The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3846 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,010 out of 3846
  2. Mixed: 542 out of 3846
  3. Negative: 294 out of 3846
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. SvaD
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    1. I kinda love the whole Tolkien-ish aesthetic of Oblivion, and it was in fact one of the first RPG ever for me.

    2. Melee combat is fine (but could be better, if not that freaking amount of enemy HP on high levels), the same goes for magic (not actually played with it that much, just some more common stuff like Destruction and Restoration) and bows (great damage, when playing as a    1. I kinda love the whole Tolkien-ish aesthetic of Oblivion, and it was in fact one of the first RPG ever for me.

    2. Melee combat is fine (but could be better, if not that freaking amount of enemy HP on high levels), the same goes for magic (not actually played with it that much, just some more common stuff like Destruction and Restoration) and bows (great damage, when playing as a sneaky boy AKA thief), overall - not that bad, especially after the Morrowind combat. And I LOVE, how faster and more responsive it is in comparison with the Skyrim combat.

    3. Main quest is just boring, not really that stupid, but more... repetitive. But the side quests and guilds on the other hand are G R E A T, the best in the series IMO. Shivering Isles DLC is a fresh air, it contrasts from the main game really well and gives you the whole new, bizarre world to engage yourself in. Never touched the second one major DLC, Knights of the Nine, have no idea if it's a good or a bad one.

    And, in the first glance, my score should be at least 8 or higher, HOWEVER!
    - Those BORING, COPYPASTED dungeons are A LARGE AND SMELLING ROCK OF GARBAGE. I HATE those lazy made caves with useless loot and no personality whatsoever, HATE those Oblivion gates with the same 6-7 worlds, HATE forts and even HATE (but not that hard, maybe) those ayleid ruins.
    - You can feel, that the world is mostly generated. Outside of miserable dungeons there is nothing to do here - just beat some stupid bandits with monsters, look at different biomes and just use fast travel to save yourself some time.
    - Levelling. Oh. My. God. It is just broken and contrintuitive, even grindish in some places.

    When the RPG with open WORLD, where most of the time you are fighting, doing some quests and clearing DUNGEONS fails with some of the key elements of the genre - this is definitely a core game design problem. On the other hand, side quests and SI DLC are well made - you just have to make it through objective flaws of the gameplay to make fun of this part of Oblivion.    … Expand
  2. Lezzly
    May 31, 2023
    7
    Przyjemna do przeżycia historia oraz sympatyczne postacie pozwalające nam poznać ten (nie zawsze) spokojny świat. Miejscami nieco powtarzalna mechanika misji, aczkolwiek na czas w jaki przyszło mi przejść tę grę czuję, że bawiłem się od początku do końca wyśmienicie.
  3. Hyperfailure
    Nov 27, 2022
    7
    (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
    ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ ＼( °□° )／ ︵ ┻━┻

    ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ)

    (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻

    ┬──┬ ¯_(ツ)

    ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

    ┻━┻ ︵ ¯(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻

    (╯°Д°）╯︵ /(.□ . )

    ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻
  4. Denis94
    Jun 16, 2022
    7
    Después de casi 70 horas puedo decir que terminé Oblivion con un final épico y a la altura del título, de entrada el juego es tosco y más hoy en día, la interfaz es primitiva y hace falta bastante paciencia con el juego en general, sus bugs y crasheos son orden del día y no todo el mundo quiere pasar por esa tortura (por otro lado entendible).

    Pero vamos directos al grano, es buen juego    Después de casi 70 horas puedo decir que terminé Oblivion con un final épico y a la altura del título, de entrada el juego es tosco y más hoy en día, la interfaz es primitiva y hace falta bastante paciencia con el juego en general, sus bugs y crasheos son orden del día y no todo el mundo quiere pasar por esa tortura (por otro lado entendible).

    Pero vamos directos al grano, es buen juego la cuarta entrega de Elder Scrolls? la respuesta corta es un SI rotundo, la larga por otra parte sería que fue en su día un título bueno, hoy en día su quinta entrega es bastante más superior y aunque en ciertos apartados puedan asemejarse lo cierto y por mucho que duela Oblivion se queda muy atrás hoy en día.

