All signs point to an Oblivion remake as the Xbox's Developer Direct 'Mystery Title'

With a full 6 years having passed since the Elder Scrolls 6 announcement trailer, fans of the famous fantasy RPG series are currently teething to get their hands on any new entrant to the franchise.

These prayers may have been answered, given that rumors of an Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remake have officially reached a fever pitch. As reported by MP1st, details on the unannounced project stem from a 'mistake' made by a former Virtuos employee. For those unfamiliar, Virtuous is a game development studio-for-hire headquartered in Singapore, which has assisted with delivering titles including Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

The details provided ranged from the transition to a new engine, the scope of the remake, and the planned reworks of different gameplay systems. A reputable leaker, "Nate the Hate", has also stated on his latest podcast that the release is expected to come in June of this year.

With the project's existence well established, what are the actual details? Well, firstly, you can expect to see Oblivion remade in Unreal Engine 5. Bethesda has stuck by the Creation Engine, an iteration of the former Gamebryo engine, since the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2011 - its limitations are very much evident from the reception of Starfield (2022).

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Large studios shifting to Unreal Engine 5 are not unprecedented: both Halo, and The Witcher franchises have announced their plans to transition to UE5. Bethesda Studios appears to be the next to follow suit - raising questions as to whether the Oblivion Remake may be a testing ground for future projects. However, TES 6, as discussed by a former Bethesda developer, can be expected to be built on the Creation Engine 2.

In terms of scope, the Oblivion project is claimed to be a full remake, with both visuals and gameplay systems being built from the ground up. Some of the reworked systems included: stamina, sneak, blocking, archery, hit reaction, and HUD. Gameplay inspirations have been reportedly taken from popular action games, citing the blocking mechanics from the Souls franchise as one example.

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Other details included a new sneak system, reworked damage calculations, and a modernized user interface. Stamina was also emphasized, claiming that it was modified to be "less frustrating for the player", with changes to calculation methods for instances like knockdowns to be more intuitive. Archery will also be receiving a well-needed update for first and third-person gameplay.

The Xbox Developer Direct event is slated to take place on the 23rd of January, and all hints point to the Oblivion Remake as being the 'mystery title' Microsoft has been teasing. Bethesda's Todd Howard has expressed a preference for announcing titles close to release dates: as we saw with Fallout 4 in 2015. If the rumours line up: perhaps this will also be the case for The Elder Scrolls.