After just four months, Bethesda Game Studios' long-awaited RPG remake The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has seen its rating on Steam drop to "Mixed" – and fans say issues on PC with performance are to blame.
It's a tale as old as time… a new Bethesda title releases, but it's a buggy mess riddled with frame rate drops and stutter-y visuals – although unlike with past studio launches, Oblivion Remastered actually had a solid start. After seemingly dropping out of the blue in late April, the hotly anticipated remaster climbed the ranks and became one of this year's best-selling games in only a week. Reviews reflected these sales, sitting at "Very Positive" on Steam for quite a while.
Recently, however, the Oblivion Remastered rating has fallen to "Mixed" on Valve's platform, with most frustrated players citing problems with the game's performance on PC in their negative reviews. "Performance is still poor and unstable, even on sufficient hardware," as one fan writes. "Updates have also stalled, with no fixes in the near future. Frustrating issues that weigh down an otherwise solid and faithful remaster."
Another player echoes these thoughts, describing how "new UI or UE5 bugs add to the many bugs still unresolved since 2006" and similarly stating that there's "poor support and very few and slow updates" from Bethesda. Some fans say they're unable to properly play the game at all, as it's "so buggy and crashes every few hours right before saving," which makes "progress impossible." Complaints regarding performance aren't unique to Steam, either.
A new Reddit thread sees fans gather to discuss the remaster's now "Mixed" reviews, with one declaring Oblivion Remastered is "good as it can be, and as much as I love it, it is still well and truly a Bethesda game." In response, somebody notes that older Bethesda games boast "Very Positive" ratings despite their issues: "Something changed in people's willingness to put up with jank." As a longtime stan of the studio's RPGs myself, it makes sense.
After all, the legendary Skyrim era of horses clipping through the ground and random crashes mid-battle is over (or at least, judging by players' voices today, it should be). Here's hoping developers hear fans' cries and start releasing more frequent Oblivion Remastered updates.
Excited for other new games? Here's everything you need to know about The Elder Scrolls 6 after replaying Oblivion.
