The developers heading one of Morrowind's most impressive mods, Tamriel Rebuilt, reveal they're not concerned about an official Bethesda Game Studios remake like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered – and if it did happen, they think it "would just mess things up."
Speaking to PC Gamer in a recent interview, senior developer "Cicero" first admits that the project is moving more quickly than before. "I'm thinking we'll be done in 2035," says the lead. "Just by projection. I've been around since 2011, 2012. I've seen what TR is like when it's slow, and I've seen what it's like when it's fast, and we've been fast since 2018. It's just been getting faster and faster and faster since then."
Cicero's statemen checks out – after all, Tamriel Rebuilt just got its "biggest expansion ever" in Grasping Fortune, an update that added the Hlaalu capital of Narsis as well as over 140 new dungeons and more than 270 new quests. Creature animator "Grumbling Vomit" seems to agree that the mod is moving at a fast pace, too, predicting an even closer wrap-up: "I really feel that we can complete all of mainland Morrowind, maybe even this decade."
"We've got a lot of momentum," adds Grumbling Vomit. "Just depends on how much time is devoted to improving what has already been made vs implementing new regions." Now that an official Elder Scrolls remake like Oblivion Remastered is out, however, it's surprising to hear from the two developers that the Tamriel Rebuilt team isn't really concerned at all that Bethesda could cook one up for Morrowind any time soon.
"I'm always happy to hear when Todd [Howard] says he doesn't want a Morrowind Remaster," explains Cicero, "because that would just mess things up… Modernizing Morrowind would just ruin the game entirely." The dev doesn't expect one to actually come to fruition in the future, either. "The thing is, [Oblivion] is easier to remaster than Morrowind, so I don't think we're worried about it."
On the other hand, though, Oblivion Remastered helped Tamriel Rebuilt as the mod's new expansion released just a week after Bethesda's big remake, "and we kind of got sucked into that wave of Elder Scrolls news." As for Grumbling Vomit, he thinks "Morrowind is an amazing game and more people should experience it," but he does wonder "about how it may impact the modding community" if an official remaster did come.
"I know I have a bias," concludes the Tamriel Rebuilt dev, "but I'd rather have a completed TR over 'Morrowind but with prettier pixels.'" His thoughts make sense – especially when you consider how much the modders have in store for their project. So much, in fact, that they expect it to outlast The Elder Scrolls 6 – just as it previously did Oblivion, Skyrim, and now, of course, Oblivion Remastered.
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