(Image credit: @CAMELCASTOff / Bethesda Game Studios)
Oblivion Remastered conceals some intriguing Easter eggs, yet there’s one that doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. No ill will towards my pals at PC Gamer for highlighting this Easter egg from Oblivion Remastered, along with a cringe-worthy 2011 meme. I squarely blame the absurdist humor of the early 2010s, a period when I feigned laughter countless times during college. Remember the Harlem Shake? What about that bizarre screaming sheep? The 2011 Potion Seller video belongs in the same dubious category.
Apologies to my Gen-Z audience, but for the sake of this tale I’m weaving, let’s revisit 2011 and give that clip a watch. I hadn’t realized until now—perhaps I’d glimpsed it in a haze before, but if so, it left no lasting impression. Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t resonate with me; there’s no nostalgia in this, no echo of hazy, Rolling Rock-fueled gatherings punctuated by some flipped beer pong tables.
In fairness, the Potion Seller meme stands out among its kin for creativity, yet it remains of its era. Even as current memes fail to impress me much, I’m not eager to revisit the past. Which brings us to why this discussion matters: Oblivion Remastered features a nod to Potion Seller. Twitch streamer TerraGuildTV discovered a console command named “Altar.Player.PotionSellerGiveMeYourStrongestPotions,” accompanied by a description that reads: “Powers the player up to fend off the Romans set on conquering the last free village of Gaul. ‘Have you heard of my potions? …My potions are too strong for you, traveller.'”
This is undeniably a reference to Potion Seller, apt considering the meme character parodies Elder Scrolls NPCs. Well played, Todd Howard. Remarkably, even after 19 years, Todd Howard remains a hidden NPC in Oblivion Remastered, and might even hurl an insult if you provoke him.