Josh Sawyer says he does “just about everything” he can to discourage save-scumming, but his experience with Pillars of Eternity taught him to anticipate how players may respond to risk. In a GamesRadar+ report published October 1, 2026, Sawyer’s examples span two different design problems: whether a reloadable workaround can undermine a character skill, and whether players will accept a small, predictable cost to avoid the possibility of losing a fight.
What Sawyer means by trying to prevent save-scumming
Save-scumming is repeatedly saving and reloading to avoid an unwanted result, such as a failed check or lost battle. The design challenge is not simply to make reloading impossible. It is to consider which options the rules make attractive, and whether an easy fallback will undercut the choice a mechanic is meant to create.
GamesRadar+ quotes Sawyer saying, “I do just about everything I can to not encourage save-scumming.” The report also attributes to him the reflection, “I wish I had been more cynical about player behavior.” In context, “cynical” means anticipating players’ incentives and workarounds rather than assuming they will engage with a system in the way its designers intended. The report’s examples illustrate that tension; they do not establish how often players behave this way.
Why Fallout: New Vegas does not let players shoot locks open
The design trade-off
As GamesRadar reports Sawyer’s explanation, Fallout: New Vegas does not let players shoot locks open. The concern was that if players could repeatedly try a brute-force option and reload after an unsatisfactory outcome, they might have less reason to invest in Lockpicking.
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The example is about how a fallback changes the value of a character build. If a player can bypass a locked door through a low-risk alternative, spending points on the intended skill may feel less worthwhile. Removing that route preserves a clearer trade-off between investing in Lockpicking and accepting that some locks will remain inaccessible.
Why resting in Pillars of Eternity can mean a long detour
Two ways to replenish
In Pillars of Eternity, as described in the report, resting restores health and per-rest abilities. Players can rest at camp by using camping supplies, or at an inn by spending gold. That creates a practical choice between using a limited resource on the spot and travelling back to town to pay for recovery.
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A predictable cost can beat an uncertain fight
Sawyer’s reported observation is that some players may prefer the predictable, time-consuming trip to buy supplies over continuing with a chance of losing a battle. He puts the comparison this way: “Many players’ aversion to the idea of losing a battle is greater than their aversion to marching 10 minutes out of a dungeon to buy more healing supplies.” The 10 minutes in that quotation describes the example; the report does not establish it as a measured average.
This is not necessarily a contradiction in player behavior. A detour costs time, but its outcome is comparatively certain; pressing on risks a more painful setback. For designers, the useful question is whether the game’s costs and risks produce the intended decision, or whether a low-risk workaround becomes the obvious response for players who strongly want to avoid failure.
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What the 95% example says about probability
The GamesRadar report also attributes to Sawyer the comment, “Many people don’t understand probability very well and many of them are resistant to having it explained to them,” in a Bluesky thread. The report’s “95% chance” phrasing is an illustrative hit-chance example, not a statistic about players or a finding from a study.
A 95% chance is high, but it is not a guarantee: the remaining 5% still allows failure. When players can reload after that failure, the practical incentive may be to keep trying until the likely result arrives. The example points to a design issue as much as a question of probability literacy: a displayed chance, the cost of failure, and the availability of reloading all shape how a risk feels and how players respond to it.
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Why the same question applies to narrative choices
The report extends Sawyer’s design concern beyond combat and skills to quests. He says, “Sometimes designers will create a quest where players can choose options a) b) or c) and it’s our job to ask ‘Why would anyone want to pick c?’” The point is to examine each option from the player’s perspective: what consequence, value, or role-playing motivation might make someone choose it?
That question can expose an option that looks meaningful in a dialogue menu but offers no compelling reason to select it—or one that players avoid because its cost is poorly communicated. As with Lockpicking and resting, the designer’s task is to understand the incentives the rules and presentation actually create, rather than relying only on the intention behind a choice.
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