    Por otro lado tiene cosas muy buenas como el diseño de los gremios que los sabe explotar muy bien y los hace importantes y toda una aventura en muchos casos, las expansiones cumple una mejor que la otra o por lo menos a mí la historia de Pelinal me pareció más bonita que la de Shivering Isles.

    En definitiva un juego que sigue cumpliendo pero la inestabilidad del tiempo le pasa demasiada factura aún así sigue siendo historia de los videojuegos.    … Expand
  5. Yaav13
    Apr 7, 2022
    7
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 7.
  6. vova22379
    Dec 8, 2021
    5
    ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
  7. PurpPeopleEater
    Nov 20, 2018
    7
    This score is a bit of an aggregate.
    In its vanilla form, I'd give Oblivion a 5/10. However, once you add in mods that revamp the console-ported UI, address the atrocious level scaling issues, remove the constant hand holding popup messages, and deal with the hideous potato heads... the game becomes rather good, and deserves something like an 8.5/10.
    Even though the main quest is...    This score is a bit of an aggregate.
    In its vanilla form, I'd give Oblivion a 5/10. However, once you add in mods that revamp the console-ported UI, address the atrocious level scaling issues, remove the constant hand holding popup messages, and deal with the hideous potato heads... the game becomes rather good, and deserves something like an 8.5/10.
    Even though the main quest is... lacking... it probably has the best faction and miscellaneous quests in the series, and with some good visual mods, exploring the countryside is a beautiful experience. Moreover, once you've managed to explore everything the base game has to offer... Shivering Isles is probably the best expansion I've ever seen in the series, and beyond that, there are numerous excellent quest mods.

    In sum, I like the 'modern, modded version' of Oblivion MUCH more than the vanilla version that was released in 2006, and I'd happily recommend it to anyone, with the caveat that it needs mods to truly shine.    … Expand
  8. gracjanski
    Apr 28, 2018
    7
    This game has so many mistakes. I wouldnt play it without mods: The level up system is so stupid, if you want to play it somehow effectively: the attribute condition is important and to raise it, you need to use 3 skills: armour, heavy armour and block...as a mage? In addition you need to take care, which skills you use to control the bonuses you get at level up. It is killing a lot ofThis game has so many mistakes. I wouldnt play it without mods: The level up system is so stupid, if you want to play it somehow effectively: the attribute condition is important and to raise it, you need to use 3 skills: armour, heavy armour and block...as a mage? In addition you need to take care, which skills you use to control the bonuses you get at level up. It is killing a lot of fun, but there is a mod that changes the XP system. There is another point with the key word leveling...everyone knows and only few understand that stupid system, where every mob is leveling with the character, so it means you re fighting with lvl 5 against a skeleton and it is a hard fight, later on you are lvl 40 and you will have another hard fight against a skeleton -> LOL. Maybe Bethesda is simply to lazy to implement a better system.
    Technically this game is a nightmare: still so many bugs, although it is so old. It is so obvious, that Bethesda / Zenimax simply dont care about it and know, that users will work for them. In addition this game works so bad with new computers, it is like they convert it from console to PC and dont care about the possibilities with PCs. !"%$%$"§&/()&$§" I needed so much time and needed to install the mods for this game so often, it was frustrating. And yes, dont play this game without mods.
    Controling and Interface...download mods ! so frustrating without.
    Sound: Yes, there are few voice actors, yes they are even changing with the same NPC (wtf?) and what I dislike, they have such a strong american accent. I cant hear it anymore. Music is very good great.

    What is good? Yes, The Elder Scrolls again, this means: a free free free world :) A lot of discoveries, hidden content, very good immersion. Like in Morrowind and Fallout 3, Bethesda is simply the master in it.
    NPCs have finally a life, in Morrowind they ve been a bit static. In the woods you see NPCs hunting animals, mobs fighting and so on. Bethesda learned from a little weakness in Morrowind and put life in the world.
    I like the story and the quests, the beginning is very nice. But on the other side the quests could have more possibilities and ways to solve, especially the dialogs are so linear. Look at Neverwinter Nights or Baldurs Gate.

