This isn't really just a meme anymore, Bethesda's engine is an active turn-off, and I am concerned that they seem to be determined to keep just upgrading and upgrading the engine for future games like
Starfield and
ES6, rather than wiping the slate clean.
"For
Fallout 76 we have changed a lot," Todd Howard
told Gamestar this year. "The game uses a new renderer, a new lighting system and a new system for the landscape generation. For
Starfield even more of it changes. And for
The Elder Scrolls 6, out there on the horizon even more. We like our editor. It allows us to create worlds really fast and the modders know it really well. There are some elementary ways we create our games and that will continue because that lets us be efficient and we think it works best."
There is probably little point in complaining about this, as development on Bethesda's new games are well underway using a further modified version of the long-running engine, but man, is it more noticeably rough than ever, and it's actively discouraging me from playing
Fallout 76 specifically.