Skyblivion's Ambitious Roadmap Unveiled: 2025 Release and a Glimpse into the Future

The much-anticipated Skyblivion project, a massive overhaul of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, has finally revealed its roadmap to the 2025 release. As a volunteer-driven effort to recreate Oblivion in Skyrim's engine, Skyblivion has been a major undertaking for the Elder Scrolls Renewal project team. In their recent update, they provided a 10-minute video outlining progress thus far and the journey leading up to the 2025 goal.

The Skyblivion team's to-do list is no small feat, with landscaping being one of the major tasks in progress. Currently, 87% of the world map's cells have been completed, including all 803 cells of Blackwood. However, the project still has 40 additional spaces beyond the world map, such as Daedric realms and the world within the painting from A Brush With Death Quest. These areas are being saved for last, promising much more diversity than in the original Oblivion game.

Once the cells are landscaped, they can be navmesh, providing the essential pathing information for NPCs. The team has completed about one-third of this enormous task, making NPCs and quests functional in those completed parts of the map. Out of 199 quests from Oblivion, 97 are playable in Skyblivion, with 25 more being works-in-progress. The entire Dark Brotherhood questline and approximately one-third of the map are ready for exploration, while the Thieves Guild and main storyline remain under development.

Skyblivion is committed to incorporating Oblivion's unique and often quirky systems into the game. They've already completed spell crafting, alchemy, underwater combat, and weather systems. In-progress features include classes, magic, attributes, and the disposition-altering speechcraft mini-game. The project is adopting Skyrim's leveling mechanics in place of Oblivion's level-scaling, providing a more enjoyable gameplay experience.

In order to meet the 2025 release goal, the Skyblivion team will not be launching the game with expansions like The Shivering Isles. Their focus remains on completing the base game, with possible development of extra content like The Shivering Isles occurring after the primary release. Skyblivion aims to be playable in both Skyrim and Skyrim: Special Edition, requiring players to own a copy of Oblivion as well. For those eager to help bring this ambitious project to life by 2025, the Skyblivion volunteers page provides all the necessary information for getting involved.