The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s weird NPCs are trending again
The players look back The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion nostalgically, following a viral post on X (Twitter) that reminisced about the game’s surreal open world, populated by the most unpredictable NPCs ever to appear in gaming.
The game inspired many, many memes at the height of its popularity in 2006; even to this day, the awkward, garbled dialogue is reflexively compared to Oblivion.
Not long after, Skyrim dominated the gaming landscape, but despite its glitches and hiccups, Skyrim could never compare to his mercurial madness Oblivion.
What is Oblivion?
Before Skyrim, Oblivion she was Elder Scrolls continue to Morrowind. Located in the beautiful province of Cyrodiil, Oblivion embraced a traditional fantasy aesthetic akin to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.
Morrowind it was groundbreaking for its time, but players noticed that the game’s NPCs moved on rails and were not as “alive” as they appeared. Hence, Of Lethes NPCs were powered by “Radiant AI,” which programmed them with needs (such as hunger and sleep), allowing them to make decisions based on those needs, giving the illusion of a living, breathing world.
Or at least, that was the intention.
In practice, Of Lethes The NPCs were hilariously inconsistent. Villagers and city guards could go into a murderous rage at a moment’s notice, then turn to friendly chatter the next.
Limited dialogue options, line readings and weird glitches Of Lethes uniquely strange atmosphere. It wasn’t like I was immersing myself in a fantasy world, but in a fever dream.
Why Is ‘Oblivion’ Trending Now?
The original post on X was a prompt asking for “Vinesauce” clips (Vinesauce is a collective of video game players that create content around mods, hacks, and bugs). One user responded with a fun clip of one Oblivion NPC murders another, prompting another user to do so comment:
“No game will ever match Oblivion’s unintentional comedy.”
According to X’s metrics, this post was viewed more than 18 million times and inspired others to post their favorite Oblivion clip
As one commenter pointed out, the nice Oblivion is that these moments of immersion-breaking absurdity aren’t rare – new players will stumble upon something hilarious the moment they start traversing the world.
Other is emphasized the fun tonal shift between the game’s dramatic opening scene (narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart, no less) and the unpredictable insanity that follows.
You’d think that releasing such a buggy open-world game would be a disaster for Bethesda, but much of the game’s unique charm comes from its weird mistakes, its unscripted moments that shouldn’t have happened.
Every bad decision by Bethesda has resulted in jokes. Most NPCs have bloated, heavily discolored faces, and the game insists on zooming in too close for every awkward conversation.
That said, the game has an authentically relaxing soundtrack and a distinctive “surge” that Skyrim it is never repeated enough. It’s more like Medieval years from Lord of the Ringsbut there is nothing like that out there.
In a strange way, Cyrodiil’s troubled landscape perfectly suited the theme of the story, which sees the peaceful land fall apart as portals to the titular Oblivion spring up in unexpected places, warping the very fabric of reality.
Oblivion, a fiery hellscape inhabited by demons, is surprisingly dull, but the game world certainly feels unstable, as if reality is collapsing.
‘Oblivion’ NPCs powered by AI
The decision to impregnate Of Lethes NPCs with so-called “Radiant AI” were meant to impress players, not make them laugh.
Ironically, the debate over using genetic AI to create smarter video game NPCs is today — early reports they suggest that the technology isn’t as fun as the chaos engine it powers Oblivion.
At the time, Bethesda’s Todd Howard was proud of his unstable NPCs. Howard they boasted:
“Where other games’ NPCs require individual scripting, we can simply give our NPCs goals and our system allows them to think for themselves and complete the task… The fact that your experience and what’s happening in the world around you in your game it’s a little bit different from other people it’s really cool.”
Howard was right. each Oblivion The player is guaranteed to encounter a unique NPC interaction or a game-breaking bug that reveals the fragility of Cyrodiil — players may never see such a perfectly raw playground again.
