The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered had a pretty sudden release, and while there was speculation for it to arrive “very soon”, it was still surprising to see it launch immediately after its announcement. The Oblivion remaster comes with some heavy visual changes along with a few gameplay additions, all while keeping system requirements fairly achievable. In fact, the giant open-world RPG is Steam Deck Verified as well, meaning that handheld gamers should technically get a smooth experience.

However, performance reviews for the game running on the Steam Deck suggest that perhaps the remaster wasn’t truly worthy of its Verified badge, and if you are willing to compromise your visuals by a lot, only then does the game seem to be playable.

Don't expect more than 30 FPS

According to SDHQ’s Steam Deck performance review of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake, the game runs well in indoor and closed-off areas like sewers and caves, where hitting 30FPS is no problem. However, the open world of the game will force you to make a lot of compromises, as exploring new areas can cause heavy stuttering and noticeable model pop-in issues.

It’s playable, but even with the game defaulting to the Low Quality preset, performance is not up to the mark. Bumping settings up to Medium gives you better visuals but causes significant performance drops. On top of that, FSR 3 in Performance mode doesn't help much and actually looks blurrier than XeSS.

In short, while the game runs fine in confined environments, the open world experience is far from ideal, and lowering settings for better performance means that you are missing out on the “tremendous visual enhancements” on Unreal Engine 5. And if you aren’t getting amazing visuals, why not stick to the original?

Better to stick with the original?

Judging by the performance reviews and Steam user reviews mentioning that you have to lower settings to the point of “looking worse than the 2006 Oblivion,” handheld gamers who want to dive into this fan-favorite RPG title may be better off getting the original. Unlike the remaster, the original Oblivion runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck, and as Steam Deck owners put it, “you won't regret it” in any way.

There are some caveats, though, as the PC version of Oblivion doesn't natively support controllers, so you'll need to figure that out either through a custom control scheme or mod. The original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is available for $14.99 on Steam, while you’re looking at a $34.99 investment for the remastered version.

About the Author

Hassam Nasir

Hassam boasts over seven years of professional experience as a dedicated PC hardware reviewer and writer.