Bruce Nesmith says Fallout gives designers more freedom to build strange places than The Elder Scrolls does. In an October 5, 2026 interview with Insider Gaming, the former Bethesda developer pointed to Fallout 3’s Rivet City—a community built around an aircraft carrier—as an example of the series’ unusual creative possibilities.
Why Nesmith thinks Fallout allows stranger worlds
Nesmith’s comparison comes down to the kind of setting each series asks designers to work within. In his view, The Elder Scrolls is more closely bound to established lore and familiar fantasy conventions. Fallout’s science-fantasy premise, by contrast, leaves more room for locations that feel deliberately improbable.
“I think Fallout has fewer limitations. The world is crazier. You can do more with that science fantasy,” Nesmith told Insider Gaming. He summed up Fallout’s appeal this way: “Everywhere you go is insane.” He cited communities built in baseball stadiums and on aircraft carriers as examples of the kinds of ideas the setting can accommodate.
This is Nesmith’s creative judgment, not an objective ranking of either series. He also acknowledged that The Elder Scrolls can feature comparable ideas, but said they do not fit its world to the same degree.
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Rivet City shows how the two approaches can meet
Rivet City, the aircraft-carrier settlement in Fallout 3, is a particularly clear example of Fallout’s capacity for an unconventional setting. The interview identifies Nesmith as its designer and says the location was intended to borrow some of the feel of an Elder Scrolls city: its residents follow schedules and move around, rather than making the settlement feel like a static backdrop.
“I think the idea of living on an actual aircraft carrier is a very cool little moment,” Nesmith said. He added that he tried to give Rivet City “some of that Elder Scrolls magic” compared with other Fallout settlements, including through residents who “are living on a schedule” and “do move around a bit more.”
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- Freedom and Liberty Do whatever you want in a massive open world with hundreds of locations, characters, and quests. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone, the choices are all yours
- Be whoever you want with the special character system. From a power Armored soldier to the charismatic smooth talker, you can choose from hundreds of perks and develop your own playstyle
- New next generation graphics and lighting engine brings to life the world of fallout. From the blasted forests of the common wealth to the ruins of Boston, every location is packed with dynamic detail
- Intense first or third person combat can also be slowed down with the new dynamic Vault Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) that lets you choose your attacks and enjoy cinematic carnage
Who is Bruce Nesmith?
Grant Taylor-Hill’s interview describes Nesmith as a former Bethesda veteran, credits him as lead designer on 2011’s Skyrim, and says he contributed to Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout games over the preceding two decades. The interview is also the source for the claim that he designed Rivet City; those credits are reported there and are not independently corroborated here.
For readers, the contrast Nesmith draws is less a question of which series has the better world than of what each setting makes feel natural: established fantasy lore on one side, and science-fantasy surprises—from stadium settlements to an aircraft-carrier community—on the other.
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