The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered - Breathing life into a role playing classic.

By Sam Coles:  

The Elder Scrolls series (at the time of writing) has been in a somewhat dormant state for nearly 15 years, as Skyrim came out in 2011. This dormancy has led most to believe that Skyrim is a standalone game and not associated with a bigger franchise, that mostly stems to younger gamers. However, Bethesda decided to inconspicuously (well outside of leaks) release a remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on current platforms, and for older gamers myself included were overjoyed to see a 20-year-old favourite to get a nice new coat paint. I just want to go over its beauty and how it made me fall in love with it again.  

The story is not the most complex in the series, but what helps is that is sets up a strong core to get the player invested. Once again you are prisoner in jail for an unspecified reason, but you are let out due to being in the right place at the wrong time. The emperor of Tamriel sees something in you and is unfortunately assassinated by cultists. The story is engaging throughout, as the world reacts to your actions where certain NPCs will comment on certain exploits from your adventures. It is little details like this that help build Oblivion’s world and is somewhat lacking from Skyrim.  

Speaking of the world, Oblivion is extremely open ended once you finish the tutorial area, you get that initial Elder Scrolls moment where you see the world unfold in front of you with its beauty. With the visual enhancements with this remaster, I felt like a teenager again, it is the remaster that gives you the visuals that you thought how they looked back in the day rather than what they looked like. It is truly breathtaking the new visual overhaul in Unreal Engine 5, it has the skeleton of the old engine but clears up the visuals to a modern standard with some gameplay tweaks. Everything feels denser, foliage has been ramped up in forests with lushly textured trees, more detail to flowers and meadows that really make me feel like a child exploring the woodland that I grew up in all those years ago.  

The game itself is left the same, you can see the original skeleton of the old engine in the game, but they uplifted it visually with Unreal Engine 5 where it keeps all the quirks. So, you will have all the same glitches, the uncanny conversations as well as unusual moments that you can only be described as “Oblivion Moments”. Any other game would be lynched with these elements, but it just works with Oblivion and fits its fantasy realm. Speaking of the unusual conversations, they have expanded the pool of voice actors in the game where they have enlisted the skills of voice actors from Skyrim, it just adds variety to the characters you interact with in the world instead of talking to the same five people throughout the game.  

The music has been untouched too in this remaster, I think the soundtrack in Oblivion is more memorable and iconic than Skyrim. Now I know that may sound sacrilege, but I feel Skyrim’s music is mostly ambient whereas Oblivion’s has a warm welcoming feeling as you explore each town or city to the more isolated tones when you are out in the wilderness. It is a soundtrack that I find myself listening to often nearly 20 years on, I just stick it on the background as I read or write it just relaxes me, I just imagine myself on the streets of Imperial City or docks of Anvil.  

Oblivion is a classic RPG; it makes me so happy that this game has been given the face lift it deserves while preserving its gameplay and quirks. Yes, it has its technical issues but that is part of this game’s charm, as it is ultimately a comforting experience where I can fall in love with it all over again.  

Dead Space (2023) - How to do a video game remake.

By Sam Coles:  

Remakes and remasters have become ubiquitous in recent years in the video game industry, so much so that they have gained a hyperbolic reputation of them outnumbering new releases. While yes, they are numerous and abundant, there are certainly more new game releases than remasters and remakes. Anyway, tangent aside I am here to talk about the beauty (if you can call it that with this game) of the Dead Space remake.  

Originally released in 2008 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Dead Space felt like one of the last good horror games we got for a long time, where the genre fell out of favour during that era for more over the top first and third person shooters. However, even in a sea of generic third person action games, Dead Space really stood out to me and scared the living daylights out of my 15-year-old mind back in the day. Fast forward to 2023, we get a remake of the 2008 title and to be honest when they first announced it, I felt that it didn’t really need a remake. The game still held up in my mind, and honestly it still does but what Motive did with this remake is excellent and nothing short of amazing. They took a game that has already aged well and made it look better, with a more tense atmosphere and fine-tuned the gameplay to make it the definitive experience, so let’s get into it!  

Dead Space follows the plot of the original release frame by frame with some changes, for one Isaac Clark can now speak in this game whereas in the original he was a silent protagonist. This did ruffle a few feathers, but honestly, I think it was a good change as a lot of characters talk to him directly, and him standing there silently with no response is a bit awkward in the 2008 release.  

He is sent to a space station to perform normal maintenance, where his partner Nicole happens to be stationed. However, once they arrive something is amiss as the reception area is abandoned and they soon find out why. They are quickly attacked by grotesque monsters that were once the crew, and Isaac has to investigate what happened to everyone and his partner. The story in this game, is Alien meets Event Horizon but that is not a bad thing as it adds its own spin on the formula of those stories. It is great to piece things together as there are not many cutscenes, a lot of the narrative is presented through text and audio logs as well as environmental storytelling.  

Gameplay wise they have kept the foundation of the original, it is somewhat of a survival horror, but I don’t agree with that completely as ammo was always plentiful in the older titles. However, in this remake they have tweaked that aspect of the game, ammo seems to be far and few between fights although if you stomp corpses, you will find resources more but I did notice ammo pickups in general are more scarce. This tweak to the pickups makes you more careful with your shots, and has added more to the difficulty of the game which is not a bad thing.  

