The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Players Slam Unexpected Downgrade

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remastered players are unimpressed with a rather unexpected downgrade compared to the 2006 original. When The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion originally released, it was as an Xbox 360 console exclusive. This shows how long ago 2006 was. Suffice to say, a 2025 remaster looks considerably better than the original. However, in the pursuit of this remaster, there are some visual downgrades that are both unexpected and unexplainable. To this end, they will hopefully be fixed with a future patch, but in the meantime, fans on the Oblivion Reddit page are not very happy with all the downgrades.

Taking to the Oblivion Reddit page, one player of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered pointed out that the Blackwood armor sets look indistinguishable from the Steel armor sets, which is obviously a problem. Not only is it a problem for obvious reasons, but it’s amplified by the fact that this was not a problem with the original. So, what happened? Meanwhile, others have pointed out it is not just the Blackwood armor sets that have been remastered improperly, but many of the darker armor sets don’t look right in the remaster, which is also true.

“I swear the remaster team hates black armor. So many sets were made grey or changed completely like this,” reads the top comment on the post in question. “I really liked the old blackwood armor, it looked awesome on a dark elf, was really disappointed when I saw it,” reads a second comment. “I don’t know why they couldn’t just make it black, it’s a bit silly.”

A third comment adds: “Unacceptable that’s the coolest steel armor variant.” Meanwhile, a fourth comment even further adds: “Some stuff they just completely fumbled.”

Other comments further point out there are various visual shortcomings in the remaster. For example, The Dark Brotherhood door does not look like the original, thanks to the fact it is missing the red glow. There is also no voice at the door, and more people added to it, which changes the lore completely.

It is unclear why there are so many inconsistencies with the remaster in this regard, but it is clear not every single facet of the game was combed over for inaccuracies when it was ported over. Otherwise there wouldn’t be all of these inconsistencies.

At the moment of publishing, neither developer Virtuous nor publisher Bethesda — nor Bethesda parent company Xbox — have commented on any of these criticisms. If this changes, we will update the story accordingly. The good news is that all of this is fixable with a patch, but that is assuming the aforementioned duo are aware of the issue, let alone interesting in spending resources to fix it.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is available via PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. It is available with both a $50 purchase and an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. For more coverage on the Bethesda RPG — including all of the latest Oblivion news, all of the latest Oblivion rumors and leaks, and all of the latest Oblivion deals — click here.