Emil Pagliarulo

Emil Pagliarulo is an American video game designer who works at Bethesda Game Studios.

Emil Pagliarulo
Nationality	American
Education	Salem State University
Occupation	Video game designer
Employer	Bethesda Game Studios
Known for	Thief II: The Metal Age The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Fallout 3 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Starfield
Awards	2008 Game Developers Choice Awards For Best Writing

Career

Pagliarulo started his career writing for the website Adrenaline Vault.^[1] He has been working for Bethesda Softworks since 2002.^[2] He previously worked for Looking Glass Studios and Ion Storm Austin.^[3] His first works at Bethesda include a credit for writing and quest design for Morrowind Bloodmoon, and quest design for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in that game, he wrote the Dark Brotherhood quest line. He was then promoted to lead designer and lead writer for Fallout 3, for which he received the Game of the Year award and the Best Writing award at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards.^[3] He was credited as the senior designer and writer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4.

In 2024, Pagliarulo claimed via Twitter that the protagonist of Fallout 4, Nate, was the same character seen during the opening sequence from the original Fallout, though he pointed out that not everything he randomly says on Twitter is automatically canon after fans observed that this would make the character a war criminal.^[4]

Fallout 76

Pagliarulo worked on Fallout 76 as design director. In 2022 it was uncovered by Kotaku that the development of Fallout 76 suffered massive mismanagement from top level executives, with one anonymous and unverified developer allegedly stating that “During development, our design director Emil [Pagliarulo] didn’t seem to want to be involved with the product at all. He didn’t want to have any contact with it…or read anything that we put in front of him.” Pagliarulo refused to comment to Kotaku when asked to give his side of the story.^[5]

Despite his alleged lack of enthusiasm for the project, Pagliarulo would later celebrate the dedication of the game's team for correcting various issues present during the game's launch.^[6][7]

Starfield

Pagliarulo worked on Starfield as design director and lead writer. In an interview with Polygon, Pagliarulo stated that Starfield was the most ambitious RPG Bethesda has ever worked on and that the game would raise questions regarding the future of religious faith for players.^[8] After the game's mixed reception after launch and further souring in reviews post launch, Pagliarulo responded to the game's detractors, stating they were "disconnected from the realities of game developing." ^[9][10]

Prior to the release of Starfield's DLC Shattered Space Pagliarulo gave an interview with GamesRadar+ praising the DLC as a return to form for Bethesda going back to hand-crafted exploration.^[11] After the DLC launched to mixed reviews from critics and overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam, in another interview with GamesRadar+, Pagliarulo pointed out that the main lesson learned from Starfield is that the players really want The Elder Scrolls VI and that that is coloring the reception of the game and its DLCs. He then continued claiming, "I think in a lot of ways, Starfield is the hardest thing Bethesda has ever done. We pushed ourselves to make something totally different. To just jam into an Xbox the biggest, richest space simulation RPG anyone could imagine."^[12]

It has been pointed out that players do not need to actually play the DLC to leave a review, and Steam doesn't offer played hours for DLC reviews either, as they aren't counted separately from the rest of the game, this meant that whoever bought the premium edition at launch could leave an additional negative review without even touching the DLC.^[13]

After the second interview, Pagliarulo offered an additional explanation to the reception, "Maybe it’s a game of expectations. Fans want a lot, and we do all we can to accommodate them. Here’s what I can tell you – nobody, and I mean nobody, at Bethesda is patting themselves on the back while ignoring our players" and that "My optimism is in no way meant to be mud in the eye of any dissatisfied fan." He insisted that “That's not how it works.” explaining that, "Starfield is a massive game, and it takes time for us to address things. We move as fast as we can, as safely as we can. Game development is always tricky, but with a game as big as Starfield, every fix could potentially break something else."^[14]

Video game credits

• Thief II: The Metal Age (2000)
• The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon (2003)^[15]
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)
• Fallout 3 (2008)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
• Fallout Shelter (2015)
• Fallout 4 (2015)
• Fallout 76 (2018)
• Starfield (2023)^[16]