The Elder Scrolls VI is unlikely to use the Unreal Engine 5 for rendering like Oblivion Remastered does, as it would do little to address some of the most common Creation Engine complaints, like the fragmented game world.

In the latest episode of their podcast, the tech experts at Digital Foundry responded to a fan’s question about whether The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a test for the next entry in the series. They highlighted the possibility is definitely there, as other studios have done something similar in the past, essentially making Unreal Engine their own, like Housemarque with Returnal.

Still, it seems unlikely that The Elder Scrolls VI will use Unreal Engine 5 for rendering, as the Epic engine would not solve any of the most significant issues of the Creation Engine by itself. As highlighted by Oblivion Remastered, the Unreal Engine 5 was still limited by the Gamebryo engine powering the rest of the game, and the game world was still as fragmented as it was in the original. At the same time, rendering was not exactly an issue in Starfield, and with the Creation Engine likely getting rendering improvements for The Elder Scrolls VI, having Unreal Engine 5 rendering would only serve to delay the game further, complicate development and potentially add performance issues, as Oblivion Remastered is extremely heavy and runs poorly on pretty much everything that isn’t a top end machine with frame generation on top.

With The Elder Scrolls VI still far from release, the launch of Oblivion Remastered allows players to return to Tamriel ahead of the launch of the next entry in the series. Despite performance issues and some visual changes, the remaster is a game worth experiencing, keeping the original’s magic intact, as I highlighted in my review. The game is now out on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.