This is pretty much my feeling re. the possibility of a Morrowind remake as well. I recently went down the Oblivion remaster rabbit hole, and it was an incredible experience, I felt like for the first time, the graphics and techology actually did justice to the designs and ideas, and even very simple improvements (additional voices, better animations and feedback, better character models) make a vast difference.
However, I don't really think you could do the same for Morrowind, not least because, imo, Morrowind actually has less wrong with it in the first place. The simpler graphics are much more stylised and impressionistic, which works really well for the type of setting that Morrowind offers. Morrowind's combat is actually somewhat better than baseline Oblivion's in the first place as well, because yes, some attacks miss, but when they hit, you feel them hit. The gameplay also doesn't take that long to become enjoyable, once you have improved your attributes and acquired some magic items.
So, I'd argue that even without mods, Morrowind still holds up reasonably well (particularly considering that its main draw is in the writing and ideas, which have nothing to do with the technology).
The unlikelihood of Bethesda ever attempting a Morrowind remake speaks, I think, to a kind of almost superstitious thing that big gaming companies have now, which amounts to an excessive respect for the done thing, and a fear of being different. RPGs MUST be fully voiced, because that's what other games are like. Graphics MUST move towards high-fidelity representations, whether that's necessary or not (that's why original Oblivion was so uncanny valley in the first place - the belief was that characters had to look more realistic and more fully animated, but the tech/budget was not nearly there, so you got distractingly hideous characters that sucked the dignity and immersion from the world).
Folks really do underrate the extent to which Morrowind’s design holds up. You make a very good observation about the combat — nobody ever points out that, when you do land hits in the early game before your skills are developed, it feels infinitely more gratifying and rewarding than the floaty, lifeless melee combat from Oblivion onward. Plus, you feel like your character is actually getting stronger as your skills and abilities develop, where practically the opposite is true with Oblivion’s broken-ass level scaling.
I think you’re also right about what you call a sort of RPG superstition in the high-level industry. There’s remarkably little that differentiates a given 2020s fantasy RPG from another these days, which is a far cry from the Wild West of the early-mid 2000s. Bethesda probably bears more responsibility for this than anyone else — if we ever get a gameplay reveal for TES 6, it’ll be very interesting to see whether they’ve made any concerted effort to defy the trend. Not holding my breath.
My game backlog contains Black Mesa, a fan made remake of Half Life rebuilt on the latest engine and with some design choices significantly smoothed out. I believe it was built by the community over many years. It is not the same as Half Life exactly, more a companion to it, and most importantly it has Valve's blessing to be sold independently.
So as I was reading this I thought of that. Perhaps the difference though is purely down to business. A Microsoft owned company (who ironically has been praising open source as much as possible for the past decade) would not want to watch revenue be taken from them or shared. And that's another reason why remakes/remasters exist.
My only thought is that a remake would be more convenient for the masses. I for one do not like running obscure mods on my machine, even for beloved games. But I would play an official remaster.
The only problem with this logic is that the masses would not be the target audience of a Morrowind remake. The target audience is mostly people who are willing to do something like run OpenMW. So I agree, a remake is probably a bad idea.
They would neuter it like they did Skyrim. I don't trust them to allow you to do all the funny stuff you could do in the OG games. Things like the fortify intelligence alchemy loop to turn yourself into a God would be patched. Enchantment would work like Skyrim as will alchemy. No flying or jump spells. The stealth won't be stupid and easy to exploit because the guards will have psychic powers. Hell I bet the free house in Balmora with the dead guy will be patched. Morrowind is so good because it's goofy.
People just don't wanna play because they can't be assed to figure out how to build a character.
With the Oblivion remake, the game was already similar enough to Skyrim with the quest compass, modern combat, ragdoll physics and spoken dialogue. The new games dropped the flying ability as well. So Oblivion and Fallout 3 (and new Vegas) are straightforward to update.