    Overall: 10 points? 9 points? never, this game humiliates us players. 8 is a maximum. If you survive the pain of modding the game, it gets 10/10.    … Expand
  9. TheRatMan
    Jun 25, 2017
    6
    Very good with the world building that Bethesda are known for. Even with the very samey, and very bland world and character design. The game itself is fun even though it has a few bugs, and the most "user friendly" (sarcastic air quotes) leveling system ever. I wouldn't recommend if you were looking to go through the Elder Scrolls older games if you feel you've missed something. Just findVery good with the world building that Bethesda are known for. Even with the very samey, and very bland world and character design. The game itself is fun even though it has a few bugs, and the most "user friendly" (sarcastic air quotes) leveling system ever. I wouldn't recommend if you were looking to go through the Elder Scrolls older games if you feel you've missed something. Just find one of the eight million books in Skyrim.… Expand
  10. Gor1945
    Apr 8, 2017
    6
    По сравнению с великой Морровинд - просто провал - деградация и упрощения во всем - вырезано оружие, магические школы, мир - стал стандартно унылым (и это после шикарнейшего в своей небанальности Морровинда), основной сюжет банален донельзя - положение отчасти спасала шикарная графика (какой там лес был) и действительно интересные побочные квесты и линейки квестов за гильдии.По сравнению с великой Морровинд - просто провал - деградация и упрощения во всем - вырезано оружие, магические школы, мир - стал стандартно унылым (и это после шикарнейшего в своей небанальности Морровинда), основной сюжет банален донельзя - положение отчасти спасала шикарная графика (какой там лес был) и действительно интересные побочные квесты и линейки квестов за гильдии.
  11. Smilingcookie
    Mar 26, 2015
    5
    Although I really enjoy Morrowind and Skyrim, I can't seem to get into this one. Art design is bland. Everything seems like a mediocre fairy tale. Interface and controls (or character reaction) are less clean and direct than previously mentioned games. It's big and for the time it had impressive visuals. Story and quests however cannot keep my attention. I always get bored and never feelAlthough I really enjoy Morrowind and Skyrim, I can't seem to get into this one. Art design is bland. Everything seems like a mediocre fairy tale. Interface and controls (or character reaction) are less clean and direct than previously mentioned games. It's big and for the time it had impressive visuals. Story and quests however cannot keep my attention. I always get bored and never feel like I want to keep playing this one.… Expand
  12. marc5477
    Dec 28, 2014
    6
    Objectively, I score this game a solid 6 due to its many unavoidable annoyances. It would score at 7 if the annoyances were eliminated but it is nothing like its predecessor and not as good as its successor. Oblivion had a lot of hype during development. We were promised all star voice acting, real intelligent AI behavior, and a larger landmass... well, it turns out that they were all halfObjectively, I score this game a solid 6 due to its many unavoidable annoyances. It would score at 7 if the annoyances were eliminated but it is nothing like its predecessor and not as good as its successor. Oblivion had a lot of hype during development. We were promised all star voice acting, real intelligent AI behavior, and a larger landmass... well, it turns out that they were all half truths and half lies.

    There was all star voice acting but it was very limited to a hand full of characters. Everyone else was annoying as hell with repetitive comments and inappropriate tones that drove me mad 10 hours into the game. How many times did we run into a young girl with the voice of a raspy women on her death bed? Or an old man with a high pitch youngster voice? Voices were reused and assigned to characters randomly resulting in very strange combination which actually distracted from the game and immersion.

    Intelligent AI behavior? Jobs and economy? Yea right. This was a pure lie. AI behavior was all scripted and none of it was intelligent by any stretch of the word. AI did not have real jobs, they just followed a scripted schedule to open at x hour and close at y hour. At z hour they ate and w hour they slept. It was lame. It was not intelligent. It was no different than any other game made as far back as the NES. How unintelligent was the AI? Well, you could kill a guard next to another guard while sneaking, and the living guard will not care. He will make a comment about a dead person and even if you uncover yourself he will just stand there. You could even drag the dead guard in front of him and he will not care. Same with any other AI controlled character in the game (not just guards). At the same time, god help you if someone in a city sees you stealing because all hell will break loose and every guard in the entire city will instantly know you are a criminal and they will all come after you at once. Lame lame lame lame. This became a major problem sometimes because unless you use the PC console commands, it could break your game permanently. AI my backside.

    Larger landmass they tell us... well, the landmass was "larger" but it was mostly just the same damn environment copy and pasted over and over. The entire place looked the same. Morrowind had character and even Skyrim has some character but Oblivion was just plain and boring. It was the same no matter where you went and even ruins were just copy/pasted over and over (albeit Morrowind suffered from the same issue when it came to ruins). Bottom line, they may not have lied, but it was not as impressive as they wanted us to believe.

