As the Bethesda E3 conference started to look like it was close, Pete Heines teased the crowd for a moment and then after the crowd made some noise he invited Todd Howard out to discuss Fallout 4. It has been in the works since after Fallout 3 was released, and while they went onto do Skyrim, the last 4 years have been focused on Fallout 4. With 10 years on the franchise now, Howard decided to start showing off some of the wonderful screenshots and concept art the team had for the game. There was the trailer release only last week that got everyone hyped up, and Fallout 4 was the reason according to Pete Heines they decided to do their own conference.
Fallout 4 will release on November 10th 2015.
The game is confirmed to start in the pre-nuke Fallout world, and you begin looking in the mirror and sculpt your face. The creator will be interactive with commentary from the main character and the spouse. You get to design both (or leave one alone) husband and wife, going back and forth. Then you can select which you'd like to use as your character. Also, choices you make in design will shape the appearance of their baby.
In the game you meet with a Vault-Tec Official and discuss the vault. You are there witnessing the apocalypse first hand but you are the only one to make it into the vault there as your spouse and child die. Then, 200 years later you emerge as the sole survivor of Vault 111 - perhaps the only one who got put into stasis. When you leave the vault you will find the Pip Boy and it is completely redesigned. It is much more interactive in the environment, with the ability to move it around and also new holotapes you can listen to, or there will be minigames you can play with.
Fallout 4 will use an updated version of the Creation Engine that was used for Skyrim. The dialogue is more of a 4 button selection rather than the list that Fallout 3 used. The game appears to have the ability to actually pronounce the characters name as the Mr. Handy bot in the game pronounced Todd's character Howard. Dialogue will be dynamic, allowing you to view it in first or third person or pick up your gun and shoot in the middle of dialogue.
As one might expect after the trailer, there is a dog companion. Unlike previous companions in Bethesda games, you will be able to give this companion commands via context based commands, highlighting an object and choosing one of the commands, like pointing at things in the region to tell the dog to go get something or go someplace else, allowing a greater degree of interactivity. As everyone predicted, the game is set in Boston, and Todd called it their most ambitious game yet.
VATs will be making a return with some minor changes in the game for the combat system, which is shooter in design like in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. One major change is that armor is now layering—how that will work in practice will be interesting. Combat has been a major focus, with VATS seeing more work on it as well as the gunplay getting what appears to be an overhaul to work in either first or third person. Jetpacks have also been confirmed in the game and usable!
Fallout 4 is going to have the most dynamic building that Bethesda has ever had. One of the focuses of Fallout 4 appears to be rebuilding, and in addition to scrounging you can spend bottlecaps to buy pieces to build it. You build your home, and perhaps one for your dog too ... but that is only the beginning. As you build, others might come and visit or even settle down, including the best traders in the game. You'll need to build farms, power generators and defenses. That's because in the living world of the wasteland, raiders exist and may come to choose to take your stuff if you haven't built turrets, walls and other tools. You can build multiple locations and run caravans between it, creating this own world—if you desire, as it is optional.
Crafting your items has also gotten a big overhaul in general. Items have parts for certain things, like adhesive is a category and items that have adhesive can fill that niche. There are over 50 base weapons, and with all the customization there are over 700 ways to go and you can change it piece by piece to see what it will create easily. Almost everything is modifiable, right up to and including the iconic power armor.
Fallout 4 will have a special Pip-Boy collector's edition. This will of course come with a Pip-Boy that will go around your arm, and have a place for your phone to go into. There is a new companion app that will go with it that will be available on Android and iOS. This will allow you to interact with your character via it in the pip boy.