In 2006, Bethesda was riding high on the success of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In an effort to keep fans coming back to Cyrodiil, the developer started releasing small paid DLC packages for the game. Little did the company know that it was galloping headlong into controversy when it dropped its first DLC pack that April: horse armor.
Even if you weren’t following games at the time, you’ve likely heard of the horse armor controversy. Though DLC certainly existed pre-horse armor, Oblivion’s Horse Armor Pack (which cost 200 Microsoft Points on the 360 Marketplace, approximately $2.50 at the time) really caused a stir due to the armor being essentially useless.
Now, in 2025, cosmetic upgrades such as this are commonplace, which has allowed Bethesda to be a bit cheeky in its release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and once again charge players extra for horse armor. As a part of today’s reveal and shadow-drop of the remaster, we learned that Oblivion Remastered will include both a base edition and a deluxe edition. For an extra $10 on top of the base game price, deluxe edition buyers will get new quests for unique armors, extra weapon options, a digital artbook and soundtrack app… and yes, horse armor again. Two sets, to be precise.
For the most part, fans seem to be taking this in their stride. We’re almost two decades away from a time when cosmetic DLC like horse armor was a shocking thing to introduce, and players at this point are used to shelling out money for purely cosmetic upgrades. As Circana analyst Mat Piscatella pointed out on BlueSky, video game consumers in the U.S. spent over $10.4 billion on PC and console video game digital add-ons in 2024. “Horse Armor walked so Battle Passes could run.”
In fact, most people just find it funny that Bethesda seems comfortable poking fun at what was once a massive scandal.
Honestly I have to respect it. New players won’t know this, but releasing the horse armor as paid DLC again is a subtle reference to when they singlehandedly ruined the industry by selling it the first time around. I kneel, Todd. https://t.co/BGwBwL3VYX
Oblivion Remastered doesn’t just have horse armor, it already has mods. A handful of community mods made their way to popular website Nexus Mods just hours after Oblivion launched, although these mostly amount to small customization options.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
In a free world, all Overwatch 2 heroes would be playable no matter how annoying they might be to face off against because sometimes them’s the breaks. We don’t live in a free world though, not anymore at least, as Overwatch 2 season 16 starts today. Most notably it’s introducing its new mode Stadium, but also something that’ll change up the competitive aspect of the shooter quite a bit: hero bans.
Bethesda has confirmed The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered does not feature official mod support, but that hasn’t stopping dedicated fans from already pushing out a few unofficial mods of their own.
A handful of community mods made their way to popular website Nexus Mods just hours after Bethesda and Virtuos’ Oblivion reimagining shadow-dropped for players across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Although these mostly amount to small customization options, it’s proof that few modding communities are as dedicated as those found in The Elder Scrolls fanbase.
The wave of early mods arrives as Bethesda, which usually encourages mod support in its games, announced that Oblivion Remastered does not feature official mod support this time around. Confirmation that players would need to turn elsewhere for mods was detailed in an FAQ section on its website.
Meanwhile, Nexus Mods user GodschildGaming uploaded their Iron Longsword damage mod in part to show Oblivion Remastered is still ripe for modding.
“This is just to prove modding is possible,” they said in the mod’s description. “Bethesda says no mod support, I say false. It really is Unreal slapped on top of Oblivion, the data folder is nested in a lot more folders but same concept.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
And, in an interview with host of GamerTag Radio Danny Peña, series manager and former producer of the Gears of War series Rod Fergusson has said that the prospect of Diablo IV on Switch 2 is “something to look at.” (via Nintendo Everything).
Not only is the world of Labyrinth of the Demon King uniquely cold, oppressive, and brutal – but it is also a meticulously crafted narrative experience that weaves together elements of classic dungeon crawler titles, action RPGs, and the survival horror genre. In this challenging first-person dungeon-crawler set in a mythical re-interpretation of feudal Japan, you’ll need every resource you can find to overcome the demons that block your path. Prepare yourself to enter into the ubiquitous labyrinth yourself on May 13th, when Labyrinth of the Demon King launches on Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One systems.
The world of Athens is weird, highly unusual, and filled with a host of surprises. Along the way, you’ll meet tons of friends (and foes!) as you navigate the world in your own unique way, you’ll decide how you want to interact not only with those you meet, but also the world itself. As the world shifts and you interact with denizens, you’ll begin to flesh out your very own rhapsody. You can meet 16 potential party members, all with tons of depth – the very world will change depending on who you have in your party when. Plus, every single enemy can be fought or befriended! You’ll also find smaller friends and foes to commune with, and find tons of unlockable outfits to deck yourself and your party out with.
