The Oblivion Remaster and Expedition 33 thrive with UE5. | Credit: Mike FANOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
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Key Takeaways
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has recorded a peak player count of almost 200,000 on Steam since launching on April 22, 2025.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s all-time peak has reached almost 62,000 within a day of its release.
Unreal Engine 5 is free to use, but receives 5% in lifetime royalties on games that generate over $1 million in revenue.
Epic Games, powered by Unreal Engine 5 (UE5), is on full display with the release of two chart-topping titles, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
After tapping into the engine’s incredible high-fidelity tech, these two role-playing games (RPGs) are at the top of the Steam charts, marking major victories for the studios and Epic Games.
Oblivion and Expedition 33
On April 22, 2025, Bethesda and Virtuos did the unthinkable and shadow-dropped Oblivion Remastered, rebuilding the iconic 2006 title in gorgeous UE5, demonstrating just how incredible this new era of video game remasters can be.
Then, just a couple of days later, the highly anticipated JRPG-inspired Expedition 33 from French developer Sandfall Interactive made its debut, bringing back classic JRPG turn-based combat to the modern era.
The games are undeniably beautiful.
Both use UE5’s Lumen, the engine’s dynamic global illumination and reflection system. It generates real-time lighting and shadows without needing pre-made lightmaps and uses ray tracing, among other tech.
In Oblivion, this really shines through when casting spells at night, as you’ll see your fireball make its way through the environment and light up its surroundings as it hurdles towards the enemy.
Similarly, Expedition 33 shows off these lighting capabilities in its rich fantasy environments, which drip with style, but it’s really brought to life with Nanite.
UE5’s Nanite, its virtualized geometry system, makes it easy for devs to use and render 3D models with millions of polygons in real-time, minus the typical level-of-detail (LOD) optimizations needed to make the environments as immersive.
Expedition 33 also fully embraced UE5’s MetaHuman feature, giving its characters a cinematic polish, making for believable cinematic storytelling.
Unreal Engine 5
UE5 is the industry staple. So much so that several major studios are switching from their in-house proprietary engines to UE5. This includes the likes of CD Projekt RED (The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077) and BioWare (Mass Effect, Dragon Age).
Notably, Square Enix, a studio famed for its in-house engines that pushed high fidelity gaming to new highs, chose to build the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth on UE4.
They took that engine to its absolute limit, and it is arguably one of the best-looking games of the generation. Part three of the remake trilogy will presumably be built on UE5, which will be a sight to behold when it drops.
Expedition 33 ranks second on Steam sales charts today, with 120,602 players at its peak. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is currently in third place on the Steam sales charts, and has pulled an all-time peak player count of 460,946.
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
