The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Ranked 5 of 5 open-world RPGs by recommenders
Recommended for its atmosphere and world, and for becoming better years after release. Critics agree its level scaling undermines challenge and progression.
Recommended for its atmosphere and world, and for becoming better years after release. Critics agree its level scaling undermines challenge and progression.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 21
- approval share
- 34%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Atmosphere and unique world feel
“it has a very compelling, unique atmosphere”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable” “I was in awe hearing his stentorian intro with the camera sweeping over the countryside”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Patrick Stewart has died” Memorable intro and characters
“I was in awe hearing his stentorian intro with the camera sweeping over the countryside”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “Patrick Stewart has died” “His presence in Oblivion was far too short.”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: To Honor Sir Patrick Stewart, Enjoy the TNG Episode Guessing Game”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Level scaling kills progression and challenge
“Oblivion's problem is even worse than that. You can level up entirely from improving non-combat skills, so the enemies are harder”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Making difficulty curves in games” “Players are punished for leveling, and many players simply give up and have to do everything on level 1.”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Making difficulty curves in games” “using Oblivion-like level scaling to "make the world accessible" is just bad, lazy design to me”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable” - Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Making difficulty curves in games”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable”
- Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Making difficulty curves in games”
- Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Outside, Dungeon, Town: Integrating the Three Places in Videogames (2024)”
- Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable”
- Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable”
Mechanics feel like work
“The game isn't doing anything wrong but I just conclude that it's work”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “The Case Against Gameplay Loops” “the optimal route is to make your primary stats the ones you don't intend to use”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable” Remake visuals feel like asset pack
“I personally do not like the visual feel of the remake as it screams asset pack to me.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “What to Learn to Be a Graphics Programmer” “I find the result very jarring somehow; the scale of the world didn't seem right.”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The L in "LLM" Stands for Lying”
Other open-world RPGs people recommend
The four most recommended other open-world RPGs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 76 | 38 | 67% | 12 | 6 mo5 owners | Approved |
| Morrowind | 26 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Skyrim | 25 | 21 | 54% | 10 | — | — |
| Fallout: New Vegas | 15 | 4 | 79% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionThis page | 11 | 21 | 34% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
32 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it’s awesome if you have the hardware”
“His presence in Oblivion was far too short.”
“I was in awe hearing his stentorian intro with the camera sweeping over the countryside”
“either with only part of the game on the disc (e.g., Oblivion Remastered)”
“Oblivion remastered is an absolute dumpster fire for performance in general.”
“they released an oblivion remaster last year”
“Bandits with glass armor in Oblivion from the level scaling is difficulty done badly.”
“Oblivion's problem is even worse than that. You can level up entirely from improving non-combat skills, so the enemies are harder”
“Players are punished for leveling, and many players simply give up and have to do everything on level 1.”
“Or even blocks them, in games that have dynamic leveling. Oblivion is the ur-example”
“enemy health inexplicably goes up based on your level”
“the sequel games were downgrades in that regard”
“the level scaled mobs will oneshot you later because they have the same level as you”
“the optimal route is to make your primary stats the ones you don't intend to use”
“the level scaling stuff that simply kills any sense of progression”
“using Oblivion-like level scaling to "make the world accessible" is just bad, lazy design to me”
“in Oblivion, it only resulted in putting a book on the spacebar”
“something like Oblivion or Skyrim were a much better experience 5-10 years after release than initially”
“It's just extremely lazy design that ruins any sense of progress/immersion”
“the level scaling just completely annihilates the game”
“Oblivion simplified a lot of what Morrowind did, which drew some ire.”
“it has a very compelling, unique atmosphere”
“I personally do not like the visual feel of the remake as it screams asset pack to me.”
“played it for 2 weeks straight before declaring it trash”
“The game isn't doing anything wrong but I just conclude that it's work”
“shortly abandoned after release with major performance issues”
“I find the result very jarring somehow; the scale of the world didn't seem right.”
“in practice it led to criminal NPCs being dead before the player can meet them”
“getting ambushed in town in Oblivion by a secret cultist”
“Baldur's Gate 3, Oblivion Remastered are a couple I've tried with rough results”
“significantly more shallow than Morrowind”
“new vegas, oblivion I spend two evenings getting everything to play nice”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.