Some of my friends played and immediately hated it and brought up comparisons to newer games, but this isn't the new Unreal engine, this is the same Creation Engine they've been using for 11 years, which is based on the 26yr old gamebryo engine.

Personally as someone who loves Bethesda games, and who understands the limitations of the engine, I am thoroughly enjoying myself, will it beat bg3 for goty? Unlikely, but it's still fun