A keen-eyed Skyrim content creator, known online as Bacon_, has discovered a significant change in Oblivion Remastered that many fans will appreciate. This alteration involves Skooma, the infamous Khajiiti stimulant, which now allows for a dramatically increased potency. Players can now experience the effects of Skooma stacked up to 22 times, a substantial increase from the original game’s limit of eight.
In the original Oblivion, consuming Skooma provided a temporary boost to speed and strength while reducing agility and permanently lowering intelligence with each use. The speed and strength bonus was a considerable 60 points (in a system where base attributes cap at 100 during leveling) and could be active up to eight times simultaneously. Stacking eight doses of Skooma in the 2006 version of Oblivion was a popular tactic for speedrunners and for creating humorous gameplay videos, enabling players to move at nearly five times their normal running speed. Bacon_’s finding that the remaster allows for 22 simultaneous Skooma effects, potentially reaching a speed stat of 1,320 (over thirteen times the standard limit), is quite surprising.
Exploiting Alchemy and Game Mechanics
Bacon_ achieved this with a master-level Alchemy skill of 100, which increases the number of active potions a player can have. Additionally, there seems to be a quirk in how the game tracks consumed potions. Oblivion Remastered appears to have separate limits for potions used from the inventory screen and those consumed via hotkeys, which Bacon_ cleverly utilized. After consuming 22 Skooma, Bacon_ demonstrated the incredible speed by sprinting from the Imperial City to Castle Skingrad in under a minute, resembling a certain lightning-fast superhero in the process. Comparing footage of eight stacked Skooma in the original game to 22 in the remaster suggests that the ground speed is somewhat similar. However, the original Oblivion’s physics allowed for much higher jumps from even slight inclines. This difference is likely due to the shift from the original game’s physics engine to Unreal Engine 5 in the remaster. Conversely, the 22-Skooma effect in the Remastered version appears to offer a more controlled and practical speed boost with less risk of unintended consequences.
While amusing on its own, the increased Skooma stacking capacity seems like a genuine treat for fans. Skooma has long held a memorable place in Elder Scrolls lore as the quirky, feline-associated narcotic that induces extreme speed. This increased limit might even be a deliberate choice by the developers to compensate for the more grounded and realistic physics of the Remaster. It could be seen as a virtual “Skooma inflation” to adjust to the new market conditions within Tamriel. This change will likely also have implications for speedrunning. While perhaps less crucial for the incredibly fast “any%” category, which Bacon_ recently set a world record in for the remaster, it could be more beneficial for full main quest or 100% runs that involve extensive travel across the game world.
Also read our The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion review,