If I was a corporate suit I'm not sure how I'd approach an update. Would spoken dialogue result in too much dialogue? Would combat be fun if they swapped combat physics or would it be bland? Would the quest compass trivialize most of the game and make it boring? Sure they can try it but I can easily see features being remade that alienate old fans while they aren't fun enough to gather new ones.
I'm a big fan of Morrowind and the fan-made content except for the character advancement system. To get a playable character for many archetypes, your game goes like this:
1. Get a bunch of free advancements that you don't really want for just wandering around.
2. If you're a spellcaster, you run out of mana before you can properly advance your skills;
If you're melee, you have to use multiple weapons because some weapons only advance certain physical stats, and you need all of the physical stats to be high to be effective
3. Go cast spells at a wall for 5-10 minutes, resting when you run out of mana to actually gain enough Intelligence or Willpower gains to advance. Or buy training for weapons that you'll never use so you can have decent agility, etc.
If you don't have an advancement plan like this one, you end up (by early mid-game) being a level 20 wuss with low stats. If you follow the plan, you're level 20 and completely overpowered.
The fan content is very well done and I love the huge, detailed, and beautiful cities. (Thanks for the earlier article recommending this content!) There are a few too many fetch quests for my taste, and all of the additional quests make it difficult to follow the main quest line after a while, with all of those dangling quest threads spilling out of your quest log. But that's to be expected with entire new continents (islands?) open to explore.
Can’t disagree about the frustrations of character advancement. It’s not very problematic once you understand the intricacies of the system, but that’s certainly easier said than done. And, of course, it’s easy to go too far in the opposite direction and become overpowered way ahead of schedule. In practical terms, this is probably the biggest barrier to Morrowind’s accessibility that modding has yet to definitively solve.
In fact, part of why I love the fan expansions so much is that a lot of their content is deliberately and thoughtfully balanced to account for the slow-paced early game. Hardly frictionless, to be sure, but I consistently find that the progression curve is smoother and more enjoyable on the mainland or in Cyrodiil than it is on Vvardenfell.
Great essay. Makes me want to fire up Morrowind again. Last time I played it was in 2014. I was scared away by the difficulty of installing graphics overhaul mods pre-OpenMW. At the time, I told myself I’d revisit the game when Skywind was released.
Fast forward to 2025, when I got Oblivion Remastered. Though I love the original Oblivion, playing it remastered today doesn’t hit the same as playing it in the 2000s. After decades of gaming, it really does feel like “baby’s first RPG”. Also, as I get older, I become more bored with sandboxy-type RPGs (what is adult life if not an IRL sandbox RPG?) and prefer more tailored, literary experiences. Give me more nested paragraphs in gaming!
It might be interesting to explore the Crusader Kings Elder Kings mod, as it is something similar: a fan work that transcends the original in many ways.
Thanks very much! You’re absolutely right about Elder Kings — I need to catch up with CK3 in general, so I’ll definitely be checking it out once time permits.
Totally on the same page with you regarding Oblivion, too. It was in many ways revolutionary for 2006, but so many of its innovations come across as quaint (at best) to modern eyes. Its narrative presentation in particular was a regression across the board relative to the previous installments. Even Daggerfall feels more tailored and literary despite rarely foregrounding its story, since its writing was never afraid to challenge the intellect.
Appreciate your thoughts, and I hope ya fire up Morrowind again!
I'd love to see Redguard rebuilt with better combat systems. I've seen the story and think it's pretty cool, but tried to play a little and ran into constant crashes.
Just started a new playthrough of the modlist Path of the Incarnate.
Bought this game originally on Xbox December of 2002 just before I turned 13, before upgrading to the PC GOTY edition in 2004 and delving into the modding community.
Changed my damn life. Redefined what I thought gaming was possible of being.
A year has hardly gone by without me tinkering with the game in some fashion.
