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The team behind Skyblivion, the massive mod remake of Oblivion in Skyrim’s engine, have shown off a few late-stage Mages Guild quests in the project’s first proper showcase livestream since its release was delayed to 2026 late last year. According to project lead Kyle ‘Rebelzize’ Rebel, Skyblivion’s currently “in a great place” and its team are still aiming to release it “as soon as possible”.
If you missed it, last year’s Skyblivion delay followed an ex- level and world designer on the project alleging that the mod’s previous 2025 release goal was “unachievable”, in a post which also accused Rebel and Skyblivion implementation lead Heavy Burns of mismanaging communication within the mod’s team. In response, Heavy Burns asserted that “many” of the claims in the ex-dev’s post were “either misrepresented or just untrue”.
Streaming as part of C3, an annual fan-run weekend of Bethesda game modding streams in aid of the Make-A-Wish charity, project lead Rebel ran through the quests surrounding the dungeons of Fort Ontus and Silorn. He closed out with a run through Echo Cave, facing down Mages Guild baddie and noted worm enthusiast Mannimarco. The stream was understandably a bit of a tough watch at times and a tad disorganised, with Rebel clearly having been deeply affected by news of Elder Scrolls YouTuber Mackenzie ‘Camelworks’ Rowles’ death having broken earlier in the day.
Given that context, the modder has my deepest respect for soldiering on with this hour-or-so-long charity Skyblivion showcase, and providing a brief update as to how work on the mod is currently going. “Skyblivion’s in a great place, we’re really making good progress,” Rebel said to close out the stream. “We’re just doing a lot of bugfixing and making sure that we can get the mod in your hands as soon as possible. So, please bear with us for a little while longer.”
Beyond that, a couple of other fresh details shared or shown off include the news that some members of the Skyblivion team have recently been revamping the mod’s magic to add new spells – one which sets enemies on fire and explodes them if they die while burning looks to be an example. I found the section of the stream during which the modder battled through the Ayleid ruin of Silorn the most impressive.
Skyblivion’s comprehensively revamped and expanded versions of Oblivion’s dungeons have long appeared to be one of its strongest points, especially in comparison to Bethesda’s own Oblivion remaster. With the couple of breathtaking and expansive vistas Rebel passed as he ran through Silorn’s cavernous chambers and the recent addition of extra challenges in the form of ancient Elven puzzles, the mod’s Ayleid delves very much look on par with Skyrim’s memorable Dwarven delves – one of TES V’s best bits in my eyes.
If you’re keen to learn more about Rebel and co’s reimagining/modernising of The Elder Scrolls 4 – which is still currently set to release at some point in 2026 – check out my coverage of the revamped intro the Skyblivion team showed off at another community-run modding showcase in August last year.
