The Fallout 4 release date has been announced as November 10, 2015 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One!
Check out the all-new footage of Fallout 4 in this full video of the Bethesda E3 2015 Press Conference & Fallout 4’s World Premier!
Fallout 4 begins before the bombs fell with the threat of nuclear war looming.
You now create your character as they stand in front of the bathroom mirror whence the story begins… From here you will simply sculpt your face as your wife watches on!
This Create-A-Character tool is very powerful with no series of sliders, meaning it all looks natural!
However it looks like an upgraded version of Fallout 3’s Character Creator, and may be quite limited within previously established confines.
Even so, the ability to sculpt the face directly is a very cool feature and will surely allow for a very wide variety of customization unseen yet in a Fallout game! It also looks cool!
One of the biggest pieces of news is that you can now play as a female character in Fallout 4, a first for the series.
If you select female, then your wife (previously standing behind you in the mirror) will step into the frame and you can mold & customize HER: including hair, facial features, skin color, etc.
This powerful character creation is the same development tool used to make the NPC’s in the game by Bethesda themselves; so everything they can do, you should be able to do as well.
In addition, your player-controlled character is now fully voiced, for the first time in an Elder Scrolls or Fallout title!
Bethesda and Fallout 4 Development Lead Todd Howard revealed that the two main actors (playing the male & female lead) have recorded over 13,000 lines of dialog over the last two years!
Try to even fathom that amount of voice-content just for the main characters! HOLY COW! That’s a LOT of work!
And this Character Creation isn’t entirely superficial… as the game will even generate a baby that you see during the opening moments of the game, based on the couple you make and how they look!
As stated previously, Fallout 4 begins before the nuclear fallout, where you are at home with your wife in your suburban house.
Complete with a maid/partner robot that talks and all manner of cool futuristic gadgets placed around the home, from news on the TV to fridges & other items that you can interact with (including the aforementioned baby).
The robot will even say aloud over a thousand popular baby names that will be in the game!
After the incredible introduction, with absolutely outstanding graphics… Bethesda’s demo skipped ahead.
No story spoilers were given, but you do survive the nuclear blast and are lowered into the vault…
Where you awake 200 years later as you emerge as the sole survivor of vault #111.
NPC conversations in Fallout 4 will be completely dynamic, you can play in first or third-person, walk away from the NPC, or even shoot them in the face! Now that’s how one starts a conversation! 😀
After emerging, you will see an absolutely ginormous, but gorgeous, open-world laid out before you.
You also have a dog. And you can “point & click” to give the dog commands, he’ll seek items for you and everything.
VATS also returns, naturally, with it’s mix of real-time/turn-based combat (where you freeze time and select specific body parts to attack) that fans love. An aspect that is uniquely Fallout.
There is also a completely new Pipboy that comes alive on the screen in dynamic fashion that really needs to be seen to be believed.
No longer are things static in Fallout 4, but much attention has been paid to making everything “pop” off the screen and seem extremely realistic.
To that end, there is now a layered armor system. And the Pipboy, in addition to letting you check all your other stats like in Fallout 3, also gives you access to all manner of story exposition, including collectable “Politics Tapes” and even….
Collectable Pipboy “Game Tapes”!
In one of the most ingenious sections of the Fallout 4 E3 2015 stage demo presentation, Bethesda has added fully playable, Indie-style throwbacks to classic retro games that are FULLY PLAYABLE directly on your Pipboy screen!
This includes a “Missile Command“-style arcade game clone called “Atomic Command” and even a very faithful, Fallout-style update to Nintendo’s 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong called “Red Menace”. AMAZING!
Then Todd Howard (who’s essentially the modern-day creator of the series, having been with Bethesda for over 20 years and director of Fallout 3) shocked us all by showing us a REAL-LIFE actual Pipboy…
A Pipboy replica that will ship with the Fallout 4 Collector’s Edition!
Called the “Fallout 4 – Pipboy Edition”, this version of the game will include a wearable Pipboy.
It lights up (battery-powered), will fit on your wrist, has actual buttons and knobs, and coolest of all, works with your Smartphone/iOS/Android device to allow for a Second-Screen-Experience unlike any you’ve ever had before!
