Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth major installment in the Fallout series (eighth overall). It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 10, 2015, except in Japan, where it was released on December 17, 2015, due to the need to censor some footage and references to atomic war, while still keeping the plot intact.

While Fallout 4 was the next installment after Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 is more of a direct narrative sequel to Fallout 3 than New Vegas due to some characters from 3 returning in 4, continuing their storylines. While Fallout 4 could be played as a standalone game, players who skip 3 will miss some impact and context during some scenes. In contrast, the New Vegas references in 4 are more minor. Fallout 4 expands on ideas shown in a quest in Fallout 3 regarding a mysterious institute, The Railroad and synths.

The story of Fallout 4 focuses on a spouse, the Sole Survivor of Vault 111, as they search for their missing child, Shaun. Fallout 4 is set in and around the Boston area in 2287, 10 years after Fallout 3. Along the way, the Sole Survivor discovers a world in fear of the Institute, consumed by paranoia of a race of robotic yet also biological human-like beings known as synth. As a result of the synth-focused narrative, the Sole Survivor, as well as the player, are faced with ethical questions such as how far people should experiment with science, the morality of creating sentient living machines that express emotions and suffering, and what it means to be human.

Gameplay
The gameplay is largely similar to that of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, with the ability to switch from first to third-person view. Additional features include a split-piece armor system (reminiscent of the armor system in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), base-building, a dynamic dialogue system, an in-depth crafting system that makes use of every lootable object in the game as a source of raw material and more. Enemies such as mole rats, mirelurks, raiders, super mutants, deathclaws, and ghouls return to the series.

The player character, the Sole Survivor, accesses the in-game menus through a Pip-Boy to manage statistics, maps, data, and items. Players can also find game cartridges with retro themed mini-games which can be played on the Pip-Boy. Another returning gameplay feature is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.), which can play a critical part in combat. While using V.A.T.S, real-time combat is slowed down, and action is played out from varying camera angles in a computer graphics version of "bullet time." Attacking in V.A.T.S. costs action points, limiting the number of actions available at a time, and the player can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries; headshots can be used for quick kills or blinding, legs can be targeted to slow enemies' movements, and opponents can be disarmed by shooting at their weapons.

A new equipment system allows a wide variety of upgrades and customization for weapons and armor. Unlike the previous two Fallout games, weapons and armor do not deteriorate with use and no longer require constant maintenance.

A new feature to the series is the ability to build settlements. Within the boundaries of a settlement, players can scrap objects and structures for resources and use them to build their own structures, including housing, vegetable gardens, defenses, stores, and crafting stations. Each settlement can also connect to others by Brahmin caravan, which then share resources. Towns can be powered with electricity, using a dynamic power line system, as well as equipped with water pumps and crops/gardens to keep a steady income of food and drink. Merchants and non-player characters can inhabit player towns and help keep the settlements running as a community. Players can build various defenses around their settlements, such as turrets, guard towers, and traps, to defend the settlements from raids and attacks.

Skills have been removed, replaced with a 7x10 perk chart. At each level-up, the player can acquire a new perk, each with prerequisites based on SPECIAL attributes and level, and most have multiple tiers. A consequence of the new advancement system is that there is no hard level cap, allowing players to experience a little more freedom when it comes to exploring and combat. The player may continue playing even after they have finished all of the main quests, a feature returning from Broken Steel, which allows players to experience the aftermath of their decisions. There are plenty of side quests to pursue, many of which can also be experienced after the main story ends.

Setting


The game takes place in Boston, Massachusetts. Famous local landmarks like the Paul Revere Monument, the USS Constitution, as well as the Massachusetts State House with its unique golden dome, are included in the game world. Other notable locations that make an appearance in the game are Scollay Square, renamed Goodneighbor, Bunker Hill, and Fenway Park, which is renamed Diamond City. The events of Fallout 4 occur in 2287; a decade after Fallout 3 and six years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas.

The setting also includes mountains, coastal regions, the outskirts of the city and the downtown Boston area. A large and still inhospitable nuclear blast site called the Glowing Sea is to the southwest. The starting area in the northwest contains low level enemies and is relatively safe, but the enemies get progressively tougher towards the southeast area of the map.

