Fallout 4 stole the show at Bethesda’s E3 conference by demonstrating amazing open-world gameplay with a classic-style Fallout feel and a crazy amount of weapon customizations.
Todd Howard, Game Director at Bethesda Game Studios, exclaimed that, “In the world of entertainment, there are a very few things as good as Fallout.” And perhaps, he is right.
He noted that Bethesda has started working on the game for many years when the team started designing for Fallout 4 right after the third installment came out in 2009. The team at Bethesda has been working on it vigorously for the last four years.
“It all starts with an obsession for detail,” Howard noted. He was indeed right because the preview that was given for Fallout 4 was indeed full of specific details.
First of all, there is a new concentration on the world that existed before Fallout. This included a very retro 1950s-feel. Though this is pushed throughout the previous Fallout games, it is interesting to see how things were before the bombs.
Howard also showed a new way to create a character. Think “Sims 4” because it is all about drag and sculpt. Gone are the tedious sliders. Instead, a player just needs to click and sculpt each part. Players can play as either male or female, and the character’s baby will actually generate based off of how the parents look. One also has a large choice of baby names as well for the child because Bethesda recorded thousands of the most popular names with the voice actors.
The basic plot of the game is that the character goes into Vault 111 right before the bombs and awakens as the sole survivor of the vault 200 years later. The setting is confirmed for the Boston area.
The focus of the game is still “go anywhere, do anything” player freedom with the most ambitious map done by Bethesda to date. Players can play either in first person or 3rd person. They even get a German Shepherd that can be commanded to do things by pointing and telling. The V.A.T.S. system is back as well, and so is the Pip Boy, which has gotten a bit of an overhaul. There’s even mini games in the Pip Boy to play.
Die-hard Fallout fans will be delighted to know that they can get their own Pip Boy that works with a smart phone with the Fallout 4 Pip Boy Edition. There will be an app that can be downloaded which will make the device look like a real Pip Boy screen.
“As far as stupid gimmicks goes, this is the best f***ing one that I have ever seen,” Howard quipped about the real-life Pip Boy.
The Pip Boy Edition will retail at $119.99 and the Pip Boy app will be for iOS and Android.
Fallout 4 will also feature a completely optional the Sims-style building tool that will allow players to build houses and settlements. Players will be able to scrap items in the world to build whatever they want in real time. The emphasis is on making the game into a complete experience and doing what a player wants to do. Players will be able to build generators for power and defense items such as turrets to protect against raiders. Brahmin cattle can even be run between settlements.
The game’s crafting system carries over to other parts of the game with an extensive weapon-building system. Thousands of items can be modified. There are fifty base weapons and seven hundred modifications that can be made to them. Armor can also be modified.
Fallout 4 comes out November 11, 2015 and will be available for PC, XBox One, and PlayStation 4.