VATS System Was Almost Cut from Fallout 3 — Bethesda Feared No One Would Use It
One of the most recognizable features of Fallout 3 — the VATS system — came very close to not appearing in the game at all. Bethesda's Lead Artist Istvan Pely revealed in an interview with Edge that the developers seriously doubted whether to implement this feature.
After The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the studio found it difficult to switch from fantasy to science fiction. "The transition from Oblivion to Fallout 3 was a big leap," says Pely. — "We had to prove we could make something completely opposite to fantasy."
Fallout 3 remained a full-fledged RPG, but this created a complex challenge: how to make shooting enjoyable for players if the character's skills are low and misses happen frequently? This is where VATS came to the rescue, allowing time to be stopped and a target to be selected for shooting.
But developing the system turned into "serious difficulties."
There was a long period where we thought: 'Is this even fun? Is it worth doing? Will anyone even use it?'
Istvan Pely
One of the main problems was the camera: the developers had to create a special algorithm to prevent it from getting stuck behind objects. Debugging and refining the system took so much time that Bethesda only managed to implement it into the game literally at the last moment before release.
Today, the team's worries seem excessive. VATS remains an integral part of Fallout, and the studio's transition between fantasy and science fiction turned out to be quite successful. After Fallout 3 came the legendary The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, then Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 and Starfield continued the experiments with science fiction.