Gamescom: Fallout 4 Gameplay Impressions
Aug. 6, 2015Gamescom: Fallout 4 Gameplay Impressions
Approaching the Besthesda booth, we note a large Vault Door leading toFallout 4‘s demo space. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since the E3 reveal had shown no gameplay, but I was in for a pleasant surprise. Bethesda have correctly and thankfully realized there will be huge interest and have built a cinema to accommodate, there’s easily 200 people inside… and it’s in German. Great.
We weren’t allowed to take any photos or video of the footage unfortunately, but I will describe it as best I can.
At the start of the reel, an “explainer” cartoon showcased strength and thePip-Boy, demonstrating the return of Specials. You can choose multiple perks based on the core special, and you will see a skill tree that is represented as a Vault Tec pamphlet.
After that, the gameplay demonstration begun, with a strong focus around the differentweaponsof the game, how they worked and what effects they could cause. Obviously this is a huge part of the game, but it was really disappointing not to really see much else. I will say though that the combat looked fun and we definitely wanted to go play some Fallout 3 afterwards to scratch that rekindled itch.
The familiar Wasteland world surrounds you, but this time it looks somewhat less brown, with some more vibrancy. You will find yourself balancing your food/water/radiation meter, and issuing several commands toDogmeat.
The demo focused a lot on the VATS system, that is now at will, and on and hitting enemies in specific body parts to create various effects, something that has been a staple of the franchise since its inception. Although it felt new and exciting to see an enemy’s arm or leg blown off and watch them limp along or crawl, it didn’t feel different enough from the previous game to warrant so much focus. It’s still awesome to watch, but like in Fallout 3, it simply isn’t so cool after the 50th time or so.
A particularly stunning set piece was shown, during one battle sequence the player was fighting various powerful enemies at once and looked done for. Out of nowhere aBrotherhooddropship appeared and dropped two Knights right next to the player, who immediately went to work taking out the enemies in Power Armored fashion (literally). Suddenly there was an explosion, as the dropship was shot down and crash landed into a nearby building causing massive damage and the building to all but collapse. Pieces of it fell on enemies and barely missed the player. ABehemoth, standing nearly 20m tall, came charging at one of the Knights and the player promptly pulled out his Fat Boy and dispatched in. The poor Brotherhood Knight was caught in the explosion and was never heard from again.
One thing I want to draw particular attention to is: using the environment during combat. While the environment has always been a huge part of the series, it wasn’t very included in combat. In Fallout 4 there is a big emphasis on defeating your opponent by being creative, not just shooting him in the face more. During the demo the player shot some exploding tanks that absolutely annihilated his enemy into tiny bits that flew all over. This caused a fire that then caused further explosions and carnage. This is something the game badly needed and I feel like it will help keep the combat fresh and exciting as you trek through the wastland.
And that’s all we have for this title for now, as there were no hands-on opportunities or new assets released. We expect more information to be revealed soon, as the game is due in just a few months!
Visit the Fallout 4 Wiki
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
I’m with you on the hype train. The reveal at Bethesda’s E3 conference blew me away in ways I didn’t even know were possible. Easily my most anticipated game (after Dark Souls 3). Dat customization tho.
Hypeout 4.. I need it right now
The initial reveal didn’t show all that Blitz. It was just a teaser trailer, and the E3 floor didn’t have that either, thus we didn’t know what we were gonna get.
“[…] the E3 reveal showed no gameplay […]”
Were we watching the same E3, Cas?They showed nearly half an hour of gameplay; both normal progression in the early game, and about 10 minutes of the creation mode. Not to mention the extensive trailer. Oh, and some cool things I noticed that might change the combat: you can give orders to companions in VATS, and you can target individual body parts with melee. You can also use a “Critical” in VATS, which seems to spend an additional resource. Not sure what “Criticals” actually do. You also have to manually confirm the next queued VATS command, and you can cancel VATS between commands. Very cool stuff, could open VATS for strategy rather than just shooting things in slow-mo (which was admittedly endless fun).
Disappointed that you weren’t allowed to record any of it. But it seems like they didn’t show you guys much that wasn’t already shown at Bethesda’s and Microsoft’s E3 conferences.
One very important question, though: how were the ragdoll physics compared to FO3? Because they seemed to have been toned down from the E3 demonstration. I want those hilariously dramatic ragdolls back!
Please tell me that you can create your own vault, get some citizens in it and name everyone Gary…..
