Fallout 3 "went hard on the gloomy despair of the post-apocalyptic world" to differentiate it from Oblivion, but one dev thinks Bethesda went too far: "We just drained the color out of the world"

Fallout 3 screenshot of someone in power armor standing in front of a rundown version of the Washington Monument.

Fallout artist Istvan Pely said Bethesda wanted to make it clear Oblivion and Fallout were different things from a style perspective, but thinks they may have taken it a bit far with Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 were different in a lot of ways, but perhaps the most striking change between entries was the difference in art direction. Fallout 3 was pure post-apocalypse crossed with the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation's obsession with grey, dull colors, while Fallout 4 went all in on the 1950's retro-futuristic aesthetic and ended up being really colorful. And it turns out that may have been somewhat of a course correction from Bethesda after going too far to differentiate Elder Scrolls and Fallout.