Story


The player is the Sole Survivor of Vault 111. Although the player can decide the Sole Survivor's name, gender and appearance, the father is commonly referred to as "Nate" while the mother is commonly referred to as "Nora" due to them being the names given to the player's spouse. Fallout 4 briefly begins on October 23, 2077 (the day of the Great War), showing the player living with their spouse and child, Shaun. After a series of events, they emerge 210 years to the day and time after the Great War.

The story of 4 guides the player into its world, discovering leaders of different factions with varying views of synths. These include Preston Garvey of the Minutemen which lacks a strong opinion on synths, Desdemona of the pro-synth The Railroad, Arthur Maxson of the anti-synth Brotherhood of Steel and even the leader of the Institute behind the synths, "Father."

In order to meet Father, the Sole Survivor has to dive into a dead cyborg man's memories to discover the secret of how the Institute manages to lay low: teleportation. With the help of a faction, the Sole Survivor builds a teleporter to enter their facility. Visiting the Institute, the player learns the Institute is an advanced technological site of innovation, capable of making artificial gorillas, but they are unable to keep their synths in check, making them require "coursers" to go after them.

After leaving the Institute, the player is encouraged to take a faction's side which will result in angering another faction. However, if the player purchased the add-ons, the player can take a boat ride to Far Harbor and the Island instead for another story focused around synths, or a subway train to Nuka-World, before deciding on a faction.

Development


Initially, in 2004, Bethesda Softworks licensed from Interplay Entertainment the rights to create and publish three Fallout games (Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4). Later, in 2007, Bethesda purchased the entire franchise, and Interplay licensed back from Bethesda the rights to a Fallout MMORPG. The legal dispute concluded January 2012, with Bethesda Softworks and its in-house development studio retaining the rights to all of the Fallout franchise, including an MMO.

In 2009, Bethesda's Pete Hines said, "The whole reason we went out and acquired the license and that we now own Fallout is that we clearly intended to make more than one." He also added, "This is not something we're going to do once and then go away and never do it again. When that will be or how long that will be God only knows, but we acquired it specifically because we wanted to own it and develop it and work on it like we do with The Elder Scrolls."

Development began right after Fallout 3's release, in 2008. The game had minor development due to Skyrim being developed at the same time. After Skyrim was released in 2011, Fallout 4 became the primary project for Bethesda.

During voice recording, Fallout 4 was given the codename of Angelina, ostensibly a space sci-fi game, according to the audition sides. Voice recording for video games was a much more secretive process at the time of Fallout 4's development, and many actors initially did not realize what they were working on, before reading dialogue that clued them into the fact that it was a Fallout game.

The game features just over 111,000 lines of dialogue, more than all of the dialogue in Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim combined.

Announcement
Todd Howard revealed in an August 2010 interview with Eurogamer that Bethesda was working on two projects; one had been in development for two years (beginning after Fallout 3 was released), and the other was still in pre-production. It is now known that the title farther along in development was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, while Fallout 4 was the title in pre-production.

On January 9, 2013, the voice actor behind Three Dog (Erik Todd Dellums) was given permission by Bethesda to hint towards his appearance soon. On his Twitter account, he stated, "To all my #Fallout3 and #ThreeDog fans: There may be more of the Dog coming! Fingers crossed!" However, in July of the same year, Dellums tweeted that the game he is working on is not being produced by Bethesda Softworks, therefore, it was not the anticipated new Fallout title.

Bethesda Game Studios announced on Bethblog (dead link) on April 15, 2013, that they had completed all new content for Skyrim and were moving the studio's attention to an as of yet unknown title that had previously been in pre-production since 2010. Although Bethesda Softworks did announce The Evil Within during the same week, it was developed by another studio and had no direct impact on the project Bethesda Game Studios was working on.

In December 2013, Kotaku claimed information about Fallout 4; it was being developed, set in Boston, revolves around an Institute, there are characters named Preston Garvey, Travis Miles and Sturges, and the protagonist enters a cryogenic sleep chamber near the beginning.

Todd Howard was interviewed on Rock, Paper, Shotgun on February 18, 2014, and said that a new game announcement would be very far away. "We don’t [have a timeframe for our next game announcement]," he said, "but I think it’s gonna be a while." He was described as "forever positive" and enthused that "PC is resurgent." "Skyrim did better than we've ever done on PC by a large, large number. And that's where the mods are. That feeds the game for a long time. And it's exciting that the new consoles are very PC-like. That opens up avenues for us going forward to do things that we've wanted to do in the past. There are kind of random ideas we're working on right now, and it's like, 'Wow, I think there's potential here to do some really cool stuff,'" he said.

