The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (2009)
Intense overall intensityWhat's in it
Wine, mead, and ale are drunk for stat effects, and the player can buy, consume, and trade the addictive narcotic skooma.
Real-time melee and magic combat against humans, undead, and demonic creatures with blood effects; no dismemberment or gore.
An optional assassins' guild questline centers on contract murder, and the main plot follows a doomsday cult carrying out killings and human sacrifice.
The player can pickpocket, steal, break into homes, and murder for hire through the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines.
Dungeons and the fiery demonic Oblivion realms feature undead, hanging corpses, and eerie atmosphere.
Conjuration magic summons Daedra, necromancy raises the dead, and a cult worships demonic princes of a hellish realm.
Wild animals such as wolves, bears, and boars are fought and killed as ordinary combat.
Occasional mild profanity such as 'damn' and 'hell' in NPC dialogue.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
A solo fantasy role-playing title, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion drops one built-from-scratch protagonist into the open realm of Cyrodiil, letting them roam its towns, untamed landscapes, and underground lairs at will as a central plot advances around halting zealots bent on tearing open portals to a fiendish dimension. Fighting relies on blades and spellcasting directed at people, reanimated corpses, and creatures; wounds produce blood, though neither graphic mutilation nor severed limbs appear. Beyond the heroic missions, characters may pilfer goods, defeat locks, and accept paid killing jobs by joining the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. Drinking and dealing in liquor is possible, as is use of skooma, an invented habit-forming narcotic, while spell options extend to conjuring Daedra and reanimating corpses. Packaged as the Game of the Year Edition, this release combines the original title with two add-ons: Knights of the Nine plus Shivering Isles.
How it's framed
Morality here is loosely defined, leaving direction up to the person playing: world-rescuing heroics coexist with elective factions that pay off for thievery and contract killing. Rather than preventing such acts, the system logs wrongdoing through bounties and imprisonment. Slaying, stealing, and narcotic use all exist as selectable behaviors carrying repercussions within the fiction, and although the narrative sets the protagonist in opposition to a cult that venerates demons, it does not back what that cult seeks.
Details
- Developer
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher
- Bethesda Softworks
- Released
- Jun 16, 2009
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