Bethesda cut Fallout 3's sprawling metro — realism wasn't fun

In an oral history of Fallout, Bethesda staff recalled moving the series into 3D and choosing Washington, DC as the setting. The art team, many of whom lived there, wanted to include local details like the DC metro and underground tunnels; lead artist Istvan Pely said those areas were pretty true to the actual ones.

Originally the team thought the metro would be connected completely underground, Pagliarulo said, but they found it became too sprawling and had to cut sections. He reflected that being realistic sometimes isn't fun: traversing miles of subway stations proved very realistic but not very fun.

Pely added that the small team built much of the architecture from modular kits, while iconic structures such as the Jefferson Memorial and the Capitol were unique pieces that took longer to create. Not least because all the trains would have been running on the arms of NPCs.

United States, Washington, DC

bethesda, fallout 3, washington dc, dc metro, underground tunnels, istvan pely, pagliarulo, jefferson memorial, capitol, modular kits