    Aside from the annoyances above, there were a few more problems.

    Level scaling... although this happens in a lot of games, in Oblivion is was not done well at all. The same enemy you faced at level will have 10x as many hit points when you are level 10 and they will look exactly the same and spawn in the same places. It killed immersion greatly because combat became mundane and unnecessarily long due to how many hip points each goblin, demon, or animal had as you leveled. The problem is that damage did not increase at the same pace as hit points so it made the player feel weaker. In Oblivion, you are much more powerful at level 5 than you are at level 20 and it killed any feeling of progression normally associated with RPG's. It clearly was not tested enough. They use similar systems in Morrowind and Skyrim but it was much better balanced. On top of that, unique weapons gained from god quests also level scaled... yes you read that right. If you do a quest at low level, you get a weak version of the rewarded weapon! And the weapon does not gain power as you level so it becomes obsolete almost instantly since they are all worse than enchanted weapons anyway. How lame is that.

    Next, enchanting, spell making and itemization were all "streamlined" which we all know means dumbed down for consoles and low IQ players. Everything was strictly controlled gone was a lot of the fun we had in Morrowind like levitating around the world to explore. You can still enchant powerful stuff but it was also made much easier almost to the point that it felt unearned whereas in Morriwind it felt awesome when you were able to trap a soul and enchant even the most basic of things. In Oblivion it was very easy and felt like cheating from the get go.

    Bottom line, a good game but it is no Morrowind. Too many annoyances keep it from being great but still it is better than most games you find on the shelf. It still is a fun open world game with plenty to do albeit without the sense of satisfaction associated with many RPG's.    … Expand
  13. BigDegs29
    Nov 12, 2014
    7
    This is my least favorite Elder Scrolls game. I find it somewhat boring and repetitive, with no significant improvements to the series.

    It's a good game, but its got nothing on Skyrim, and frankly I enjoyed Morrowwind more.
  14. Steeldude
    Oct 13, 2014
    5
    I haven't played this game until last year and I have to say that I was disappointed. All I wanted was to have a great single player experience. But I didn't get it. After completing the first story quest, I immediately skipped to the place where the second one was in order to realize that I had absolutely no chance against the enemies present in the Demon Gate. The game wanted me toI haven't played this game until last year and I have to say that I was disappointed. All I wanted was to have a great single player experience. But I didn't get it. After completing the first story quest, I immediately skipped to the place where the second one was in order to realize that I had absolutely no chance against the enemies present in the Demon Gate. The game wanted me to endlessly grind and level up in order to be able to progress further.

    So, I decided to try some quests. One got my interest, in which a guy got robbed by some ladies while having "fun" with them. To my surprise, when I got to their hidden cottage, no one came and I got locked inside with no other way of getting out. I found out that it was a bug, so I tried this quest several other times and the girls remained at their original place - in the city. After killing them, the quest didn't progress, because they weren't in the location they were supposed to be in. How lame.

