How the Elder Scrolls Unreal Remake Changes Gaming

Hi everyone 👋,

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Before we talk about the new remaster, check out this 1 hour long video packed with optimization tips and tricks. Optimization is essential for your games especially now with gamers demanding more out of out-dated hardware.

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The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered is one of the biggest releases of the year. It is a faithful update of the beloved 2006 classic that first made me fall in love with the series all those years ago on the PS3. Now 19 years later, we get to revisit it with a stunning visual overhaul powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Unlike many modern remakes, the core gameplay mechanics and original programming remain untouched. Instead of rebuilding the systems from scratch, the team kept the original engine Gamebryo running behind the scenes, with Unreal Engine 5 handling the rendering for a visually modern experience layered over the classic foundation.

With this success, we can expect other studios following in its path. With the original core gameplay mechanics being ran on the original engine, and the image being rendered in Unreal. Due to leaks we already know a Fallout 3 remaster is coming using the same tech in UE5, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the same treatment for Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim.

Surprisingly this is not the first time we have seen an old Elder Scrolls game updated with modern graphics. In 2022 Nvidia announced RTX Remix, which is a modding tool that allows modders to visually update old games using Nvidia Omniverse. In case you don’t know, Nvidia Omniverse is like Nvidia’s version of Unreal. It is a 3D editor that makes use of all the latest advancements in path tracing and DLSS.

RTX Remix captures the original game’s render to update its graphics. The first game they used to demonstrate this on was the Elder Scrolls Morrowind.

Recently RTX Remix was used to remaster 2 levels from Half Life 2 and the entirety of Portal was given the RTX treatment. While it is good to quickly get modern graphic features, anything more complicated than changing visuals you might have issues. The benefit of using Unreal is that you can leverage features specifically made for games, so you are not just limited to the original engine and can improve certaing game mechanics when necessary. This can be seen in Oblivion with more fluid animations and an overhaul to combat.

Bottom line is, whether it is with Nvidia RTX or Unreal, the future of game remasters looks to be keeping the original engine intact with an additional engine ontop. This is more cost effective for developers because they do not have to reprogram everything from scratch.

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See you next time!

Zach Hunter