| Emil Pagliarulo | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Known For: | Fallout 3 Starfield |
| Education: | Salem State University |
| Employer: | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Occupation: | Video game designer |
| Awards: | 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards For Best Writing |
Emil Pagliarulo is an American video game designer who works at Bethesda Game Studios.
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. His first works at Bethesda include a credit for writing and quest design for Morrowind Bloodmoon, and quest design for, for which he wrote the Dark Brotherhood quest line. He was the lead designer and the lead writer of 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 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 backtracked on this statement after fans observed that this would make the character a war criminal. [4]
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 developer 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]
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 induce religious experience-like events for players.[8]
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.[9] When the DLC received overwhelmingly negative reviews from players, and mixed to negative reviews from critics, Pagliarulo tweeted that "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."[10]