    To sum it up, when the first quest in the game you try is so bugged that it cannot even be completed - that says something about the overall quality of the game. If only I could follow the storyline without having to complete buggy quests beforehand ...    … Expand
  15. CorbanDallas2
    Sep 4, 2014
    6
    Oblivion was ambitious.. and in my opinion, overly so.
    I found the storyline mundane and the game-play very repetitive, the animations clunky, the worst leveling up system in the history of gaming, annoying AI, and worst of all it didn't engage me.
    One of the strangest factors for me about all of the Elder Scrolls games is that you, as the protagonist, are a mute, and the manner of    Oblivion was ambitious.. and in my opinion, overly so.
    I found the storyline mundane and the game-play very repetitive, the animations clunky, the worst leveling up system in the history of gaming, annoying AI, and worst of all it didn't engage me.
    One of the strangest factors for me about all of the Elder Scrolls games is that you, as the protagonist, are a mute, and the manner of interaction between you and NPC's to be somewhat bizarre. Click on one word phrases and NPC's rattle off about that topic if you are lucky. Another criticism is that without actively taking time to examine your character, all the time and effort one puts into their character's appearance is wasted as all you see are hands and your weapon of choice.
    Many praise the size, scale and scope of the world, which in 2006 was bigger than most seen before, the open spaces and walking from one town to the next was only time-consuming, and vast wilderness' filled with occasional critters was not the rich experience that the game promised.
    Criticism aside though, I still enjoyed this game, and the Shivering Isles expansion was a vast improvement with regards to storyline.
    Ultimately, this game failed to keep me engaged    … Expand
  16. djbarker
    Apr 16, 2014
    7
    This game stole my life. It's very good and I've lost 150 hours to it. I was totally absorbed. But when I came up to air I realised that immersion is not enough for a game to be in my list of amazing games.
    But there are many bugs (dancing dragon corpses) and a total lack of consequence for your choices.
    If I'm a dark elf, I should be spat at when I'm in Winterhold. If i murder a    This game stole my life. It's very good and I've lost 150 hours to it. I was totally absorbed. But when I came up to air I realised that immersion is not enough for a game to be in my list of amazing games.
    But there are many bugs (dancing dragon corpses) and a total lack of consequence for your choices.
    If I'm a dark elf, I should be spat at when I'm in Winterhold. If i murder a villager, I should never be able to return to that village. Plus the dragons are so easy to kill once you figure out a half decent build.
    I found as soon as I got to lvl 30, there was no point in playing anymore. The hardest difficulty was tedium, the next hardest became a walkthrough.
    One thing that really annoyed me was the illusion spell tree. the lvl of an NPC i could spook in some way was listed, but you can't tell what lvl the npcs are. After looking up some online, they don't match the power of the spell. Not a game breaker, but sloppy.
    So I give it a 7 because I loved it at first, but will never want to play it again. So for that reason it doesn't get a higher score.    … Expand
  17. IcecreamSnowman
    Mar 11, 2014
    5
    Without extensive modding Oblivion gets to be very samey. Enemies all level with you so there's no difficulty curve and no feeling of progression. Environments are formulaic and get to feel routine and predictable, so even though the world is big, there's very little in it worth seeing. There's only one voice actor per race and far, far too much chit-chat. Most of your time is spent inWithout extensive modding Oblivion gets to be very samey. Enemies all level with you so there's no difficulty curve and no feeling of progression. Environments are formulaic and get to feel routine and predictable, so even though the world is big, there's very little in it worth seeing. There's only one voice actor per race and far, far too much chit-chat. Most of your time is spent in combat but as there are only four classes of melee weapon, this gets old fast if you're a warrior type. There is also the most idiotic trading system I've ever encountered: the richest merchant has 1200 gold so this is all you can ever get for any item but he never runs out; why then are there items worth many thousands of gold when they (at least should) know you can't get that much!? There are mods to fix most of these issues - the entire outdoor world can be changed, the whole leveling system removed so enemies are varied and challenging, the combat made unpredictable and deadly and the horrible trading system thrown out the window. It's still worth buying Oblivion just so you can play Nehrim, though.… Expand
  18. Zahrada
    Feb 24, 2014
    6
    The game felt epic in the beginning, truly great. Story telling, questing, graphics and atmosphere were the strongest parts of it. Though later I found major flaws in this game too. I did not like the combat system at all. I hated the fact, that the creatures level with me as I do level up. That was quite an immersion breaker for me. Also the way faces of the people and the character wereThe game felt epic in the beginning, truly great. Story telling, questing, graphics and atmosphere were the strongest parts of it. Though later I found major flaws in this game too. I did not like the combat system at all. I hated the fact, that the creatures level with me as I do level up. That was quite an immersion breaker for me. Also the way faces of the people and the character were made was very unconvincing. Some of the UI elements were rather mind-boggling for me. The game was fine overall, but it didn't really delivered what I expected it to deliver.… Expand
  19. gerbils99
    Sep 7, 2013
    6
    Almost every single mechanic in this game was done better partly in Morrowind and then later partly in Skyrim making it seem very dated and irrelevant. They took a step back from Morrowind.
  20. Budget_Security
    Jan 16, 2013
    6
    A good game if not for the bugs, crashes, mod setup difficulties, and many mediocre quests. Flaws aside, this is a big immersive game. Its the first fantasy/magic RPG I have played, and not a bad introduction to fantasy RPGs. I liked the music and little things like the ingame books and collecting alchemy ingredients. Get it to play Nehrim, a german super-mod, better than Oblivion, and oneA good game if not for the bugs, crashes, mod setup difficulties, and many mediocre quests. Flaws aside, this is a big immersive game. Its the first fantasy/magic RPG I have played, and not a bad introduction to fantasy RPGs. I liked the music and little things like the ingame books and collecting alchemy ingredients. Get it to play Nehrim, a german super-mod, better than Oblivion, and one of the best mods ever made.
