Fallout 3's inevitable remaster set to make one huge change

With the Fallout 3 remaster now being more of an inevitability rather than a possibility, a former Bethesda developer has outlined one big change the game needs to make.

Bethesda's remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has caused a small resurgence of interest in the series again.

While we're still a few years away from getting our paws on The Elder Scrolls 6, a potential remaster of Fallout 3 could be next.

Fallout 3 originally came out in 2008.

FTC court hearing leaked documents showed that the Oblivion remaster was originally intended for 2022, and while that was obviously delayed by a few years, the documents also cited a Fallout 3 remaster was in the works.

If true, it could mean we're going to get a Fallout 3 remaster at some point in the next couple of years.

But there's one specific aspect about it Bethesda needs to change, at least according to a former Fallout 3 developer.

Speaking to VideoGamer, Fallout 3 designer Bruce Nesmith said: "I know in Fallout 4 there was a lot of work done on the gun combat, because Fallout 3 is the first time they ever tried to do a shooter-style game. And, well, I think the work that was done was amazing."

Nesmith then described the shooting in Fallout 3 as "not good", at least compared to its contemporaries like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Battlefield: Bad Company.

The game lacked a proper aim-down-sights mode, and the animations felt a little janky. It was difficult to aim properly at enemies, especially when they moved so fast. The solution was to use VATS, a sort-of manual targeting system which paused the game and let you aim at specific body parts to kill enemies.

"[Fallout 3 combat] didn’t hold up to shooters at the time," Nesmith continued.

"Also, it’s an RPG shooter, it’s not a run-and-gun shooter. But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4. So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into it, assuming they’re doing the same thing."

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has managed to keep the combat similar to the original, but in all fairness, the combat of The Elder Scrolls can't really be improved without dramatically changing the whole system.

Hence why, even in Skyrim, the feel of combat hadn't really changed much since Morrowind.

Obviously, a Fallout 3 remaster hasn't been announced, but since it was included on the leaked list of upcoming Bethesda titles from the FTC documents, we're thinking it's a matter of when, not if.