Back in 2023, the Skyblivion team announced that their project to recreate The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in Skyrim's engine was on track for a 2025 release date.
Well, steal my sweet rolls and shout me off a mountain, the mad candles have gone and done it. At least, that's the plan according to a new live gameplay demo and Q&A video (cheers, PC Gamer.) Skyblivion (not to be confused with Skywind) has been in development since 2012, made by a team of experienced volunteers. "It's coming along incredibly," says mechanics lead Scott Whiting in the above video, "we're confident we can get it out this year." The video shows off the city of Cheydinhal, with NPC interactions and quests.
I'm especially impressed by the UI here, striking a lovely balance between Skyrim's pared-down readability and Oblivion's more ornate parchment.
As well as recreating Oblivion's huge world, the team are also adding music tracks and sprucing up dungeon environments so they better match the regions they're found in.
Oh, and if a team of volunteers working for over 10 years purely for the love of the game wasn't heartening enough, they also managed to raise $1200 for Make-A-Wish International during the stream.