This is pretty much my feeling re. the possibility of a Morrowind remake as well. I recently went down the Oblivion remaster rabbit hole, and it was an incredible experience, I felt like for the first time, the graphics and techology actually did justice to the designs and ideas, and even very simple improvements (additional voices, better animations and feedback, better character models) make a vast difference.
However, I don't really think you could do the same for Morrowind, not least because, imo, Morrowind actually has less wrong with it in the first place. The simpler graphics are much more stylised and impressionistic, which works really well for the type of setting that Morrowind offers. Morrowind's combat is actually somewhat better than baseline Oblivion's in the first place as well, because yes, some attacks miss, but when they hit, you feel them hit. The gameplay also doesn't take that long to become enjoyable, once you have improved your attributes and acquired some magic items.
So, I'd argue that even without mods, Morrowind still holds up reasonably well (particularly considering that its main draw is in the writing and ideas, which have nothing to do with the technology).
The unlikelihood of Bethesda ever attempting a Morrowind remake speaks, I think, to a kind of almost superstitious thing that big gaming companies have now, which amounts to an excessive respect for the done thing, and a fear of being different. RPGs MUST be fully voiced, because that's what other games are like. Graphics MUST move towards high-fidelity representations, whether that's necessary or not (that's why original Oblivion was so uncanny valley in the first place - the belief was that characters had to look more realistic and more fully animated, but the tech/budget was not nearly there, so you got distractingly hideous characters that sucked the dignity and immersion from the world).
Folks really do underrate the extent to which Morrowind’s design holds up. You make a very good observation about the combat — nobody ever points out that, when you do land hits in the early game before your skills are developed, it feels infinitely more gratifying and rewarding than the floaty, lifeless melee combat from Oblivion onward. Plus, you feel like your character is actually getting stronger as your skills and abilities develop, where practically the opposite is true with Oblivion’s broken-ass level scaling.
I think you’re also right about what you call a sort of RPG superstition in the high-level industry. There’s remarkably little that differentiates a given 2020s fantasy RPG from another these days, which is a far cry from the Wild West of the early-mid 2000s. Bethesda probably bears more responsibility for this than anyone else — if we ever get a gameplay reveal for TES 6, it’ll be very interesting to see whether they’ve made any concerted effort to defy the trend. Not holding my breath.
My game backlog contains Black Mesa, a fan made remake of Half Life rebuilt on the latest engine and with some design choices significantly smoothed out. I believe it was built by the community over many years. It is not the same as Half Life exactly, more a companion to it, and most importantly it has Valve's blessing to be sold independently.
So as I was reading this I thought of that. Perhaps the difference though is purely down to business. A Microsoft owned company (who ironically has been praising open source as much as possible for the past decade) would not want to watch revenue be taken from them or shared. And that's another reason why remakes/remasters exist.
My only thought is that a remake would be more convenient for the masses. I for one do not like running obscure mods on my machine, even for beloved games. But I would play an official remaster.
The only problem with this logic is that the masses would not be the target audience of a Morrowind remake. The target audience is mostly people who are willing to do something like run OpenMW. So I agree, a remake is probably a bad idea.
The AAA space is simply starved for bold ideas.
They would neuter it like they did Skyrim. I don't trust them to allow you to do all the funny stuff you could do in the OG games. Things like the fortify intelligence alchemy loop to turn yourself into a God would be patched. Enchantment would work like Skyrim as will alchemy. No flying or jump spells. The stealth won't be stupid and easy to exploit because the guards will have psychic powers. Hell I bet the free house in Balmora with the dead guy will be patched. Morrowind is so good because it's goofy.
People just don't wanna play because they can't be assed to figure out how to build a character.
Nothing to add but this:
You like to dance close to the fire, don't you?
With the Oblivion remake, the game was already similar enough to Skyrim with the quest compass, modern combat, ragdoll physics and spoken dialogue. The new games dropped the flying ability as well. So Oblivion and Fallout 3 (and new Vegas) are straightforward to update.
