Rumor: “Miracle” Port Masters Virtuos Working On Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remake

31.07.2023 - 13:51 / gameranx.com

We have an interesting new rumor about a classic game getting remade, under interesting circumstances.

As reported by XFire, a Reddit post let out that Virtuos is working on a port of The Elder Scrolls IV” Oblivion. Now, before we get to the rumor itself, we should talk about Virtuos itself.

Virtuos may not be as famous or popular with gamers as small studios like WayForward or InnerSloth, but it’s discreetly a giant in the industry with its own niche. While the company sometimes makes its own games, it’s made its reputation with the many ports of games it has made across different platforms.

These include bringing Horizon: Zero Dawn to Windows, Arkham City and Arkham Asylum to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and most instructively, the many games it has brought to Nintendo Switch.

Virtuos’ Switch library includes Destroy All Humans, BioShock, Dark Souls, XCOM 2, Dyling Light, and as a career highlight, NieR Automata: End of Yorha Edition. GamesRadar in particular hails this as a miracle port, and possibly making the Switch the best platform to play the game.

Virtuos currently has 21 offices around the word, and 3,500 employees. It is headquartered in Singapore, but also has five subsidiaries, including Black Shamrock.

With all that in mind, let’s examine the details of this latest rumor, that come from a now-deleted reddit:

“First, there is the ‘Altar’ project, which is the remaster/remake of Oblivion (the discusssion for it being a full remake are still ongoing.) It is done currently using a pairing system, so it means that the remaster is running using both an Unreal Engine 5 project, and the old Oblivion one.

For instance, new graphics are rendered in the UE5 project, but most of the gameplay/physics/etc is still done in Oblivion. It should be released end of next year/early 25 depending mostly on if it’s a remake or remaster. It is mostly done in Paris, but Blackshamrock also helps the studio for the art.”

Using both the old engine with its original graphics, as well as new graphics on Unreal Engine 5, implies that Virtuos is working on a port that can run across weaker and more powerful platforms. Of course, most gamers will assume this means the Nintendo Switch. However, it could also mean a port that will run on lower end gaming PCs, and possibly even a true blue mobile port.

Perhaps there is another interesting possibility, that Virtuos may not unveil until they release the game. They could be building a system that allows players to switch between new and old graphics any time. Now, that may be a developmental challenge, but if the newer graphics aren’t intended to be that high resolution, and more about just catching up to newer tech just enough, they could implement such a system.

It’s all