It’s impossible to overstate the impact that The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim had on the gaming world, and it’s also impossible to overstate the impact that it had on me, back when I was a wee lad and fired it up for the first time. I was too young for its predecessor, Oblivion, back when that came out, but I was the perfect age for Skyrim.

Oblivion Remastered has put Oblivion back on the map in a big way, and it was my first time in Cyrodil (if we aren’t counting Elder Scrolls Online). Since its release, I’ve played both Oblivion Remastered and Skyrim extensively, trying to get as objective a view on each as I possibly can.

I’ve shuttered Oblivion Gates and put Dragons back on the endangered species list, all in an effort to put these games head-to-head in a competition to see which shines brighter in my eyes. I’ve come out of this effort a new man, and with a new appreciation for both entries in the series.

This will contain minor spoilers for both Skyrim and Oblivion.

10

Dragons | Oblivion Gates

Skyrim

Both Skyrim and Oblivion fill their open-world with a unique type of encounter. For Skyrim it’s Dragons, and for Oblivion, it’s Oblivion Gates.

Fighting Dragons in Skyrim can sometimes come with little-to-no warning; there were times I was walking along a river, watching the salmon swim upstream and listening to the nice music before I heard a distant roar as a giant sky lizard hurtles toward me.

Oblivion Gates in Cyrodil can still be stumbled upon, but you largely need to make a conscious choice to enter the gate, and take on the Oblivion Tower inside. This is a special experience on your first go-around, but a few in, the novelty wasn’t quite there.

Both of these can be very fun and can be some of the more difficult encounters in these games, but for my money, the spontaneity of the dragon attacks is a more enjoyable experience.

9

Sigil Stones | Shout

Tie

This is a bit of a tougher competition; Shouts and Sigil Stones both fill a similar mechanic, as rewards for completing Oblivion Gates, and defeating Dragons/clearing dungeons, respectively.

Sigil Stones more or less act as free enchantments that you can place on gear, and the effect of the stone is randomized for each Oblivion Gate. Sometimes I’d get an enchantment that revolutionized my life, and other times it may as well be junk.

Shouts can run a similar gambit, but are instead a power that you wield. I’d still sometimes run into the problem of finding a Shout I didn’t have much use for, but it did provide an extra bonus to my character, on top of whatever enchantments that I wanted.

All in all, Shouts might be more fun to play around with than Sigil Stones, but when pared well, Sigil Stones might win out in the efficacy department.

8

Art Direction

Skyrim

Oblivion Remastered is the indisputed winner when it comes to graphical quality, but that isn’t a particularly interesting debate when one game is a much more modern release than the other.

What is a more interesting debate is art direction, which I’m going to give to Skyrim, acknowledging that this comes down to taste.

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Both of these games have stellar art direction. Oblivion has many moments of beauty; the Imperial City is genuinely impressive to behold.

But the landscape, architecture, and overall vibe feel a little bit more vanilla to me. That’s not inherently a bad thing; it makes sense for the capital of Tamriel to have architecture and designs that are more classically designed.

The world of Skyrim definitely takes plenty of inspiration from Norse designs, but the effect is something that grounds you in the specific culture and world of Skyrim in a special way.

7

Quests/Story

Oblivion Remastered

This one is a fairly easy call, though it comes with a caveat that both games have some really fantastic quests, with characters that you grow to care about and decisions that truly feel impactful.

But, largely, I think the quests, story, and characters in Oblivion are much more emotionally impactful and well-drawn than those in Skyrim. The Quests are more varied, with more goals and characters that are more consistently surprising and feel more alive.

Skyrim does have some emotionally powerful quests; I’ll never forget the first time that I finished the Companions storyline and read Kodlak’s journal. Perhaps, maybe even because Skyrim doesn’t have quite as many characters that feel alive, coming across one that does is especially impactful.

All in all, compared to Oblivion, the characters in Skyrim seem a little bit less full.

6

Open World

Skyrim

It’s likely this difference is simply the technical limitations between the two games, but the open world of Skyrim feels much fuller, and much more alive, than Oblivion.

