Fallout is not The Elder Scrolls. While Bethesda Game Studios now plays loose and free with the Fallout license, the studio created its first entry, Fallout 3, with a lot of reverence that made them make certain design decisions the studio usually wouldn’t have.
For Fallout 3, this involved having a game that actually ended. When you finish the main quest in The Elder Scrolls, the world is still available to your character afterwards, but the base game of Fallout 3 cuts to credits just like the first game and Fallout: Tactics.
As it turns out, fans didn’t like this very much with players wanting to keep exploring the world to finish side quests, fight enemies, or just walk around the haunting wasteland of Washington D.C. “People hated it!” Bethesda head Todd Howard told Game Informer. “They expected, like, ‘Why would the game end?! The [Elder Scrolls] don’t end!’”
Howard explained that the decision at the time was “well, like the other Fallouts, it has to end”. While Fallout 2 allowed players to roam around a little after the main quests, the majority of the series wrapped to credits after finishing the core story.
“You know, ‘We’re having this type of character system, these other perks are going to work, and then when you finish it, it’s going to end. You’re going to get this video and then the game ends.’” he said. “And we thought, ‘This is Fallout! It’s great!’”
Following the upset from fans, Bethesda ended up changing this decision with the arrival of the game’s DLC expansion Broken Steel. While not the first DLC for the game, this expansion allowed players to continue after the Liberty Prime set piece with a follow-up storyline, as well as giving fans an increased level cap, new perks, and more.
While some fans view Broken Steel as the pinnacle of Fallout 3, Howard explains that the additional story does crowbar in a way for fans to just spend more time in the world. “We kind of went back to the drawing board and figured out a way, as gracefully as we could,” he said. “I’ll give us an average grade on that, to make the story continue.”
The backlash to Fallout 3’s base game locking players away from the open world may have even factored into some decisions for its eventual sequel. Fallout 4 not only gives players unlimited access to the world after the main quest concludes, but systems like settlement building actively encourage players to spend as much time in the world as possible. It helps that many of the choices in the fourth game don’t have enough impact to block players from massive parts of the game world.
Fallout 3 is reportedly being remastered for modern consoles and PC by the studio behind The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Right now, the game has now been officially revealed, but the game is currently in some form of active development, and will likely be shadow-dropped when it’s ready.