The world of Labyrinth of the Demon King is brought to life (so to speak, anyway) through its unique “retro-grim” art style. The game’s dark, foreboding world takes inspiration from authentic Japanese folklore and tradition; the developer spent extensive time in Japan studying architecture and history. Inspired by a mixture of mythologized feudal history and supernatural folklore, the setting of Labyrinth is as gorgeous as it is brutal. Venture through sprawling castles, idyllic teahouses, dilapidated bath houses and more as you make your way towards the Demon King himself.
As a foot soldier of your former Lord, you must be not only well trained in the art of combat, but on your toes at all times for possible threats Labyrinth of the Demon King features brutal, challenging combat that emphasizes patience, strategy, and diligence. As you explore the labyrinth, you’ll come across a slew of weapons, including an axe, naginata, bow, and more – on top of your trusty katana, of course. Face off against the numerous Yokai of ancient myth that roam the earth, and put your skills to the test. You’ll need to study the moves of each monster you come across. Be assured however, that any victory – no matter how small – is an accomplishment.
As the name suggests, the Demon King’s Labyrinth is complex, confusing, and full of twisted nooks and crannies full of monsters, treasure, traps, and sometimes…friends? As you adventure through the Labyrinth, carefully managing your resources, you’ll come across a handful of other denizens; some trekking throughout the lands like yourself and others with more…cautious goals and morals. Be careful who you trust – it could affect your fate!
Developed by J.R. Hudepohl with co-development help, porting assistance for Xbox, and publishing by Top Hat Studios, Labyrinth of the Demon King lands on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One May 13.
If you asked ChatGPT to combine all the most popular action-RPG mechanics in the hopes of creating a single game with broad appeal, you might end up with something as regrettably unfocused as Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree. This 2D sidescroller borrows from soulslikes, metroidvanias, platformers, and more, but it only ever achieves a moderate level of success with any of them and is spread woefully thin in the process. You can see a glimmer of potential in its combat, but that’s immediately undermined by one-dimensional, repetitious enemies with easily evaded attacks; The setting and characters start out intriguing, but quickly devolve into a chain of predictable tropes; And initial lure of running back through previous areas with new abilities becomes monotonous once you get about halfway through and realize how shallow this map really is. None of these missteps are so grievously bad that I outright regretted my time dodge-rolling around the world of Faelduum (apart from the combat), and the deep RPG options the six interesting character classes, dense skill trees, and in-depth equipment and crafting systems provide went quite a long way toward keeping me invested, but this still an otherwise underwhelming adventure in most aspects.
Mandragora’s mix of familiar ideas manages to stand out as its own kind of thing, but no matter what general label you decide to put on it, the important part is that you’re going to be swinging melee weapons, dodge rolling away from attacks, slinging spells, and swinging across gaps with a grapple hook. As you do, you’ll get to know this pessimistic and creepy world, which has been overrun by evil creatures who have left humanity cowering behind city walls. You play as an inquisitor who is sent out into the world in search of evils to kill, all while the creepy voice of a creature you sympathy-murdered whispers things in your head (long story). Unfortunately, that interesting starting point evaporates into a series of extremely lame anti-twists and cliches. For example, there’s not one, but two sections where you meet a character who is obviously the person you’ve been hunting down, but your dumb character believes them when they deny it…only for them to completely shockingly reveal they misled you less than an hour later.
It’s really too bad, because in my early hours I was quite intrigued by the bizarre dark fantasy world filled with 10-foot tall witches, dangerous monsters, and a mysterious cosmic energy called Entropy that seemed like it was going to be a really big problem. There are some great characters to meet too, like the completely unhinged jewel collector, Yrsa, who I always enjoyed bantering with. But that writing, not to mention voice acting, is nowhere near consistent, and you spend a lot of your time hearing from various bad guys about how you can’t possibly defeat them as a mere human. Sounds like someone received a word-a-day calendar filled with bad guy cliches for their birthday!
If there’s one thing Mandragora is consistent about, it is its extremely shallow combat, which pits you against sluggish soldiers and skeletons with hilariously obvious windup animations, pushover rats, and flying bats that are there to annoy you more than anything else. All of them have you simply dodging back and forth each time they take a swing, then getting a few hits in before doing so again. Boss fights are even worse, as most only have three or four unique attacks they hopelessly spam, many of which appear five or more times across the 25-hour campaign, making them feel like rank annoyances that completely betray the difficulty they’re clearly going for. Dying in Mandragora therefore usually has more to do with impatience in trying to get through a certain section of samey enemies or repeated bosses than actual challenge. There are moments where the combat’s promise comes through and you get an energizing 2D duel, like when you come across a new minion with a fresh bag of tricks or during a few of the bigger, more unique boss fights. But I mostly found myself starved for those encounters and immediately upset when they passed and I went straight back to fighting bland suits of armor for a couple more hours.
Platforming primarily acts as the most minor of breaks between fights.