I don’t think that the open world of Oblivion is bad, by any stretch. But it does feel emptier, and quite a bit more predictable. I’ve lost count of exactly how many tiny Bandit Camps parked alongside the road I’ve run across, but I know that the answer is somewhere around Way Too Many.

The world of Skyrim can have moments where it’s lacking, but there are a lot more moments there where I have to stop to take it all in. So many moments of absolute magic.

It’s a world that truly makes me feel like I’m finding living, breathing things, and not just getting from point A to point B.

5

Combat/Magic

Oblivion Remastered

This is a very difficult one to compare, because combat can look so different depending on the player. But for me and the way that I like to play, Oblivion Remastered wins out ever so slightly, in large part due to the more expansive magic systems.

Skyrim does win out in terms of weapon-based combat. It’s not that the combat in Skyrim is particularly great, but it does get the job done. The kill cameras that Skyrim has add a little bit of charm to it all; I will never get tired of a little bullet time. (Arrow time?)

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But when it comes to magic, Oblivion Remastered is so far ahead that it makes up for the difference. There is so much more going on with the magic in Oblivion that there’s not nearly enough room to cover every important difference here.

But in general, anyone building a Mage in Oblivion Remastered is going to have a lot more spell options available for them, as well as the ability to craft custom spells, giving them more flexibility in dealing with any situation they run across.

For anybody touching magic, Oblivion is going to win this category.

4

Alchemy

Oblivion Remastered

Alchemy is similar in both of these games, but there are some notable differences that push Oblivion ahead ever so slightly.

In Skyrim‘s case, you need an Alchemy Lab to actually create potions; this does make sense, and made me appreciate finding a place that has an Alchemy Lab a bit more.

In Oblivion‘s case, you collect different parts of an Alchemy Lab, and bring them with you on the go. Depending on how good your pieces are (and your Alchemy level), you’re going to make better or worse potions.

While Skyrim‘s system might make a bit more sense, the convenience of making potions on the go, and the impact of actually needing to find better Alchemy tools to make potions that are worthwhile, adds a bit more mechanically to the system.

3

Modding Support

Skyrim

As it stands, Skyrim has more than a decade’s worth of mods all ready to go, as well as modding support on consoles. This means that I can play Skyrim on any of the many systems that I own it on, and play it with mods almost anywhere.

Oblivion Remastered is a much more modern release, and so does not have even a fraction of the modding possibilities available. It’s possible, and even likely, that this is going to change as the game grows older, but as it stands, it’s significantly outpaced, and with no modding support on consoles.

2

Dungeons

Skyrim

It’s possible that this is where people start approaching me with knives and pitchforks, but I vastly prefer the dungeons in Skyrim to those in Oblivion Remastered.

There are certain dungeons in Oblivion Remastered that I think are neat; the Aeylid Ruins are usually pretty interesting, and can have quite a bit going on inside of them.

Most Aeylid ruins have unique mechanics and/or puzzles inside. Even if they aren’t particularly challenging puzzles, it makes it feel as if they were truly built by people with an interest in stumping you, and not just coloring by the numbers. That said, I largely found the dungeons in Oblivion to be a bit predictable.

Dungeons in Skyrim had many more moments where I was surprised at what I found, or had to entirely rethink my strategy in order to clear it. That’s not to say there aren’t some consistencies: there aren’t too many different puzzles, and solving one basically means you can solve all of them.

But, on the whole, I found Skyrim‘s dungeons more consistently impressive.

1

Winner

Skyrim

I love both of these games, dearly. I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time in Skyrim; it was my first rated-M game, and I had to do a bit of finessing to get my parents to agree to let me play it.

I pulled it off, and I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as captured by a world as I was then.

I’ve spent less time in Oblivion Remastered, simply because it has not been out nearly as long. That said, I cannot wait to spend more hours inside the world of Oblivion, and with the characters. (And moving around at light speed with my cool Khajit thief.)

I might not have the same fondness or nostalgia for it, but that doesn’t diminish what makes the game work so well.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Released

October 28, 2016

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks

Engine

Creation Engine

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