A countdown timer was set on Bethesda's Fallout website on June 2, 2015, expiring the next day at 10:00 AM EDT. On June 3, seconds before 10:00 AM EDT, the Fallout 4 trailer was released on YouTube. The Fallout website also debuted in full Fallout 4 style, including a working teaser phone number, previously used during the Fallout 3 release.

Bethesda's first ever E3 showcase took place on June 14, 2015, at 7 PM PST. The E3 showcase was streamed on YouTube and Twitch. Bethesda revealed gameplay footage including combat, a refined VATS system, a new crafting system, concept art, and a release date, which was confirmed to be November 10, 2015. A major new feature shown during the press conference was the ability to craft and deconstruct settlements.

Pip-Boy Edition
The Pip-Boy edition of Fallout 4 features: a wearable Pip-Boy that can, according to a Forbes article, hold the iPhone 6, iPhone 5/5s, iPhone 4/4s, Samsung Galaxy S4, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and many other smartphones using foam inserts. a Pip-Boy pocket guide, a Vault-Tec perk poster, a RobCo Industries stand (for your Pip-Boy), a capsule case, and the game in a collectible metal case.

Fallout 4 Nuke Pack
The Fallout 4 Nuke Pack features a Fallout 4 lunchbox, a 37x10" Fallout 4 Print, a Vault Boy mini bobblehead, and the game in a collectible metal case. The Nuke Pack is sold exclusively in Australia and New Zealand, distributed by EB Games.

Fallout 4 Mighty Bundle
The Fallout 4 Mighty Bundle features: a 100-page hardcover Fallout 4 Franchise Book "...detailing in words and hi-res imagery the history of Fallout over the years", a Fallout Vault Boy Pop! Vinyl figure, and a copy of the game.

Game of the Year Edition


Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition was released on September 26, 2017, for PC, PS4 and Xbox One; this edition includes all 6 main add-ons.

To celebrate the Game of the Year Edition, Bethesda released a limited quantity of Fallout 4 G.O.T.Y. Pip-Boy collector editions, exclusively available in North America at select retailers. The Pip-Boy Edition includes Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition and retailed for $99.99 USD, and was also released on September 26.

Mod support
Fallout 4 is the first Fallout game to have native mod support for consoles. During E3 2015, at the Xbox Conference, Todd Howard went on stage to tell the audience that the Xbox One will offer mod support following the release of the Creation Kit for PC, which is available for download as of April 26, 2016. The Xbox One mods support was released on May 31, and support for PlayStation 4 was due sometime in June but was delayed, and as of September 9, 2016, mods on the PlayStation 4 were canceled. However, Bethesda and Sony later came to an agreement and allowed mods to release after The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is released, however they would be limited to using assets already found within the game files.

Downloadable content
Bethesda confirmed there would be DLC coming to Fallout 4 starting early 2016, as well as smaller updates along the same lines Skyrim saw. A season pass for all add-ons could be bought at a price of $29.99 USD, €29.99 Euro before March 1, 2016, and a price of $49.99 USD, €49.99 Euro afterwards. The released DLC includes Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Far Harbor, Contraptions Workshop, Vault-Tec Workshop, and Nuka-World, along with the free High Resolution Texture Pack.

Creation Club
On August 28, 2017, Bethesda Game Studios inaugurated additional downloadable content that can be bought separately through the Creation Club. Content available on the Creation Club is announced to be fully compatible with the main game, official add-ons, and achievements.

Reception
Fallout 4 has received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic, getting a Metascore of 84/100 on PC, 87/100 on PS4, and 88/100 on Xbox One. The game received several awards and nominations, including 2016 D.I.C.E. Game of the Year and 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year. Fallout 4 shipped 12 million copies to meet day one demand.

The user score on Metacritic was less positive, with the lowest at 5.6/10 for PC and the highest at 6.7/10 for PlayStation 4. The game was widely criticized for the way it presented its dialogue system, only showing short keywords instead of full dialogue. Some aspects of the story and writing received criticism. The Guardian felt that enemies do not react to attacks enough and that many enemies feel like bullet sponges, complained about the slow pace of leveling up, and noted bugs. Cheat Code Central was disappointed by the lack of a cover system in which players could lean out and shoot from behind cover.