10 Brutally Honest Confessions Of A Bethesda Fan

For so long, Bethesda had the love and admiration of the gaming industry. We were brainwashed into thinking "Hey, bugs are funny” as we sat, hard-locked into a rock of the Capital Wasteland, realising our last manual save was ten hours ago.

The world loved their two main franchises, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Nowadays, though, after monstrosities such as Fallout 76 (which although hyped massively, fell flat, straight through the floorboards and into the flooded basement) Bethesda are struggling to scrape up any of that goodwill still laying around from yesteryear.

Perhaps it all seems a bit exaggerated, but consumers have been burned too many times in the past few years. From games like Anthem and the ancient No Man’s Sky, to the failing of Bethesda as a publisher in games like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and everything regarding the aforementioned Fallout 76.

As someone who called themselves a die-hard Bethesda fan for a long time, I thought I’d take the time to reflect and confess some of my doubts and criticisms I was too frightened to say before.

I’ll be going over the controversies, the failings and the successes of Bethesda as a whole throughout the years.

Let me know down in the comments how you found being a Bethesda fan, have you noticed the slow decline in quality, or are you happy enough with some power armour and spellbook?

Fallout 4 was an absolute success, perhaps not always critically, but financially the game is said to have made over $2 billion. So, why does this need to be a confession?

Well, a lot of Fallout fans, more specifically, RPG fans, felt that Fallout 4 was a step in the wrong direction. Although the visual and technical aspects of the game flourished; looking more colourful and adding more mechanics like crafting, upgrading and building. Many players were disappointed how the game took a huge step back in regards to role-playing elements.

The game focused more on factions and a linear story as opposed to choices and actions you could make. Or lack thereof, as there really weren’t many in comparison to that of Fallout 3, and especially New Vegas. Levelling had been shrunk down even further, skill points were out, and your best bet at role-playing was your SPECIAL layout.

Still, I fully accept Fallout 4 for what it is. Not necessarily the best Fallout game, but a fun, enjoyable action adventure with a slightly confusing story.

Though… perhaps this push into a more streamlined, mainstream product was the first seeds into Bethesda leaving true RPGs behind?