Remember that these were estimates from more than three years ago and before Microsoft completed its acquisition of ZeniMax in March 2021, so there’s always the chance that some of these plans have changed dramatically or been scrapped entirely. But they may provide an early look at some of the games we can look forward to from Microsoft down the road.
Cool! You know it’s just going to be an AI upscale job, so there will still be the amazingly terrible brokenness that Oblivion offered. Tying major skills to a 1-10 level up system seems to make sense initially, until you wanted to be a potion making wizard, and then it’s “OOPS! you made too many potions, now you’re not strong enough to fight a rat”. Also, Bethesda could have made the Skill Bonus you get on levelling up more balanced, as it forces you to literally not attack any more until levelling up. If you attack too much, you might level up your weapon ability (One Handed, 2 Handed, etc) beyond the points required to level up, in which case you just wasted extra Skill Bonus points by levelling up too much before sleeping. Exploration-wise though, Oblivion is a master class in open world design. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and every corner of the map is a joy to visit.