Fallout: London creator urges Bethesda to abandon aging Creation Engine for Fallout 5

Fallout: London project lead Dean Carter hopes Bethesda will either abandon Creation Engine or completely overhaul it by the time Fallout 5 releases.

Looking at Bethesda's history, all its games share engine similarities dating back to 2003's Morrowind. NetImmerse – renamed Gamebryo in 2003 – powered The Elder Scrolls IV and Fallout 3. Bethesda then introduced Creation Engine for The Elder Scrolls V, a proprietary engine based on GameBryo, which was later used for Fallout 4, while Starfield runs on the updated Creation Engine 2. Despite Bethesda's commitment to the technology, Gamebryo and Creation Engine haven't resonated well with fans.

Esports.Net asked Carter if there are mechanics or tools from Fallout: London he'd like Bethesda to adopt for a potential Fallout 5, but before answering, he stated:

I'm really worried that they're gonna keep going with the Creation Engine. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of pluses to it. 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.

When asked what an engine change could bring to new Bethesda games, Carter singled out load screens and optimization.

Carter acknowledged the response to Fallout: London's Eastminster area, noting it became one of the mod's most unstable zones, despite modders already employing various tricks to preserve it.

He added:

We didn’t want to have load screens. It would have really taken away from the vibe and we paid the price for it because the engine wasn’t suitable for what we wanted to achieve. If they have to upgrade it, that’s what they need to solve: get rid of the load screens and allow better optimization.

Worth noting that Fallout 5 is still many years away – by then, AI rendering might become the standard.