Oblivion: a pixelated statue stands in front of a burning castle at night.
Image via gong/Nexus Mods.

Turn Oblivion into a PS1-style game with this mod

Would you call this an "underhaul"?

Long before the likes of Oblivion, I recall the OG PlayStation console. Its 3D capabilities and catalog of releases turned Sony into a powerhouse in the video games industry. Nostalgic though that time was, we have truly moved on since those low-poly, low-pixel days. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t return to them every so often.

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That’s exactly what Nexus Mods user has done. Making sure we never forget the PS1 era of gaming, they’ve managed to “demake” The Elder Scrolls 4, turning it into a blocky facsimile of its formerly🐈 smooth (though now dated) sel♕f.

Oblivion: a pixelated woman in a dark dress stands in a town center during the day.
Image via gong/Nexus Mods.

“Oblivion Umastered,” as it’s called, has taken the classic Bethesda RPG and “decimally crunched” the textures, turning it into something that would sit more at home in 1995. The modder has also – if you’ll pardon the language – “rampantly polyfucked” the meshes, and has also “bit crushed” the audio. I speak for myself, but I kind of like the way gong describes things…

Obliviating the visuals

Visually and audibly, it may have been altered to an eye-bleeding quality that many of us still recall fondly, but it’s the same ol’ Oblivion. The modder describes it as being like a PS1-era game, but it’s functionally still TES4, so🅷 nothing else has been tinkered with outside the graphics and sound.

They also recommend running their unmastered mod with the included shader preset, saying that it’s “actually a pretty cool experience.” All I can say is it really makes me miss my youth.

Of course, we can’t talk about The Elder Scrolls without mentioning the elusive sixth entry. Skyrim came out over 13 years ago and while Bethesda is working on the next game, many of us are starting to grow impatient. On top of that, there are still rumors that Oblivion will be getting a remake at some point. Counter that with this PS1 demake mod and we could potentially have it all from the nearly 18-year-old 🌟RPG.


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Andrew Heaton
Andrew has been a gamer since the 17th century Restoration period. He now writes for a number of online publications, contributing news and other articles. He does not own a powdered wig.