    5/10 for Oblivion
    8/10 for Nehrim    … Expand
  21. HenryCase
    Dec 25, 2012
    5
    The worst of all Elder Scrolls games. Badly designed boring world compared to morrowind or skyrim and an absolute broken level scale system made this game almost uplayable to me. I spent weeks to get a propper mod to get rid of the level scaling, but the mods crippled the game even more. It's unbelievable how Bethesda could release such a mess. For all fans of Skyrim who search anotherThe worst of all Elder Scrolls games. Badly designed boring world compared to morrowind or skyrim and an absolute broken level scale system made this game almost uplayable to me. I spent weeks to get a propper mod to get rid of the level scaling, but the mods crippled the game even more. It's unbelievable how Bethesda could release such a mess. For all fans of Skyrim who search another great elder scrolls expirience: simpyl grab the Morrowind Game Of The Year edition. It's Astronomic Units ahead of this broken moneymaker release called oblivion. Still a better game than most modern titles though.… Expand
  22. Necrotaur
    Nov 11, 2012
    7
    When Oblivion first came out, I, and pretty much every other gamer out there, was blown away by the improvements in TES graphics and physics. I must have spent hours watching the guy shoot that bucket with an arrow. Oblivion was THE game to test your PCs capability on. Apart from that, though, the only thing it really improved on over Morrowind was the combat - you could now activelyWhen Oblivion first came out, I, and pretty much every other gamer out there, was blown away by the improvements in TES graphics and physics. I must have spent hours watching the guy shoot that bucket with an arrow. Oblivion was THE game to test your PCs capability on. Apart from that, though, the only thing it really improved on over Morrowind was the combat - you could now actively swing and block instead of having to wait for the stars to align. Questing more or less remained the same, but the setting and certain aspects of the leveling process were huge steps backward. For one, the unique, jungle environment that Cyrodiil originally had was traded in for Generic European Fantasy World #64. Levelled loot and enemies were also a huge problem. The higher level you got, the tougher (read: bullet sponge-y) your enemies got - a case could be made that the game is easier to complete the lower level you are. Radiant AI was also not what it was cracked up to be. Still, Oblivion is a decent RPG and worth a look if you enjoy TES series or RPGs in general.… Expand
  23. HCTristesse
    Oct 4, 2012
    6
    In comparison to Morrowind, the only things that became better are those that HAD to for the next generation: graphics and gameplay. Combat is much more interesting. However, the story is dull, especially when compared to Morrowind, there are close to no hidden special quests and the like, and it doesn't feel as "free" as in Morrowind. The enemies become stronger along with you, soIn comparison to Morrowind, the only things that became better are those that HAD to for the next generation: graphics and gameplay. Combat is much more interesting. However, the story is dull, especially when compared to Morrowind, there are close to no hidden special quests and the like, and it doesn't feel as "free" as in Morrowind. The enemies become stronger along with you, so leveling up doesn't really serve a purpose. Quests are boring and repetitive. Lots of skills were abandoned, the whole game is more straightforward. Exploring caves, ruins etc. is no more fun because they are filled just with generic enemies and treasures - there is no hope you'll find anything special if you're not there for a quest. Still, it's an Elder Scrolls game and therefore worth playing, even with these downsides.… Expand
  24. Dremord
    Aug 16, 2012
    7
    The main storyline wasn't the best for me, but the side quests had me playing until I've finished them all. Great graphics (if you ignore the humanoid characters). Not as great as Morrowind or Skyrim, though for obvious reasons.
  25. tangency
    Jun 11, 2012
    7
    Oblivion is a great place to start in Elder Scrolls if you are newer to RPGs or if you want a more laid-back approach. I only gave it a seven because of how much potential it threw away. If you are a fan to the Elder Scrolls series, you know what I am talking about. The graphical changes also kind of annoyed me. I am not one of the people who thinks graphics is the most important in gamingOblivion is a great place to start in Elder Scrolls if you are newer to RPGs or if you want a more laid-back approach. I only gave it a seven because of how much potential it threw away. If you are a fan to the Elder Scrolls series, you know what I am talking about. The graphical changes also kind of annoyed me. I am not one of the people who thinks graphics is the most important in gaming (I still play Mario for the NES) but I think when you go through a drastic change from what they used to be, it kind of ruins a lot. It's like when you change an actor for the same character in a movie. The graphics became cartoony, which made it harder for me to immerse myself into the game. It's a pretty good game in the beginning, and the questline isn't too short. It is annoying to level, however, because of the Major Skill restriction. There aren't minor and miscellaneous skills that you can pull a little bit of level experience off of, like in Morrowind, and you can't pull level experience from every skill, like in Skyrim. The questing system isn't very rounded, either, and some of the questlines can really piss you off because of their restrictions. Like others before me, I would say that it had great bones but started going the wrong way. It lacks relative long term value unless you try every race and every class (but then you are just repeating everything). There are also a lot fewer side-quests to Oblivion than the other Elder Scrolls games.
    Another CON that I have is the fact that they ripped out a lot of good stuff, like Dwemer. Ayleid ruins are nowhere near the same as Dwemer ruins, and there aren't any artifacts based around them.
    Onto the PROS:
    The game is good to be immersed in or just to play as long as you can get by the cons.
    There is actually fast traveling.
    It isn't too easy or too hard to beat and creatures are all leveled with you to some extent (they will replace rats with wolves, and wolves with hogs and bears and trolls and such).
    There is quite a few things to go through and explore even though there aren't as many as the other games.

