Todd Howard is a legend. You can’t talk about Western RPGs without mentioning his name, usually in the same breath as Skyrim or Fallout. He’s the face of Bethesda Game Studios, the guy who walked onto the E3 stage for years and told us it "just works." But lately, the vibe has shifted. If you hang out on Reddit, X, or Discord, the conversation isn't just about hype anymore; it’s about what many fans perceive as the increasingly poor decisions of Todd Howard and the leadership at Bethesda.
It’s a weird spot to be in. On one hand, Starfield sold millions. On the other, the "Bethesda Magic" feels like it’s thinning out. Fans aren't just complaining about bugs—we expect those—they’re questioning the fundamental design choices that have defined the studio's last decade.
The Procedural Gamble That Missed the Mark
The biggest point of contention? The scale of Starfield.
For years, Bethesda was the king of "see that mountain? You can climb it." It was all about handcrafted discovery. You’d walk toward a quest marker, get distracted by a weird-looking shack, and find a three-hour side story about a mad scientist. That was the soul of their games.
Then came the decision to go procedural. Todd pushed for a thousand planets. It sounded cool on paper. In practice, it meant players spent half their time staring at loading screens or running across empty gray moons to reach the same "Abandoned Cryo Lab" they’d already cleared four times.
Honestly, it feels like a pivot away from what made them special. By choosing quantity over quality, the game lost that dense, atmospheric world-building. You can’t really blame the engine or the programmers alone; this was a high-level creative direction. It was a choice to prioritize a "galactic" scope over the intimate, messy detail of Morrowind or Fallout 3.
The Creative Engine Stagnation
We have to talk about the Creation Engine.
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People have been begging Bethesda to move to something more modern for years. Todd has consistently defended their tech, arguing that the Creation Engine (and its 2.0 successor) is the only way they can allow the level of modding and object persistence they’re known for.
He’s not entirely wrong. Being able to drop 10,000 cheese wheels in a room and have them stay there is a Bethesda staple. But at what cost? In 2024 and 2025, we’re seeing games like Cyberpunk 2077 (after its fix) and Baldur’s Gate 3 push the boundaries of facial animation, seamless worlds, and reactive AI. Meanwhile, Starfield still uses the "zoom into a static face" dialogue camera that feels like it’s from 2011.
It feels like a refusal to evolve. Sticking with the same workflow might be efficient for the team, but it’s creating a technical debt that players are finally starting to call out.
Monoliths and Monoliths of Microtransactions
Remember Horse Armor? It was the original "bad decision" people laughed about in Oblivion. We thought it was a one-off joke.
Fast forward to the Creation Club and the recent updates to Starfield and Fallout 4. The monetization has become more aggressive. It’s not just about DLC; it’s about selling small, individual mods that used to be free in the community. When you look at the increasingly poor decisions of Todd Howard from a consumer perspective, the push toward "verified creators" feels like a way to tax the modding community that kept Bethesda alive during the long droughts between releases.
It’s a risky move. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you, especially when that hand is the army of modders fixing your game's UI for free.
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The Writing on the Wall
The narrative depth is another sticking point. Long-time fans often point to the "thinning out" of RPG mechanics.
- Morrowind had complex factions and spell-making.
- Oblivion had deep quest lines.
- Skyrim simplified the skills.
- Fallout 4 gave us a "Yes/No/Sarcastic" dialogue wheel.
- Starfield gave us a lot of "Essential" NPCs who literally cannot die, even if you shoot them in the face, because it might break a quest.
This "streamlining" is clearly a business decision to make the games accessible to the widest possible audience. It’s worked, financially speaking. But it’s alienated the hardcore RPG base. When every choice leads to the same outcome, the "Role Playing" part of the RPG starts to feel like a facade.
Is There a Way Back?
Look, I’m not saying Todd Howard has lost his touch entirely. The man knows how to build a world that people want to live in. But there’s a growing sense that Bethesda is insulated. They seem to be making games in a vacuum, ignoring how much the rest of the industry has leveled up.
The release of The Elder Scrolls VI will be the ultimate litmus test. If that game comes out and it’s just "Skyrim with better textures" and more procedural landscapes, the backlash will be legendary.
How to Evaluate Bethesda’s Next Moves
If you’re a fan or an investor trying to figure out if the ship is righting itself, keep an eye on these specific indicators:
1. Handcrafted vs. Procedural Balance
Watch the marketing for The Elder Scrolls VI. If they start bragging about the size of the map in miles rather than the density of the cities, be wary. The community is craving "small and deep" over "wide and shallow."
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2. Narrative Agency
Does the game allow you to actually fail? One of the biggest criticisms of recent Bethesda titles is the "safety rail" design. True RPGs require consequences. If we see a return to complex branching paths where your choices actually lock you out of certain content, it’s a sign they’re listening to the core fans again.
3. Engine Transparency
Check if they are actually overhauling the way cells and loading screens work. In an era of SSD-standard gaming, "loading" into a small shop in a city is becoming unacceptable to the modern palate.
4. Community Relations
Watch how they handle the modding community. If the Creation Club continues to prioritize paid "verified" content over supporting the free ecosystem, the longevity of their games will suffer. The only reason people still play Skyrim today is the infinite, free creativity of the fans.
The reality is that Todd Howard is a visionary who might be stuck in a specific vision of the past. Whether these decisions are truly "poor" or just "divisive" depends on who you ask, but the trend is undeniable. The gap between what Bethesda delivers and what the modern RPG player expects is growing.
The next few years will determine if Bethesda remains a titan of the industry or becomes a nostalgic relic of what gaming used to be. For now, we wait, we mod, and we hope that the next time Todd says "it just works," he’s actually right.
Moving Forward: What to Watch For
To get a real sense of where things are heading, don't just look at official trailers. Follow the "Long-Form" critique community on YouTube—creators like PatricianTV or Noah Caldwell-Gervais offer deep-dive breakdowns that go far beyond surface-level reviews. Additionally, keep a close watch on the Starfield DLC patches. If Bethesda uses these updates to fundamentally change the game's exploration mechanics, it will be the first real sign of a pivot in strategy. Finally, stay tuned to the "UESP" (Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages) forums; the lore experts there are usually the first to spot when the creative soul of a franchise is being compromised for corporate streamlining.