Fallout 4's bug testers have to work even harder, thanks to the crafting system

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Bethesda has a somewhat shaky track record when it comes to bug-free games; the worlds of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are undoubtedly big and beautiful, but they can also be rather... broken. Dragons flying backwards, NPCs phasing through the environment, what have you. And while the ability to build up or tear down structures to create your very own settlements in Fallout 4 is definitely exciting, it presents daunting new challenges for those poor QA testers.

"Any time we let the players do whatever they want, your chance of breaking the game goes up," says game director Todd Howard. "So right now, we're having to tighten the screws and fill some holes on 'Oh, I built some big thing, and now I broke all these quests.' We've always had to kind of deal with that, but this takes it to a factor of... googleplex. It's a lot."

Lucas Sullivan
Lucas Sullivan

Lucas Sullivan is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+. Lucas spent seven years working for GR, starting as an Associate Editor in 2012 before climbing the ranks. He left us in 2019 to pursue a career path on the other side of the fence, joining 2K Games as a Global Content Manager. Lucas doesn't get to write about games like Borderlands and Mafia anymore, but he does get to help make and market them.