If I was a corporate suit I'm not sure how I'd approach an update. Would spoken dialogue result in too much dialogue? Would combat be fun if they swapped combat physics or would it be bland? Would the quest compass trivialize most of the game and make it boring? Sure they can try it but I can easily see features being remade that alienate old fans while they aren't fun enough to gather new ones.
I'm a big fan of Morrowind and the fan-made content except for the character advancement system. To get a playable character for many archetypes, your game goes like this:
1. Get a bunch of free advancements that you don't really want for just wandering around.
2. If you're a spellcaster, you run out of mana before you can properly advance your skills;
If you're melee, you have to use multiple weapons because some weapons only advance certain physical stats, and you need all of the physical stats to be high to be effective
3. Go cast spells at a wall for 5-10 minutes, resting when you run out of mana to actually gain enough Intelligence or Willpower gains to advance. Or buy training for weapons that you'll never use so you can have decent agility, etc.
If you don't have an advancement plan like this one, you end up (by early mid-game) being a level 20 wuss with low stats. If you follow the plan, you're level 20 and completely overpowered.
The fan content is very well done and I love the huge, detailed, and beautiful cities. (Thanks for the earlier article recommending this content!) There are a few too many fetch quests for my taste, and all of the additional quests make it difficult to follow the main quest line after a while, with all of those dangling quest threads spilling out of your quest log. But that's to be expected with entire new continents (islands?) open to explore.
Can’t disagree about the frustrations of character advancement. It’s not very problematic once you understand the intricacies of the system, but that’s certainly easier said than done. And, of course, it’s easy to go too far in the opposite direction and become overpowered way ahead of schedule. In practical terms, this is probably the biggest barrier to Morrowind’s accessibility that modding has yet to definitively solve.
In fact, part of why I love the fan expansions so much is that a lot of their content is deliberately and thoughtfully balanced to account for the slow-paced early game. Hardly frictionless, to be sure, but I consistently find that the progression curve is smoother and more enjoyable on the mainland or in Cyrodiil than it is on Vvardenfell.
Great essay. Makes me want to fire up Morrowind again. Last time I played it was in 2014. I was scared away by the difficulty of installing graphics overhaul mods pre-OpenMW. At the time, I told myself I’d revisit the game when Skywind was released.
Fast forward to 2025, when I got Oblivion Remastered. Though I love the original Oblivion, playing it remastered today doesn’t hit the same as playing it in the 2000s. After decades of gaming, it really does feel like “baby’s first RPG”. Also, as I get older, I become more bored with sandboxy-type RPGs (what is adult life if not an IRL sandbox RPG?) and prefer more tailored, literary experiences. Give me more nested paragraphs in gaming!
It might be interesting to explore the Crusader Kings Elder Kings mod, as it is something similar: a fan work that transcends the original in many ways.
Thanks very much! You’re absolutely right about Elder Kings — I need to catch up with CK3 in general, so I’ll definitely be checking it out once time permits.
Totally on the same page with you regarding Oblivion, too. It was in many ways revolutionary for 2006, but so many of its innovations come across as quaint (at best) to modern eyes. Its narrative presentation in particular was a regression across the board relative to the previous installments. Even Daggerfall feels more tailored and literary despite rarely foregrounding its story, since its writing was never afraid to challenge the intellect.
Appreciate your thoughts, and I hope ya fire up Morrowind again!
I'd love to see Redguard rebuilt with better combat systems. I've seen the story and think it's pretty cool, but tried to play a little and ran into constant crashes.
Just started a new playthrough of the modlist Path of the Incarnate.
Bought this game originally on Xbox December of 2002 just before I turned 13, before upgrading to the PC GOTY edition in 2004 and delving into the modding community.
Changed my damn life. Redefined what I thought gaming was possible of being.
A year has hardly gone by without me tinkering with the game in some fashion.