    All in all, Oblivion is a more laid-back RPG system that is great to play if you haven't played the other Elder Scrolls installments (kinda the same with Skyrim players who are new to the Elder Scrolls universe, I hate them with the burning passion of a thousand lemmings!, although it would help if you played Morrowind before Skyrim and possibly even Oblivion).
    And if you haven't played the other games you won't get the suckerpunch to the kidneys showing that Oblivion is a hell of a difference.    … Expand
  26. PrimalHunter70
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    I honestly couldn't get into this game after I had played Skyrim. Its dialogue is weird and irritating, the inventory is annoying, the map is also very annoying. The graphics are poor, and I have to say that Doom 3 (a game from 2004) had far better visuals. The combat is fun, but very clunky as it is in the Elder Scrolls games. An okay game, and I admit I would have enjoyed it much more ifI honestly couldn't get into this game after I had played Skyrim. Its dialogue is weird and irritating, the inventory is annoying, the map is also very annoying. The graphics are poor, and I have to say that Doom 3 (a game from 2004) had far better visuals. The combat is fun, but very clunky as it is in the Elder Scrolls games. An okay game, and I admit I would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't played Skyrim first.… Expand
  27. spadenx
    Jan 13, 2012
    6
    The story for the main quest was pathetic at best, Though the side missions had a lot better stories but none were truely great. A ton of bugs and glitches as well as lag, It doesnt help that the game has only 4 patches that dont even fix a majority of the problems the game suffers from.

