One of the marquee names in game development is Todd Howard. Working for Bethesda, he has helped to work on some of the biggest names in the gaming industry, including role playing games in the Fallout franchise and Elder Scrolls franchise. These series have given Howard much of his success, but there are other games that aren't a part of Bethesda's flagship franchises that he has helped with that were critically well-received.
With all of the above being highly critically acclaimed, it's worth taking a look at where all these games rank. Using the scores from Metacritic, this list will show where Howard's ten best games rank up against each other.
10 Fallout 76 (53)
This being one of the lowest rated in the series, Fallout 76 still has a sect of players who find joy in having another Fallout game in their library. Bethesda's attempt at making a full online game to the likeness of Destiny fell a little flat to most and they are still struggling to make amends for the game.
While many players were turned away by the forced nature of the online play, others felt that the longer the player stuck with the game, the more enjoyable it became.
9 Elder Scrolls Online (71)
Many asked for an online RPG and after playing so many singe player titles in the franchise, and Bethesda attempted to enter that space in the gaming world with this game. But it was a title that struggled when released and could only make amends with the DLCs that were released afterwards.
Many of the additions that came to the game after released received more popular scores, but on release the game felt overly repetitive and not rewarding.
8 Fallout Shelter (71)
Many of the games in this list stick to the big four consoles: Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Switch hardware. However, Fallout Shelter found its initial success through mobile gaming. Players are able to construct their own vault and have to keep their "Vault Dwellers" alive and happy.
While this found its initial success on mobile, it did move on to Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC for players to build their vaults there as well.
7 Sea Dogs (71)
One of the first popular games Todd Howard worked on was also one of his earliest entries into the open-world game genre. It could slightly be compared to Sea of Thieves, but with major differences coming with the storyline.
A player can pledge allegiance to one of three countries, or spend their time in the game as a pirate. What riddled this game with its troubles was the amount of bugs at launch that ruined gameplay for the players.
6 Fallout: New Vegas (84)
Fallout: New Vegas received a pretty high score and was widely praised, but in a lot of ways it could be described as massive expansion for Fallout 3. Nonetheless, this Obsidian-developed Fallout title is hailed as one of the best. Todd's involvement with New Vegas was pretty minimal, but still present.
It's not necessarily connected to the main continuity, but still brings back many of the great aspects of the franchise while running on the same engine as Fallout 3. Players still found themselves spending hours in the game savoring the landscape the Obsidian team had built.
5 Fallout 4 (88)
Much like Skyrim, Fallout 4 helped to spawn many popular memes and jokes with the wild gamebreaking physics that could occur seemingly unprovoked. Some may feel that this is lazy development on Bethesda's part, but many of the players and critics still found immense pleasure in playing another expansive Fallout game.
This Fallout game in particular did a great job with the music, as well as setting the tone in dialogue and fight sequences, though the former came under fire for being limited in options as the protagonist was fully voiced.
4 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (89)
The Elder Scrolls just kept getting more and more expansive with each addition into the franchise. Morrowind was praised for the amount of planning and work that went into it, and there were a lot things available for the players to experience.
It was also titled as one of the best looking games of its time.The large open-world, immersive gameplay, and quality graphics for 2002 makes it one of the top games that Todd Howard is able to put his name in the credits of. For the time, it was definitely a monumental undertaking.
3 Fallout 3 (93)
The legend of Vault 101's Lone Wanderer is where Bethesda's turn captaining the Fallout series starts. Another expansive world to explore courtesy of Todd Howard and the Bethesda team as your character tries to find their father who escaped the vault.
Filled with player choices and exploration, Fallout 3 is a game that can be played for hours and hours and again and again. It will feel different each and every time.
2 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (94)
At the time of this game's release, the competition of building the biggest game world was just getting underway. Gameplay that is around fifty hours was no burden to many players, and many more hours would be dumped in to just exploring the world. Oblivion was able to astound players with a world so big, that if the player didn't have a horse or wasn't close to a fast travel point, they were in for a long haul.
It seemed like it would be hard to be outdone, but its sequel of Skyrim did a fantastic job following it up and building on Oblivion's successes.
1 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (96)
A game that's lifespan has lasted well over nine years as it is still being released and re-released here in 2019. Skyrim helped to further popularize the open world RPG franchise, and helped to keep players locked up at home for hours on end even if they were just buying a virtual home in game. The game engine brought things not often seen before like "rolling clouds, rugged mountains, bustling cities, lush fields, and ancient dungeons" according to Metacritic.
The game also spawned popular memes like "I took an arrow to the knee" as well as quick saving before attacking the chicken and having the entire city chase your player down.