Remember when Oblivion Remastered shadowdropped, and we all got really worried about it overshadowing the long-awaited Sklyblivion? Well, turns out there was nothing to worry about after all, and not just because the Skyblivion devs made it absolutely clear that they were cool with the official remaster existing alongside their own creation.
Turns out, Skyblivion will not be launching this year after all. Despite 2025 being the target for some time, the ambitious Skyrim overhaul, which fully recreates Oblivion from the ground up, will now launch at some point in 2026. Worse yet, some features have had to be dropped, but the devs hope to get them working in the future.
The Skyblivion team announced this delay with a YouTube video. This means that we at least get another look at the fan project, as well as an in-depth showcase of what parts of the game have been completed, and which require more work.
On the whole, most of the game is done. The cities are all accounted for, aside from some parts of the Imperial City, as are the quest dungeons. We get a look at all of these in the video, and can see how they’ve not only been upscaled, as we got in Oblivion Remastered, but also altered to make everything more unique, and even add new content.
However, there is some more bad news here. Both spellcrafting and underwater combat have had to be scrapped for now, as the devs cannot get the versions they had up and running to work with the current build of the game. Both of these features are still listed as something that is in the works for post-launch updates, alongside others like grave robbing and recruiting followers, so they should still be added further down the line.
Bethesda Just Gave A Touching Gift To Skyblivion Following Oblivion Remastered’s Launch
Definitely no bad blood between the two here.
Ultimately, this delay probably won’t come as a surprise to those who had been following Skyblivion closely. We never got a specific release date, just that 2025 window, and that became more unlikely as the year went on. A former developer also alleged that the project was being “rushed” and made under “crunch” conditions to make the 2025 release possible. If this was true, then hopefully this delay allows the team to take a breather.
Whenever it launches, there’s a good chance that it will be worth the wait. Bethesda itself has liked what it’s seen so far, and even invited the team to the studio to ask for advice regarding its mod support in the future.
- Released
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March 20, 2006
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Engine
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havok, speedtree, gamebryo
