Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic action-roleplaying game in the Fallout series published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, except in Japan, where the game was released on December 17, 2015.

Black Isle plans
Black Isle Studios also planned to make a Fallout 4 after their Fallout 3 (Van Buren) project was finished, but it was cancelled and the rights to the franchise were sold. Nothing is known about this earlier version of Fallout 4, except that Caesar's Legion was to play a big part in it.

Bethesda Softworks
Initially, in 2004, Bethesda licensed from Interplay the rights to create and publish three Fallout games (Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4). However, Bethesda purchased the entire franchise in 2007 and Interplay licensed back from Bethesda the rights to a Fallout MMORPG. There was a legal dispute in which Interplay claimed that Bethesda breached their contract regarding Fallout Online, and so their later contract was null and void. Had Interplay's counterclaim been successful, the companies would have reverted to their previous contract, whereby Bethesda only had the rights to publish one more Fallout game - Fallout 4. However, Bethesda and Interplay finally settled out of court.

In 2008, 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".

It did not come as a surprise that Bethesda retired the defunct Gamebryo engine in favor of their in-house Creation engine after its use in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Accordingly, the Creation engine was used for Fallout 4.

On June 3, 2015 the first Fallout 4 trailer was revealed. On June 14, Bethesda showcased Fallout 4 at their first ever E3 showcase, where they showed more than 20 minutes of varied gameplay and revealed the games release date: November 10, 2015.

Setting
Fallout 4 is unique in the fact that is the first game to be set in two different times, both pre-War and post-War. The main part of the game is set in 2287, but begins in 2077 on the day of the Great War, October 23, in the neighborhood of Sanctuary Hills in Boston, Massachusetts. After the Sole Survivor emerges from Vault 111, they must explore the ruins of Boston and the rest of the greater Commonwealth region. The game's development team chose Boston to showcase to a perfect Fallout experience: "Boston itself has 'the right mix of American history, Americana and hi-tech'".

Story
The protagonist (later known as the Sole Survivor), their spouse (Nate or Nora) and infant son Shaun are forced to flee to nearby Vault 111 on the day of the Great War and are put into cryogenic stasis. Although safe from the nuclear fallout above, a coup by the vault security force against the science staff resulted in every dweller outside of cryogenic stasis dying or leaving the vault; of course, without support staff, the dwellers in stasis also slowly began to perish. The Sole Survivor was then woken up from stasis only to witness the murder of their spouse and kidnapping of their son.

When the Sole Survivor is taken out of stasis, they escape the vault only to discover their old neighborhood of Sanctuary Hills is wrecked and dilapidated. With their son being the only thing in their life that matters now, they begin their investigation to find them, starting in Diamond City. Through their investigations, they find themselves mixed up in the politics of the Commonwealth, and are given the opportunity to join several factions, including the Commonwealth Minutemen, The Railroad, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the mysterious Institute.

Character system
As with all previous Fallout titles, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system dictates the kind of character one can create. However, skills have been completely stripped from the game in favor of a system driven entirely by perks; there are a total of 70 perks to choose from (one for each value of each SPECIAL statistic), many of which have more than one rank. In essence, these perks replace skills by still allowing the player character to become stronger in combat, explore more efficiently, talk their way through more problems, and expand their crafting capacity.

Character creation
As with previous titles, the player is able to create his/her own character, but new to Fallout 4 is the ability to grab parts of the face and mold them into whatever the player desires. The new character creation system also includes a body mass triangle, allowing the player to alter their character's physique (slim/full, muscular/lanky, etc.) Also new to character creating is the reduction of SPECIAL points the player can assign to their character at the beginning of the game; this was done because SPECIAL points may be bought during a level up.

Combat
Unlike the previous games which used the Gamebryo engine, the Creation Engine of Fallout 4 has made combat significantly more realistic. Rather than enemies who have no sense of self-preservation and will pursue the player until their death, Fallout 4 features human and super mutant enemies who shy away from the sights of a weapon, take cover behind obstacles and use the opportunity to attack when the player character is low on health or reloading. Other wasteland creatures are less cognitive in their attack patterns, occasionally ambushing the player, and only retreating when significantly injured.

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System also returns from previous titles; however, instead of stopping time completely, V.A.T.S. now only slows the passage of time, allowing for dynamic hit chances as enemies run to or from obstacles and cover. V.A.T.S. is also integral to performing critical hits. After each successful hit in V.A.T.S., the "critical meter" is filled an amount; once this bar is filled, the player can choose to execute a critical hit, which is also a guaranteed hit.

The use of power armor also significantly changes combat; rather than a shell that simply shakes off damage as in previous games, power armor is heavy and slow, but incredibly powerful. Power armor can also be customized to fit various combat styles.

Crafting
The crafting system in Fallout 4 has been completely redone and character customization is a top priority. The choice of how to modify existing weapons, piece together different armor or clothing pieces as well as modify them, and even how to create their own settlements and home base is left entirely up to the player. Every single junk item in the Commonwealth can be broken down for spare parts, which can be recombined into new items.

Dialogue
The dialogue system also experienced an overhaul: instead of a table of scrolling prompts and responses, the player now selects dialogue from a wheel with four options: a positive or helpful response, a negative or aggressive response, a neutral response, and a question or clarification response. According to Bethesda Game Studios, the game contains over 111,000 lines of dialogue, more than both Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim combined.

Release date
In August 2010, Todd Howard revealed in an interview with Eurogamer that Bethesda was working on two projects; one had been in development for 2 years (beginning after Fallout 3 was released), and the other was still in pre-production. It's now known that the title farther along in development was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, while the other was likely Fallout 4. The release date was announced as November 10, 2015 at E3 2015.

Editions
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, and the Samsung Galaxy S5, 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.

The Fallout 4 Nuka Pack includes: a Fallout 4 lunchbox, a 37x10" Fallout 4 print, a Vault Boy mini bobblehead, and the game in a collectible metal case. The Nuka Pack is sold exclusively in Australia by EB Games.

The Fallout 4 Mighty Bundle features: an 80 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.

Gallery

 * Box art