The PlayStation 5 Pro Difference: The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered

While GameCritics will soon post a full review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, the good people at Bethesda were kind enough to supply a code specifically to test out this rework on Playstation 5 Pro. Surely Sony’s beefy machine will have no problems running a gussied-up eighteen-year-old game?

Bethesda titles have never been my particular cup of tea, as I usually spend three-ish hours walking around aimlessly post-tutorial and quit. The thing people seem to love about Elder Scrolls is “That Feeling Of Being Able To Go Anywhere And Do Everything”, and I prefer a tad more structure. I tend to want the main quest of a role-playing game to be the best part of the experience. I want the steak to sizzle, but Bethesda tends to ship out a frozen steak cooked in a microwave surrounded by the best brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes one has ever had. The sides are delicious, but that’s just not how I want to eat dinner.

Alas, I do have plenty of fond memories screwing around in Oblivion with my brother, so the idea of checking out a new version was intriguing. Thankfully, Oblivion Remastered is a pretty awesome product to the point where I’m somewhat surprised they called it a “remaster” over “remake”.

This is an extensive facelift featuring not only a shocking increase in graphical fidelity, but also dramatically improved combat (it goes from awful to mediocre!) and a bunch of very helpful Quality-Of-Life updates. Yet, somehow, some way, despite all the improvements, it is still very much that weird borked buggy mess that we all know and love. Character models are dramatically improved, yet still goofy in a very Bethesda way. One can make some real nightmare material in the character creator, and longtime players will enjoy revisiting old exploits and glitches while discovering all new ones!

This leads me into one of the weirder aspects of writing this enhanced look at this title — as with every game they make, I fully expect Bethesda to patch the hell out of this title. While Oblivion Remastered had, by any measure, a pretty fantastic launch, there are plenty of things to be worked on, and it seems like performance issues may be at the top of their list.

Just about the only legitimate complaint lobbed so far at Oblivion Remastered has been various framerate hitches. Even on some of beefiest PCs available, it frequently runs below 60fps, even at sub-4k resolutions. Reports have shown serious performance issues are also prevalent on the base console release, but I have not personally tested any of those versions. The folks at Digital Foundry have a video on the Series S/X release and found numerous instances of the game dropping to under 45FPS and out of VRR range, but that’s an improvement over the occasional sub 40FPS marked pre patch.

Like the XBox version, the Playstation 5 version has two options — Graphics and Performance. On PS5 Pro, both versions run at about 1440p, with the performance targeting 60 while the quality mode targets 30 with a few more graphical bells and whistles. There is a fairly substantial jump in graphical fidelity in quality mode with improved lighting and textures, and the 30FPS in testing was relatively stable.

Performance mode has less shadow density and a narrower depth of field, but most of us will be gunning for that smooth 60fps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always get there.

My Samsung S90C is able to display framerates while in use, and on PS5 Pro, performance currently is marginally more stable than on the other home consoles. 60FPS is the standard with a few lost frames now and then in smaller environments like the various dungeons, but Oblivion Remastered does struggle in larger areas with heavy foliage density. The framerate can dip to under 50fps in certain sections, and due to the relatively poor VRR implementation on PS5 in general, these dips can be noticed even with a VRR enabled display. Similar framerate drops can also be found in both towns and during Oblivion gate raids.

These hiccups are annoying, but far less infrequent for Playstation 5 Pro owners. It is, at least as of this writing, probably the most stable way to currently play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. A VRR display will cover up most of these irregularities, but a few slip through. Is it enough of a performance boost to make one gloat over their rather unnecessary Playstation 5 Pro purchase? Probably not, but that won’t stop some on the internet from trying.

The good news is, again, I fully see Bethesda continuing to tinker with Oblivion Remastered and improving performance across the board across all platforms, and they’ve made a strong enough remaster to warrant that time and energy. Any of the millions of people who loved Oblivion before and find themselves ready to dive in again will find so much to like in this package.

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Jarrod Johnston

Jarrod has been lucky enough to be a contributor to GameCritics since 2016. In his earlier years, he flamed out of games writing after the freelance checks for $80 weren't cutting the mustard, and he appreciates being able to do his thing at a place like this in its purest form.

He is currently attending graduate school at Pacific University seeking a Master's In Teaching with a focus on secondary social studies. From 2015-2020, Jarrod worked as a school teacher in various countries throughout Asia, and is now seeking certification to teach in his home country so a global pandemic doesn't leave him stranded again.

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