Due to Bethesda's very limited PR cycle regarding Fallout 4, it still seems crazy that the game is coming out in just eight short days. However, all the usual milestones have been hit over the last few weeks, and today is no different. Today, four small chunks of what looks to be gameplay footage have leaked out, each showing a brief glimpse into the rare AAA game that has a lot of mysteries to uncover. Taking a look at the game in motion without the assistance of an E3 stage, we can gather a little bit about the upcoming wasteland adventure.
The first pair of clips walks us through a familiar pre-war scenario, although we get a few lines of incidental dialogue that show that the trademark sarcasm of the series remains in place. The main character's dialogue is in there as well, and I'll admit that it does take some getting used to. Some of the line readings came off as a bit flat, but the side characters more than made up for it. I imagine that this part is a bit dialogue heavy, as it was in the previous two entries of the series.
The other two bits of gameplay take place in the main section of the game and show off a few more interesting features that haven't been expanded upon too much. For one, the details of the entire perk chart are revealed, which I'll go into more below. We also get a preview of some mission names and a bit of map footage on the player's Pip-Boy. I'm loving the Vault Boy animations on the mission markers, it really adds some character to everything and feels like something a monolithic corporation like Vault-Tec would waste time on even as the bombs are dropping around them.
The combat is at once familiar and foreign. It's very clear that the game has been given a system that is more birthed from shooters than the RPGs of old, but the seamless jumping into VATS mode and classic weapon designs does a lot to hold back fears that the gameplay from Fallout 3 has been meddled with too drastically. I am curious to see how VATS will function differently now that it's not a complete pause of the action, but rather a Matrix-style bullet-time effect. I know for a fact I've spent many a minute aiming at a raider's head, or choosing which limb I wanted to blow off with a shotgun. I guess I'll have to be quicker on my feet in the new game.
Near the end of the last bit of footage, we see a completely new weapon, some sort of laser shot that reloads via a crank on its side. It looks to be a one shot kill, as it takes out a Super Mutant via a headshot without much trouble. It's unknown whether this is a standard weapon you could pick up from enemies or a product of the game's robust crafting system. Coming from New Vegas, I always loved the idea of the weapon modifications, but adding silencers and different scopes to rifles wasn't the kind of customization I was looking for. Fallout 4 seems like it has a system where I can build a crazy gun with twenty attachments that are barely functional. That's the kind of customization I crave.
Other than the shooter friendly shooting, everything else in the footage matches up to what you'd expect, with Super Mutants yelling profanities at you and disintegrating to your laser rifle. One big change that I'm excited about is the way that storage containers now reveal their contents to you with just a glance. Instead of having to open every locker and safe individually, you now see a list of loot in each location as you scroll over it, making hoarding plates and boxes of Sugar Bombs that much easier.
Looking again at the now fully revealed perk chart (which is handily put together here into a wiki format), we can see quite a few changes to the way you'll be leveling up and gaining abilities. Some old perks gain new tricks at their top tiers, like being able to fast travel while overencumbered with Strong Back, or regaining your critical chance bar via kills from the Mysterious Stranger. Elsewhere on the chart, there are whole new abilities mixed in, like giving Dogmeat the ability to literally chew someone's leg off. As previously revealed, you can get a perk at every level you achieve, and the leveling system never ends, so you'll have plenty of opportunity to become a badass lone wanderer over the course of your adventure.
If you still want more pre-release information, there are some other screenshots floating around, collected on NeoGAF and elsewhere. If you're the more patient type, then bunker down in your vault, hoard your rations, and watch out for raiders bearing spoilers. The wasteland is coming on November 11th.
What do you think of this brief look at Fallout 4's gameplay? Are you ready to step out of the vault and fight Super Mutants once again? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