The main things that make combat more bearable are the skill trees and RPG mechanics you build up and customize along the way, which have some pretty neat options that at least offer new ways to defeat that fourth giant poisonous rat boss. I spent most of my time as a fast-moving assassin with poisonous daggers, teleporting in to close the distance with my enemies, but there’s also spell slinging options and tanky sword-and-board builds, plus the option to cross-pollinate into other skill trees to make yourself a little more well-rounded. For example, I ended up leveling my assassin into my two neighboring magical skill trees to diversify the types of damage I could deal, since poison wasn’t always effective when fighting the sixth giant poisonous rat boss (they seriously like reusing that boss). You’re also able to find and craft loot, tweaking its stats with runic enchantments and all that usual RPG goodness, and that level of buildcrafting depth is one of the ways in which Mandragora stands out.
As a sidescroller, there’s also a fair bit of platforming and secret hunting to be done, but these sections have mostly acted as the most minor of breaks in between combat sequences. There aren’t any puzzles to solve, and the handful of sections that have you dodging traps are mostly extremely obvious obstacles where giant blocks slam up and down with basically no chance of actually crushing you unless you straight up aren’t paying attention. In true metroidvania fashion, you’ll find plenty of spots that are just out of reach until you unlock a certain upgrade, but this too is quite shallow – there’s only a grapple hook, a double jump, and a glide, all of which are spread super far apart.
You’ll see about a hundred opportunities to use a double jump before you get it way too late in the adventure, and not in a tempting, “I can’t wait to get up there” sort of way. The glide is particularly hilarious as you don’t get it until the very last hour, by which point you’ve got little incentive to go back through every area looking for extras before heading into the final stretch. I generally enjoy backtracking for secrets in games like this, but after seeing eight-hours worth of new levels before getting the next upgrade, it’s a bit exhausting to consider retracing all of that just to get a few upgrade materials, especially when you’d be subjecting yourself to the same tedious combat encounters you’ve already completed a bunch of times.
Mandragora also suffers from some mild technical issues. Whenever I played for long stretches at a time, the framerate would gradually begin to tank until it was nearly unplayable. It never outright crashed, but I got to the point where resetting my PlayStation was the only real option, and that would reliably fix the problem for the next six-to-eight hours. I don’t imagine going for that long in one sitting will be the way most people play, though, and I only ever encountered the most minor of problems outside of these marathons, so this might not be an issue if you aren’t an absolute goblin like me.
Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 is not the third game in a series about creepy rednecks and dinosaurs in a mansion. I’d forgive you if that was where your mind went, given the number three in its name, but I assure you, it’s a brand new game that just came out today! It is also a match-3, survival horror, comedy RPG metroidvania, a combination of genres that I never thought was possible, and yet here we are with a game that looks pretty fun.
In what’s gotta be the worst-kept secret in recent gaming memory, Bethesda has shadow-dropped The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered for Xbox, PS5, and PC. If you’re a PC gamer (or a Steam Deck owner, as it’s verified on Deck) you can save some cash, because it’s already on sale for PC. Right now, both Fanatical and Green Man Gaming are offering deals on the Steam version of Oblivion Remastered that drop the price up to 17%. Not bad on a brand-new version of a classic game.
The standard edition of the game comes with the original base game, plus the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine story expansions, as well as some additional downloadable content. The above links bring you to the best deals currently available. We’ll update the list if any more pop up.
Oblivion Remastered Digital Deluxe Edition
For about $10 more, you can get the digital deluxe edition (which is also on sale at the above retailers). If you do, here’s what you get, in addition to the base game:
New quests for unique digital Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon Armors, Weapons, and Horse Armor Sets
Digital Artbook and Soundtrack App
What’s New in Oblivion Remastered?
This remaster, made by Virtuos Games while Bethesda keeps plugging away at Elder Scrolls VI, has a number of improvements over the original:
Overhauled visuals including dynamic lighting, updated character models, and remastered environments
Improved combat and quality-of-life UI enhancements
Native widescreen and ultra-widescreen support
Full controller support and Steam Deck compatibility
Enhanced modding tools for the community
The remaster preserves the massive open world that helped make Oblivion IGN’s Game of the Year 2006 winner, while bringing it in line with contemporary performance standards on Unreal Engine 5.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
Remember Spore? I never played the original one myself, just that crappy one Spore Creatures on the DS, but I’ve long appreciated what Spore was trying to do from afar. There’s an almost whimsical macabre feeling to it, playing god and all that, leading a creature down the path of evolution. You don’t see too many games like that these days, though today’s a bit of an exception given the announcement of Voidling Bound, a monster-taming/ gene splicing game from a team made up of former Skylanders devs.
Despite somewhat meagre sales when compared to the rest of the Nintendo console line-up (Wii U notwithstanding), the GameCube is widely considered to be one of the very best in terms of its games catalogue.
Indeed, several titles from the GameCube – including Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Resident Evil 4, and more – have already been ported or revamped for the Nintendo Switch, all of which remain as enjoyable today as they were back in the early ‘00s.
