The gates of Oblivion swing open onto Cyrodiil, and a whole world invites you to lose yourself in it.

No gut-pick in the data, so we dive into the detail, and it's solid almost everywhere. Attachment climbs very high, ahead of nine games in ten, the soundtrack follows close behind, and the urge to rediscover it along with the controller feel both rise ahead of more than nine titles in ten. Art direction lands well too. Only one line slips: the fun, that game you start for five minutes and put down at 3am, falls below the middle, but on a single vote, so nothing settled.

Against open-world RPGs, Oblivion bets everything on immersion and the memory of a world you actually lived in for hours. Less on the thrill of a short, compulsive session.

So, who's it for? It's for you if you love worlds you inhabit, the long adventure, the music that sticks in your head, the game you truly grow attached to. A lot less so if you want the immediate adrenaline spike rather than the journey.