You slide your touch device into the real-life Pipboy, and then you download the Pipboy Fallout 4 App on your device, and you’ll have an all-new experience that will be as close as you can get to actually feeling like you are inside Fallout 4! (now just imagine this whole experience using VR!)
Here is what it actually looks like in this video from the Bethesda E3 2015 Aftershow with Morgan Webb, Adam Sessler & Tod Howard.
The Pipboy App will be connected to your Fallout 4 game, so with your device slid into your real-life Pipboy, and resting on your wrist, you can manipulate it just as your main character would in the game!
So instead of using your Pipboy via the onscreen menus via gameplay, you will do so ON YOUR ACTUAL WRIST using your touch device.
Absolutely brilliant!
While Todd Howard readily admits that stupid gimmicks like this are nothing more than stupid gimmicks, he gleefully added, that this was the “Best f*cking one” he has ever seen. And boy is that an understatement!
Check this video to see the real-life Pipboy with the Pipboy App in action!
As Todd Howard explains, the real-life Pipboy Second-Screen-Experience works perfectly, and the App actually uses the same exact code as your in-game Pipboy… So it’s truly the real deal.
Of course, if you don’t have a real-life Pipboy, you can still get the same Second-Screen Experience using a regular Smartphone/iOS/Android device and the Pipboy App. You just won’t look nearly as cool while doing it!
Wii U GamePad… Eat your heart out! 😛
Bethesda then revealed an all-new game, “Fallout Shelter“, and revealed that it is OUT NOW exclusively for iOS devices. And it looks freakin’ sweet!
Then Todd Howard surprised all by telling the audience, “Now for the cool stuff!” Wha?! Oh believe it… The party was just getting started!
That’s because Bethesda then revealed the Crafting System in Fallout 4… Are you holding on to your hat? You better be!
In Fallout 4, the player has the ability to completely modify the world around him…
Including buildings & structures (albeit, only at predetermined plots of land).
It is here that the player has the ability to COMPLETELY build & take apart structures from scratch! This is like The Sims on crack!
It works in real time as well.
You can rip off a door, take down the wall, put up a staircase, then add a railing, all in a matter of seconds! And as soon as you select it, the structure lays down before you dynamically. Stick a door on, then press “Open”, and the door opens! MAGICAL!
As you explore the wide-open gameworld, you can “scrap” literally thousands of items and use that material to build things… Every item in the game now has a true use & purpose!
All that “junk” just became a lot more valuable!
You think that’s getting detailed?
Just watch…. Be sure you catch your jaw on the way down!
Yes. It is THAT impressive. This crafting feature is literally like it’s own game in itself, and will allow creative players to create virtually anything their minds can imagine. You can even make a doghouse!
As explained in the video above (and really you have to see it and hear it straight from the mouth of Todd to truly understand how deep it is), once your little settlement grows; you will attract Traders, who will arrive with some of the best items & weapons in the game.
And it’s not just the ability to build, you can even plant food for eating or selling, or dig wells for water…
But one of the most useful objects are Electric Power Generators….
Once built, Generators can be powered through switches that you will lay down and run wires to connect.
You can then build your own computer terminals that hook to the power grid of generators you’ve created. You can even use your Pipboy to get into the true minutiae and tweak the actual power lines and grids to an insane degree.
It’s all absolutely balls-to-the-wall bonkers and must be seen to be believed. You can run your power lines to lights, or to all manner of machinery. You can even change the color of the lights and build neon signs!
Once you have started building several structures and a power grid, and once Traders and Settlers start living in your little neighborhood; you can even CONNECT each of the settlements to create your own little world of interlocking and connected towns. IT’S INSANE!
Your settlements will even get attacked! At this point Fallout 4 goes from “The Sims” and morphs into a “Tower Defense” game!
You will need to build defensive structures, turrets, bunkers, guns, etc. in order to defend your Settlements from ruthless, pillaging invaders!
Once your Settlements are big enough, you can even run caravans and transfer supplies between your created-from-scratch little dwellings; essentially creating your own little towns & cities!
