These days, it’s all Skyrim Skyrim Skyrim. A fine game it is, obviously, but sometimes it’s good to look back at some of the older entries. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was a landmark entry in the long-running series, being one of the best RPGs of its era. To that end, I’m pleased that people are still finding the time to give it some love.
As noted by DSO Gaming, a fan-made mod will boost your TES4 experience by quite the margin. Uploaded by Nexus Mods user Vorians (and created by Lariatius), Citadel of Madness is a pretty hefty download, adding a ton of new content.
According to the description, it adds the following:
- A new quest line, comparable in duration to any Cyrodiil guild. 38 new quests (23 in the main line, 15 side quests).
- A huge fortress on a floating island.
- Hundreds of new characters.
- More than 3000 lines of dialogue.
- Over 25 hours of play.
- Powerful bosses and new opponents. The Knights of Order among them are far from the strongest.
- New game territories: the Archipelago of Madness, the lands of Jyggalag and one more (you’ll see for yourself later).
- On the Archipelago of Madness there are three small but well-developed islands and, accordingly, three new settlements: a city, a village and a fishing village.
- Lots of new drinks and alchemical ingredients.
- A new gaming faction with its own career ladder, several non-playable and hostile factions.
- Many well-developed locations: more than 180 new internal cells (interiors).
- New types of caves and crypts.
- New magical artifacts and familiar old ones.
- New in-game literature, as well as books from other parts of TES.
- New music and sounds.
- New weapons and armor.
It even incorporates the lore from the Shivering Isles DLC.
Oblivion will never die
Okay, I should probably point out at this point that this isn’t technically a new mod. According to Vorians, this is actually an English translation of a Russian fan project. I found what I believe to be the original download, which was uploaded quite some time ago. Still, it being a translated version re-uploaded to Nexus Mods technically makes it new, right?
For all its flaws, Oblivion was a banger. I say flaws in the way that most Bethesda games come prepackaged with their share of bugs and errors. TES4 was probably one of the less egregious examples, but even so, it’s aged.
However, it continues to hold a special place in the hearts of many, typically ranking high on lists of the best Elder Scrolls games ever (Morrowind usually takes the top spot). Modders continue to deliver the goods to keep us going back for more, so Oblivion‘s legacy can continue unabated. Is that too much of a kiss-ass sentiment? I don’t care. I love this game.
