Skyblivion, the massive mod remaking Oblivion in Skyrim's engine, looks pretty great as devs show off some fresh quest gameplay ahead of 2025 release
Mages bickering over books and goblin killing sprees. Aye, that's Oblivion alright.
The team behind Skyblivion, the massive modding project that’s remaking The Elder Scrolls IV - yep, the one where everyone’s faces look a bit hilarious - in Skyrim’s engine, has just shared some fresh quest gameplay. There’s a bit of Mages Guild, a bit of a scuffle on a farm, and all of it looks pretty great, aside from the odd bug.
Right off the bat in this latest showcase, the Skyblivion devs provided an update on how development is progressing, with the video’s narrator revealing that things are still on track for the 2025 release date the group has previously set.
So, what’ve we gotten a look at this time around? Well, two classic Oblivion quests, in the form of Fingers of the Mountain and The Killing Field, with the latter looking to have been renamed to Killing Fields.
Both take place in and around Chorrol, meaning the video offers a great look around the city in the Great Forest, which is generally one of the first places you rock up in during any Oblivion playthrough, thanks to the fact that Weynon Priory’s right next to it. The team looks to have done a great job of retaining Chorrol’s nostalgic feel and layout, while making it a lot more vibrant and detailed, as you can see when the player chats to Earana in the central plaza in that first quest.
Fingers of the Mountain’s all about fetching a book to earn favour - or not - in the Mages Guild, and the playthrough of it gives us an up close look at how the modders have revamped the Cloud Top ruin where the tome’s found into something a lot more visually spectacular, as they teased during a showcase stream earlier this year.
The only hangup is that Earana herself is suffering from a classic Skyrim face colour bug, with Skyblivion project lead Kyle Rebel having since acknowledged this in a tweet, writing: “It’s easy to fix, but we're not trying to hide our bugs currently in the game. This is an accurate representation of the current game state, that's what we want to show off. If you look closely there [are] a few more prominent bugs in the video.”
Anyway, minor bugs aside, both that quest and Killing Fields, which sees you help retired warrior Valus Odiil’s sons fend off some goblins attacking the family farm, look pretty great, with the latter’s original plotline having been augmented via some dynamic changes in the world depending on how it ends, as well as the iconic Chillrend sword having been faithfully revamped.
“While progress has been steady, we are always looking for more volunteers to help us finish the project and get it into your hands as soon as possible,” the video’s narrator says of the team’s current position, later teasing that the group will be providing “more insight” into its current progress later this year as 2025 looms.
How do you think Skyblivion looks in this showcase? Let us know below!