Fallout: London is one of the most ambitious mod projects ever made. Alongside the still-unreleased Skyblivion, the mod—which has received its own DLC expansion—pushes Fallout 4’s version of the Creation Engine to its limits.
Fallout 5 isn’t expected to release anytime this decade. With The Elder Scrolls 6 release date ruled out until 2027 at the absolute earliest by Todd Howard, Fallout 5 is likely not going to release until the 2030s. Nevertheless, Fallout London lead Dean Carter is worried that Creation Engine will limit the eventual sequel.
In an interview with Esports, spotted by GR, Carter explained that they’re “really worried that they’re [Bethesda] gonna keep going with the Creation Engine”. The mod maker explained that the engine itself isn’t as bad as many say—after all, the engine’s mod-friendly design allowed Fallout: London to be possible in the first place—but it does have clear limits.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of pluses to it,” Carter continued. “I’m not just someone that’s going to sit there and lie and say it’s a terrible engine. It could be better, yes, but it’s not a bad engine but I do think it started to show its age. It needs to be overhauled somewhat.”
Carter explained that the biggest issues they encountered were “load screens and optimisation”, saying that the total conversion mod’s rather poor performance was an engine limitation. The mod developer “didn’t want to have load screens” in their mod, but they had to “literally slap down walls” in areas like Eastminster to make the game run well.
“That was our biggest complaint, rightly so from the public, that our game wasn’t optimised, and that’s because it was far too late in development to be able to change it, and it was because we as gamers did not want load screens,” he continued, explaining that the mod’s three-second load screens “would have really taken away from the vibe”.
Of course, this experience is largely based on Fallout 4’s version of the Creation Engine, an engine iteration that was designed in 2012 for a game that released in 2015. Starfield’s version of the engine—while not perfect—has much improved multi-core performance, rapid load-times, and the capability to handle massive open environments.
Additionally, it’s not known what improvements Bethesda is pumping into Creation Engine 2 for The Elder Scrolls 6. As a series that relies on large-scale open environments with large asset density, the upcoming RPG should show exactly what Creation Engine 2 is built for, which should then be further improved for Fallout 5.
While many have commented on Bethesda’s engine ad nauseam over the years, Bethesda’s developers have been clear that scrapping the tool means scrapping a lot of what makes their games special. Less simulation, less specific object and NPC tracking, and less modability. In an interview in 2024, Skyrim and Fallout 4 lead designer Bruce Nesmith explained that Creation Engine 2 is “perfectly tuned to that kind of game”
“They’ve put in a tremendous amount of effort, the modders, into understanding the Creation Engine and understanding the Creation Tool Kit,” Nesmith said. “If there is a cut over, all that is thrown out the window and it all has to start all over again.”
We won’t really know what the limitations of Fallout 5 will be until Fallout 5 is release and, let’s face it, most of us may be dead by then. Nevertheless, it’s clear that many people care what engine the game will be built with, and it will most definitely be some form of Creation Engine whether we want it or not.