    What saves the game is that it can be modded to add a ton of user created, Which is suprisingly    The story for the main quest was pathetic at best, Though the side missions had a lot better stories but none were truely great. A ton of bugs and glitches as well as lag, It doesnt help that the game has only 4 patches that dont even fix a majority of the problems the game suffers from.

    What saves the game is that it can be modded to add a ton of user created, Which is suprisingly better then most of the content in the game.    … Expand
  28. mez
    Dec 17, 2011
    5
    This is a bland and soulless game. The world is huge, but there's little variation throughout and it all feels oddly empty (contrast with the fantastic weirdness and variety of Morrowind). The level scaling takes away any sense of danger. The badly animated characters are ugly beyond reason. The voice acting is truly, truly miserable (think Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights levels of bad). TheThis is a bland and soulless game. The world is huge, but there's little variation throughout and it all feels oddly empty (contrast with the fantastic weirdness and variety of Morrowind). The level scaling takes away any sense of danger. The badly animated characters are ugly beyond reason. The voice acting is truly, truly miserable (think Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights levels of bad). The developers clearly used their whole budget hiring Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart and then had to resort to getting random people in off the street. There's no emotional engagement at all because not one of characters has any personality - they're all just generic, interchangeable quest dispensers. The setting has potential though. I understand the modding community has done some great things, but for me the days of spending a whole weekend auditioning mods are long gone. I don't recommend the vanilla game.… Expand
  29. syrik
    Nov 20, 2011
    7
    Picked this up on a recent Steam sale. I had Morrowind on xbox when it came out but I never got into it. It seemed extremely boring and long to get into. Well, years later Oblivion is also extremely long to get into and boring at the beginning, but it sure is worth it. This game is detail on a scale that no other game even approaches much less achieves. From random books scatteredPicked this up on a recent Steam sale. I had Morrowind on xbox when it came out but I never got into it. It seemed extremely boring and long to get into. Well, years later Oblivion is also extremely long to get into and boring at the beginning, but it sure is worth it. This game is detail on a scale that no other game even approaches much less achieves. From random books scattered around the world (that are actually written and can all be read) to thousands of things, just things, strewn all over the place. Each one realized on a scale that makes it almost impossible not to get lost in this game. Imagine taking about a 50 mile square of land in the real world with all the trees, houses, roads, people, animals, water, weather, everything and sticking all of that into a game. That's Oblivion. Houses fully detailed inside and out, random junk that is actually relevant and non-repetitive like people really have. If you want to know what this place you're standing looks like from that mountain top over yonder, hike up the mountain and take a look. You can. In fact, you can basically do anything you want any way you want. It's the most freedom in a game, ever. Period. (notwithstanding other Elder Scrolls games of course) Want to be a spell casting rogue that pick pockets and hides in the shadows? OK. Wanna be a ranger that also swings a gigantic mace? OK. Wanna be a warrior but in leather armor and summoning undead? OK. Whatever you want, there's a way to do it. The game is huge, I'm talking HUGE. Think WoW without the subscription and they probably have about the same content (except this is one release with some xpac content and WoW is constantly updated for the last 7 years). There is a good enjoyable story packed in between all the other side quests and random places to explore also. It's the whole package. This game would easily warrant a perfect 10, except it's not perfect. Unfortunately Bethesda, in all their creative genius, weren't very good at squashing bugs. This game came out in 2006 and despite multiple official patches and DLC content for sale there are literally thousands of bugs in the game they never bothered to fix. The game is so popular that its very talented and committed fan base has created their own mods that patch the game for you correcting many of these bugs, but they shouldn't have to. Bethesda made the money off the game, not the fans, they should be the ones fixing it. So, 7/10 because buggy games deserve ZEROES, but this game really is awesome.… Expand
  30. roboticsun
    Oct 8, 2011
    6
    Still do not understand why this game is so well received. It may be good for newcomers of this series, but it is neither as massive as daggerfall nor as fun as morrowind. The setting in this game is painfully average. The leveling system is broken unless you use mods to fix it. Quests are quite repetitive and there is not much story associated with those quests, so you end up with doingStill do not understand why this game is so well received. It may be good for newcomers of this series, but it is neither as massive as daggerfall nor as fun as morrowind. The setting in this game is painfully average. The leveling system is broken unless you use mods to fix it. Quests are quite repetitive and there is not much story associated with those quests, so you end up with doing the same things over and over again. The setting for the factions in this game is just terrible comparing to morrowind. In morriwind, you can establish social relations with different factions, and you can be smooth and slick with them to achieve a lot of benefits which is tons of fun. The factions in oblivion are just like a bunch of quest generating machines to extend the game time. Overall it's a good entry to elder scroll series but probably the worst elder scroll game.… Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PC Game of 2006
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 54 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 54
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 54
  3. Negative: 0 out of 54
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    100
    It’s just so damned big. That’s what you’ll say after playing Oblivion for more than an hour. Or, for that matter, 50 hours.
    Read full review
  2. Game Over Online
    96
    Oblivion is by far the closest I have come to playing D&D Sunday afternoons with my friends (yes, I did that, though I’m on medication now), all wrapped up in a stunning package with tens of thousands of lines of spoken dialog and good music.
    Read full review
  3. Quandary
    100
    I honestly have to say that I am in favour of most of the changes and I think Oblivion is an awesome achievement from Bethesda.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »