I was a latecomer to The Elder Scrolls series. As someone who has clocked countless hours on various RPGs, it was not until October 2013 that I directed my attention towards Oblivion. Picking up the Game of the Year edition six years after release it was safe to assume that most if not all bugs and irregularities were patched. Oh boy was I wrong … so very wrong. What awaited me in Cyrodiil was nothing short of abject madness. An atmosphere of uneasiness accompanied me throughout my entire first playthrough. Bethesda’s efforts to achieve a photorealistic world and create both authentic and believable inhabitants led to many uncanny results. While returning to this game for more of an insight into its insanity, I realized that this game does horror so unintentionally that it is genuinely unnerving. This is even before I played the Shivering Isles; the DLC that is really supposed to be the most overt display of insanity in Oblivion.
The character creation screen is one of the most cherished features of the RPG genre. You let your imagination run wild as you fine-tune your hero’s face just to end up creating a battered slab of meat that somewhat resembles a human’s. When characters’ faces in Oblivion attempt to show any discernible emotion they twist into horrifying grimaces. At the best of times, they look like potatoes with wide-eyed smiles carved into them. In addition to the faces of Oblivion, the whole world just feels like a fever dream hellscape conceived by an AI’s idea of what a medieval fantasy world should be.
The AI constantly glitches out and you are left watching two NPCs talk at each other about various conflicting topics concerning the realm. These conversations range from completely nonsensical to manic insanity with about eight different emotions being conveyed all at one time. Coupled with the fact that these NPCs are most likely portrayed by the same voice actor/actress further adds to the overall strangeness of the world.
The landscape inhabited by the NPCs also plays a large part to the strangeness of Oblivion. The environment is beautiful don’t get me wrong, but its glossy appearance and art style gives it a hazy, almost psychedelic quality. Structures found in-game look like they were sculpted from wax which gives an unnatural sheen to most surfaces. Cyrodiil gives the impression of an AI’s idea of what a medieval fantasy world should be. It gives off a normal appearance yet it feels just a bit off thus creating an uncanniness for the player. The game’s music from Jeremy Soule’s beautiful, calming Harvest Dawn to the agitated Death Knell or even the survival-horror sounding Wind from the Depths all add to Oblivion’s unique atmosphere right up until they appear abruptly at the most inappropriate of times.
You could be having the most mundane of conversations right before the fight music initiates leaving the player in a sense of paranoia wondering where in Oblivion the threat is coming from. When the music isn’t playing entirely unannounced it can also be in response to an Imperial guard or NPC that has followed you halfway across with world … and into another dimension, because you stole fruit from them. As you traverse this world you will most likely encounter NPCs fleeing from absolutely nothing. Spouting incoherent, panic-stricken phrases before instantly returning to a tranquil state.
I have spent long stretches of time playing Oblivion frantically searching areas for any sort of danger that may be in the vicinity yet finding no discernible explanation for the NPC’s erratic behavior. Often times you can be having a pleasant conversation with an NPC but as soon as you exhaust the dialogue options their face morphs into a sneer before hurling insults at you. It feels like everyone in Cyrodiil has a schizoid nature ready to boil to the surface at any moment.
The voice acting at times sounds like the NPCs are desperately trying to come across as normal. Let’s not forget their creepy smiles and animations where their head would follow you slowly, rotating 150 degrees as they wander down the street. You can really feel their stare burning into your soul. Imagine the music video for Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden but make it a 200-hour fantasy RPG version and add a few Oblivion gates … actually, it’s EXACTLY like Black Hole Sun. In addition to this, the dialogue system insistently zooms in rapidly on characters as soon as the conversation is initiated. The player can be dragged away from what they’re doing as your focus is shifted to an NPC that has just materialized next to you. Oblivion’s unintentional mannequin-like NPCs instill a powerful sense of dread.
This is not a game for anyone with even mild Automatonophobia. The cause of this strangeness is a result of a clash between procedurally generated content with hand‐authored content. Meaning you can have two different scripts interacting at any one time creating logical instability. There are two aspects necessary for believability: “a) the user’s expectation of a performance and b) the fulfillment of that expectation.” This unpredictability makes the seemingly coherent world logic collapse as the authenticity is juuuuust a little bit askew, leading to an uncanny impression imparted onto the player.
While an ambitious effort from Bethesda, I believe that even the glitches and programming errors really add to the fantasy element of Oblivion. It creates a world we cannot make sense of or rationalize with; a truly unique, fantasy experience like no other. It feels truly otherworldly in comparison to Skyrim which goes for a more grittier art style. Skyrim removed the randomness of conversation by having only scripted character interactions. Character’s do not interact unless they have a specific script. The overactive AI scattered throughout Cyrodiil will always be memorable for better or worse as their arbitrary interactions with both the player and NPCs run completely contrary to what we have come to expect from more polished AI systems. This unpredictability correlates to an unnerving sensation for the player and with this Bethesda has unintentionally carved out their own little piece of the uncanny valley.