a bonus, and I do, he has a very particular way he’d like them to die: surprised. No one can know I’m the murderer. He wants the survivors to become increasingly terrified as the other guests drop like flies. This is my kind of client.

If I want a bonus, and I do, he has a very particular way he’d like them to die: surprised

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Statue

A Ring of Thieves

A impoverished cat-woman is missing a ring. She tells me she suspects a sneaky Argonian named Amusei, and suggests I ‘take care’ of him while I’m retrieving it. I’m not wearing my Dark Brotherhood hat (hood, actually), so killing is off the table, but I agree to get the ring back. The Argonian proves tricky to locate, though—he’s not in his house or at any of the town’s inns. Then a friend of his informs me that he was arrested. A minute later I’ve slipped the key from the jailor’s pocket and I’m visiting Amusei in his cell. He doesn’t have the ring—he was arrested not for stealing it from the cat-woman, but because it’s the property of the local Countess. She’s so happy to have it back that she wears it all the time.

I’m cantering along the shores of a moonlit lake when it hits me, along with three more arrows

Except at night, as her handmaid informs me after I’ve buttered her up. I break more than ten lockpicks before the jewellery box yields to me, each snapping with a tiny noise that seems deafening so close to the sleeping countess’s ears. At last, the prize is mine. Before I leave, I can’t resist relieving her and the count of their personal wealth. He wakes up.

I run. The guards give chase. I make it out of the house with only a few arrows in my back, but now the whole town guard is after me. At the gates to the city I hop on a horse that isn’t strictly mine and gallop off into the night, but when I look back I see that the guards have mounted up too. This is getting serious. If I don’t shake them, I can’t get to Bravil to see my Thieves Guild contact about losing the heat. I’m cantering along the shores of a moonlit lake when it hits me, along with three more arrows. My Sharkskin Boots. The one thing Jesus and I can do but the law can’t: walk on water. Ripples spread gently out from every footstep I take on the lake’s dazzling surface. The guards sit dumbfounded on their mounts as I escape, wondering if they can arrest my horse.

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Fight

Cyrodiil’s NPCs all have daily schedules, going from home to work, church, the shops or the tavern whether you’re around or not. Waiting for the Countess to put her ring in her jewellery box and go to bed is about as far as these schedules ever influence your questing, but the impression that these characters have lives makes them feel more convincing as people. Sadly, the illusion is shattered when they try to talk to each other—the AI controlling who they speak to and what they say is terrible, and Oblivion’s only real problem. Never mind that casual conversations are hilariously forced exchanges such as:

“I hear Errandil is good with a lockpick.““I heard he’s good with locks.““That’s what I heard.““Good day.”

There are other problems with Oblivion’s NPCs—they’ll occasionally steal things in front of everyone for no good reason, their facial animation ranges from basic to non-existent, and some of their faces are downright ugly (including that of Patrick Stewart’s character, sadly). But none of these things annoy after the first time you notice them. Only those wretched background conversations keep coming back to spoil the suspension of disbelief—the main reason Oblivion wallows in the slum of the low 90s instead of its rightful place at 96%. Bethesda haven’t got people right yet, and until they do they’ll never make the perfect RPG.

(Image credit: Future)

Boxout.

One other journalist was playing Oblivion alongside me, and in the first 30 hours of play there was only a single quest we both took on. In every other way the things we saw and did were different. Some people will say they don’t have time for a game that huge and immersive, but Oblivion players will just laugh. You thinkwehad time? Once you start, everything else just loses importance. Suddenly you’ve called in sick, your girlfriend or boyfriend has given up on you, and all you have is sweet, blissful Oblivion.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Price Comparison

293 Amazon customer reviews☆☆☆☆☆

☆☆☆☆☆

$19.99View

The Elder Scrolls IV:…

Amazon

$19.99View

$19.99

We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices

The Verdict93Read our review policyThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionA liberating masterpiece.

The Verdict

93Read our review policyThe Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionA liberating masterpiece.

93Read our review policy

The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionA liberating masterpiece.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

A liberating masterpiece.

More about the elder scrolls iv oblivion

A horse wearing armour from Oblivion’s Horse Armour DLC.

A man in armour snarls at the camera in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.

18 years on, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’s unmatched comedic timing is still enough to go viral

LatestI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at baySee more latest►

Latest

I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay

Nitro Concepts CES 2025 booth with a sim racing rig that offered wind simulation from twin fans near the wheelbase.

I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay

See more latest►

Most PopularTurtle Beach Stealth Pivot reviewIkea Matchspel gaming chair reviewASRock DeskMini X600 reviewZotac Zbox Magnus EN374070C reviewMinisforum AtomMan G7 Ti reviewSamsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra reviewNoctua NH-D15 G2 reviewGulikit KK3 Max reviewBallionaire reviewMarvel Rivals reviewBe Quiet! Dark Rock 5 review

Our Verdict#

Buffy’s Bluffing#

Cult Following#

A Dark and Stormy Night#

A Ring of Thieves#

Our Verdict

Buffy’s Bluffing

Cult Following

A Dark and Stormy Night

A Ring of Thieves