playstation – My Game Reviews

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is one of the standout games of 2025 Graphics

Oblivion Remastered has to be one of the best surprises of this year. Being a big fan of High Fantasy, this game was a treat to enjoy.

Being released in the spring, this felt like the perfect game for such a season. The screenshot above shows why here. This is a section of the Cyrodil map near the center of it and this is just a small pond here. The water lilies and the flowers are just so magical in this new version of the game here. I just had to take some time to take screenshots.

The Elder Scrolls Games, specifically Oblivion and Skyrim are games where you can just relax and enjoy the scenery. It is a great game just to engage with when one wants to just explore over following a linear set of objectives.

I have written about why I enjoyed playing Oblivion Remastered. I was bigger fan of Oblivion over Skyrim. I thought that Skyrim was a game which, while great, was too earthy for a fantasy game. I like the color and graphics of Oblivion. The new remastered graphics show why remastering these games is so important for preserving the efforts that brought these games to us gamers.

In an age where many video games just seem like a waste of money, this is a great achievement in here to get the industry back on track, so it is more vibrant in here.

The gameplay was already of great quality and the remastering helped to refine it.

However, the graphics have given the muddy looking yet colorful game another lease on life which is what they were trying to achieve with this edition.

In comparison to the original version, I think that the strongest aspect are the mountains. In the image above, one how much better looking such mountains are in comparison to the original version.

The one thing that I will give the original version is that it has brighter colors. There is this browness in the grass in the Remastered version which makes it look more like Skyrim in comparison.

When it comes to Weye right next to the Imperial City, there is something truly beautiful about the rustic country buildings in the evening light here. The flowers on the vines on the stone walls also provide a beautiful color contrast here.

The Remastered edition’s ability to render shadows really elevates the graphics. While the color is desaturated and not the best, I like how the nearby NPC’s clothing is interacting with the shadows and light in a complex way here.

It is during the night that I think the remastered edition’s color palette start to surpass the original versions. The lighting effects are greatly improved in the Remastered version have a softer presence, which I think helps to elevate the night especially in cities such as the Imperial City, and other urban areas.

While the color scheme isn’t really what I wanted, I think screenshots such as those above, explain why people keep coming to Oblivion even after playing Skyrim. There is something that the game manages to capture in the natural environment of the game.

This game had many pretty entries but this remastering of Oblivion is among one of the best I have seen.

Tainted Grail reaches 55,000 Stream views

tainted-grail-twitch-views-on-the-streams

Tainted Grail has now been out for a day and it is clear that the game is going to gaining popularity. On Twitch specifically, the game is boasting some impressive numbers for an independently made game without a huge publisher behind it. According to the picture that I have attached here, the game got over 55,000 viewers on Twitch streams.

How does this compare to other games?

The closest comparison is the Obsidian developed game, Avowed, which came out earlier this year. That game was largely seen as a failure as its player base basically abandoned it in favor of other titles such as Kingdom Come 2 or Oblivion Remastered Edition which had much higher player counts in comparison to it.

As you can clearly see, Avowed had more players watching at its peak in February. However, the game basically has hardly any viewers now. The game also only has about 500 players playing it now. In comparison, Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance is still having a healthy 20,000 players peak on the weekends, which shows the staying power of this game.

Why is Tainted Grail Twitch Streams so low in comparison to other RPGs?

This game is not a mainstream release. While the game’s studios, Questline and Awaken Realms has published it, there are still hurdles. In a market as saturated with games as the Steam marketplace, Tainted Grail has to stand out from the competition. Oblivion Remastered is taking traffic away for sure and I am not surprised it has been performing so well with players.

Tainted Grail is an independent title in the truest sense. It hasn’t been picked up by any major publishing companies, which means that word of mouth is going to what helps this game become a success.

The three main areas for Tainted Grail to get attention are:

Steam
YouTube
Twitch

These three social media platforms are the main places where the awareness around the game can grow.

Currently, the game is looking quite strong for an independent Skyrim coming out of the Republic of Poland. Hopefully, it is not an Avowed but a true spiritual sequel to the Elder Scrolls.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and return of female beauty in Video Games

It is clear that the beauty of female characters in video games is having something of a renaissance now. There has been a movement away from having nice looking women in video games. Artists in the video game industry are not shying away from showing the female form. The Polish Gaming scene has always been open with depicting women, as can been seen in the famous Witcher games.

In the screenshot above, you can clearly see that political correctness is not governing the design of characters.

Compare this to how Oblivion Remastered ended up changing the look of the female characters and their clothing styles.

One can clearly see the inspiration in the interface of Tainted Grail. However, it is clear that the game is allowing for more skin to be showing in the game.

Some YouTubers have made comparison videos of the graphics between the original version and the new version. I saw that some of the female outfits and armor had been changed as to show less skin or to be less suggestive.

Such changes have been trending awhile in Bethesda.

Fallout 3 had many references to sexuality and yet its sequel basically hid it underneath the companions.

Oblivion and Skyrim were basically sexless games while Morrowind had even less sexuality in comparison to the earlier Elder Scrolls Games. Daggerfall and Arena were products of 1990s culture looking back at the 1980s Fantasy craze and putting them into games.

Tainted Grail is not going to have huge amounts of sexuality in it. One of the prominent screenshots for the game on Steam shows a woman with her belly button exposed. She is holding a huge sword over her shoulder. This is a combination of beauty and brawn all in one image.