And all of this is ENTIRELY optional. If you don’t have a creative, masonry bone in your body, then you don’t have to build a thing.
But for those who do… This is literally an element that could last FOREVER. And it is a very “small” portion of a very, very, VERY large game.
There can’t possibly be more can there?! Why YES, there is!
This crafting elements now carries onto and effects every part of the game.
While playing, you’ll be informed on what materials items & objects are made from, so you can scrap them for crafting.
This creates a new tug-and-pull dynamic in the player’s mind, as every object in the game now has a use and a purpose, forcing you to really think about what you do with previously “useless junk”: how it is used, whether it is worth the time & effort to save or scrap, or whether you should just sell it… Which was previously the only point to “useless junk objects” in Fallout 3/New Vegas.
Remember the “Giddyup Buttercup’s”? Well you may want to hold on to those… As they contain tons of Screws (making them a Screwers paradise… ahem. Get your mind out of the gutter!); and thus a highly sought-after item for those who are in need of lots of screws to build lots of different things.
You can even see tables for how to craft certain objects, and a list of all the materials needed to build it. And it’s a mix-and-match affair. You may not need every material, or can substitute one material for another…. Giving the player true freedom in how you go about obtaining the necessary materials!
Did I mention you can also Craft Guns & Armor? I DIDN’T!?
Believe it.
If you thought Crafting Buildings was a game unto itself, wait until you get a load of Crafting Firearms & Weapons.
Guns can now be entirely crafted with all of the materials you’ve gathered or that you discover across the world, and guns can be heavily modified and customized a billion and one different ways.
Allowing you to turn a regular ol’ baseball bat into a “Bladed Aluminum Baseball Bat“, complete with saws on the ends in true Dead Rising fashion!
Or take a normal Laser Pistol and modify it until it becomes a “Scattered Automatic Laser Rifle“!
“GUNS. LOTS OF GUNS!” *cue Matrix SWOOSH sound!*
Now all that Junk you’ve always seen lying about in Fallout, all those useless trinkets & objects that fill out the world but have no real purpose accept as window dressing…. Now it all truly has a point & purpose, expanding the gameplay and the possibilities to a nearly infinite degree.
And as mentioned, it’s not just Guns, but you can even Craft Armor! And create “Mech-like” Power Armor that you can step in to unleash ultimate destruction as if you were Iron Man! BAD-ASS!
For proof of how deep the rabbit hole goes, Todd Howard revealed that there are over 50 “Base Weapons” in the game and over 700 “modifications” that can be made to said weapons for a seemingly infinite number of combinations.
And yes, all of this Gun Crafting will come in handy, as the combat has also been improved.
See the crafting system in action in this video!
Combat, for Bethesda, has been a major focus since day one. They wanted to make damn sure that the combat in the game felt GREAT and as natural as possible. And that visceral feel to combat that you always wanted to see from Fallout, has finally reached that point. Praise the gods!
Given all of this content, it doesn’t take much imagination to envision just how absolutely insane all this is.
So no matter how you play, full on first person, third person, or VATS; Fallout 4 is sure to impress.
HOME-FREAKIN’-RUN.
Fallout 4 has been in active development since 2009… After the initial planning stages just after the release of Fallout 3, Todd Howard revealed that Bethesda has spent the last FOUR years solid working on it. And it SHOWS.
I am not even a Fallout fan. I’ve never played any of the games, neither Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas or Fallout 1 & Fallout 2 or Fallout Tactics… I also don’t like open-world games.
Even with all of that said, Fallout 4 has just shot to the top of my MUST BUY and HOLY-CRAP-THAT-LOOKS-INCREDIBLE list. A space it had no hope in hell of occupying previously.
Be afriad. Be very afraid.
Fallout 4 will CONSUME.YOUR.LIFE. Believe.
Here’s the Fallout 4 image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size photos:
Did you get an intense thrill running up your leg watching the Fallout 4 stage presentation and gameplay reveal like we did? Did Bethesda absolutely kill it OR WHAT?! Tell us what you think!