The combat in general feels much better compared to the 2008 release, the shooting feels tight and responsive, coupled with the more visceral curb stomping which is fantastic and is more tense in the scenario with Isaac’s added profane dialogue as he performs said action. All the weapons and abilities are here in the remake, you have the iconic plasma cutter although toned down as it was overpowered in the original, the savage buzz saw as well as the flamethrower among others. Not only that, but you also still have stasis abilities which will help you in combat, as well as solving the simple yet fun puzzles in the game. It never gets old dismembering enemies with a plasma cutter, to then impale them against a wall with their own arm.  

Visually the game is a huge step up from the original, an obvious statement at face value but the original had an art style that has aged well for a 2008 game. Everything is improved visually, shadows are darker emphasising the darker atmosphere coupled with steam coming out of the various vents in the environment with the haunting sound design. I played this on PlayStation 5, and a little on Xbox Series S via Game Pass and it ran at 60 fps on PS5 but only at 30 on Series S. Framerates are not usually a deal breaker for me, but when a game requires a degree of quick reflexes 60 fps is objectively better in that regard and it feels much better. It managed to stick to its respective framerates on both platforms, so if you are worried about stutter in any aspect it is not an issue.  

Dead Space’s remake is an example of tweaking a classic in all the right areas, while maintaining what made the original a classic. It improves graphics (obviously), while improving the gameplay and adding to the narrative with the addition of voice over work for Isaac. It is a fantastic game for returning fans, or those who never got a chance to play it back in the day. A must play!  

Assassin's Creed: Shadows - Ubisoft finally set it in Japan!

(PlayStation 5 code provided by Ubisoft UK)

By Sam Coles 

Assassin’s Creed is a franchise (at the time of writing) that has been around for 18 years, since the release of the original game all the way back in 2007 people have wondered if Ubisoft will set the series in Japan. Fast forward to the year 2025 and we finally have a game that is set in Japan, and it has been met with a lot of hate from various audiences but honestly despite the multitude of attacks on the game it is a fantastic experience.  

The game is set in 16th century Japan, and you play as two protagonists, you have Naoe who is looking to avenge her father’s death and Yasuke who is a black slave who was adopted into the samurai order. They are both met as enemies initially but then learn to work together as there is a bigger threat against Japan. It is a typical Assassin’s Creed plot, where it mostly revolves around revenge due to the death of a loved one, but the dynamics between Naoe and Yasuke work well.  

What stands out with this game is its world, the world itself is a character alone and that is something the series has always got right. However, this time they have gone all out with the detail, this is easily the most detailed game in the series specifically with world details. The foliage is dense in this game, as Japan at this point is mostly countryside vistas and this game really captures that with expansive draw distances. What helps with the added detail is that this is a current generation (PS5 and Xbox Series consoles) focused experience, so they can really go all out with the hardware.   

The moment I was allowed to freely explore in this game my jaw hit the ground, the world felt so organic with the lush and densely filled foliage as you see it sway on a breezy day. That is another aspect that helps this world feel believable, the audio design as it sells you this realistic world of wildlife with birds chirping as well as the wind howling as you hear the grass blades brush against each other. It is a wonderful experience, and one where you can just go and explore at your own leisure looking for viewpoints, as you take in the majesty of the beautiful vistas and horizons. It is these moments that I have got into the habit of walking in a lot of areas, just like in real life when I want to unwind I love just walking around and taking in nature, to help blow off the cobwebs and it can help after a good combat section in the game as they are intense.  

Speaking of combat, it is not all about taking in the views and exploring as at some point you will have to confront the dangers of this world. Combat has been given a massive upgrade in this game; it requires timing and patience as you can’t just spam attacks to win as that will get you killed quickly. No, you must anticipate your enemy’s movements it is not Kingdom Come Deliverance levels of complexity far from it, but you can’t just button mash your way to victory. The combat is brutal, bloody and gory something you would expect from this period coupled with the sickening sound design as you slice through a poor soul and see blood fly everywhere. The combat really gets into a ballet of violence once you get going and feels really satisfying.  

Stealth does play a role in this game, it wouldn’t be much of an Assassin’s Creed game if there was no stealth. Anyway, the stealth gameplay is mostly assigned to Naoe as she is the titular assassin in this game as Yasuke is the brute and more confrontational character. Stealth has been finely tuned, where it seems they have taken elements from the Splinter Cell series. What I mean by that is you can now use light or lack thereof to hide, so you can extinguish candles to hide yourself in darkness, coupled with the ability to go prone and hide in shallow tufts of grass. It adds more to what is already there, and honestly it is a welcome change making it feel like one the best stealth systems in the series.  

Overall, what I have played of Assassin’s Creed Shadows so far has really captivated me, it really helped that Ubisoft delayed the game a couple of times to add polish, and it shows. The Japanese setting is wonderful, coupled with the breathtaking visuals, engaging story and brutal and visceral combat. It is a must play!