# Skyblivion

Skyblivion is an upcoming open world action role-playing video game. It is a fan remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) developed in Bethesda Game Studios' Creation Engine as a total conversion mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). It is scheduled to be released in 2025.

## Features

In addition to re-creating what was previously in Oblivion and its DLC, the developers are improving and expanding upon elements of the original game. This includes the user interface (which is being done via a mixture of the SkyUI modification alongside bespoke Flash menus), textures, environments, cities, dungeons, quests, characters, weapons, and clothing. They're also adding new content such as an expansion of the cities of Leyawiin and Anvil based on concept art from the original game, goblin tribes, and more music.

## Early Development (Direct Port)

In 2012, Zilav, a modder and member of The Elder Scrolls Renewal Project began a project to port The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's assets into the Creation Engine (which was used to make Oblivion's sequel, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). To do this, work was done on writing a tool to port the assets from Oblivion into the engine. However, technical limitations arose with the incompatibility of many files, resulting in broken or empty parts of the map, crashes, and bugs. The initial version of the project, 0.1, was released and onto internet forums. The eventual project lead, K. Rebel (also known as Rebelzize) retroactively called this build a "hot mess." In 2014, Zilav was joined by modder Monocleus, and they released a stable yet incomplete version of the project that would serve as the basis for further development.
In May 2014, the team released version 0.2 of the project, which still required more help in areas such as visual asset creation, modeling, navmeshing, and voice acting. At this point, a selection of mods together could be used to play a portion of the project.
After K. Rebel joined to help the project with its PR, he pitched the idea of remaking Oblivion rather than converting the game assets. The idea was approved. By November 2016, Rebel sought help from other modders to help with work on the project. He also did so through Nexus Mods, a site that allows users to upload and download mods. Rebel jokingly called it "the perfect pyramid scheme."

## Current Development (Remake)

With Rebelzize at the helm, Skyblivion began work to shift the focus towards a proper remake of Oblivion in Skyrim's engine. To release Skyblivion, Bethesda required the project to fully replace 100% of all assets from the original to not redistribute their own proprietary content.
By 2018, Skyblivion as a remake was in full swing with multiple departments working on the project. Despite having the entire world ported they still had to hand remake the entire landscape of the game which was largely procedurally generated in the original. Additionally, new improvements to the original game continued to be added as the project progressed. The cities of Leyawiin and Anvil were envisioned to follow early Oblivion concept art, all unique armors were redesigned to be truly unique, new musical scores were added to complement the originals, and new improvements were made throughout the game.
According to Digital Trends, by November 2021, the volunteer team had over 40 members, including individuals who work for large game studios as well as hobbyists. In an email to IGN, Rebel explained that their approach to development is similar to that of a AAA game.

## Marketing
### Developer Diary Series

In 2020, Skyblivion welcomed popular Skyrim YouTuber Heavy Burns to the team to support the production of regular video content updates to inform fans of the project's progress and to help recruit new volunteers. Heavy Burns then recruited English voice actor Ryan J Cooper to lend his talents in narrating the new series. Shortly thereafter, on September, 26 2020 Skyblivion's Developer Diary Series launched with the first video of the series posted to Rebelzize's YouTube channel.
The launch of the new Developer Diary Series sparked a new era of growth and high recruitment for the project as the videos relatively high production value and professional presentation further cemented the project as one to be taken seriously. Since the initial release in 2020, an additional four Developer Diary episodes have been released garnering over 3,176,000 views on YouTube across the collection of videos.

### Trailers

On December 9, 2016, Rebel uploaded a trailer titled "Skyblivion – Return To Cyrodiil." The trailer resulted in more support, willing volunteers, and an increase in recognition. This included more programmers and 3D artists.
On January 15, 2023, the two-and-a-half-minute "Official Release Year Announcement Trailer" was uploaded to YouTube, where it was given a release date of 2025 at the latest. The trailer received a significant amount of coverage from news outlets such as Eurogamer, NME, Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer, and GamesRadar+.

### Road Map Series

As 2024 approached, one year from the targeted release year the Skyblivion team released "Oblivion Remastered Road to Release (Skyblivion Roadmap 2023)" on June 24, 2023 to transparently show the exact progress of the project and what further tasks needed to be completed before release. This video also offered another opportunity to drum up volunteers.
On December 31, 2024 Rebelzize published an updated roadmap "The Path To Release (Skyblivion Roadmap 2024)" to showcase the final remaining tasks before releasing in the next year.
Rebel also hosts livestreams on his channel, showing the development process of the game and answering questions from the viewers.

## Reception
### Pre-release reception

The game has received positive responses leading up to the release, with critics calling the progress "impressive," "breathtaking," and "ambitious." By April 2022, Preston Pearl of Screen Rant said that the game "looks much better" compared to the original game.
It received spots on PC Gamer's "8 most ambitious Skyrim mods in development in 2022" list. and number 8 on TheGamer's "Skyrim: Top 10 Anticipated Mods" list.
It was awarded ModDB's "Best Upcoming Mod" in 2017.
It was featured in the August 2023 issue of Bethesda's Monthly Modder article on Bethesda.net highlighting "Rebelzize and the Skyblivion team are building a bridge between Cyrodiil and Tamriel."
The pre-release remade 3E Cyrodiilic Steel Armor and Master Necromancer Robes were both featured in the May 2020, and August 2023, issues of Bethesda Featured Mods, respectively.