E3 2015: 5 Surprising Details about Fallout 4

Bethesda finally took the wraps off of Fallout 4 tonight, making it the centerpiece of an already ambitious stage show. And it did so with some pinache, illustrating why this Fallout game took full advantage of its six-year development time. Here are some of the details that surprised us the most about this next journey into the wastes.

The World Before the Bomb

We at Shacknews correctly predicted that the hero will have a connection to the pre-bomb era, even if we were a little off on the details. What we didn't predict was that the game would actually start in an idyllic pre-apocalypse era, putting you in the shoes of a wanderer just minutes before bombs start dropping. Through some circumstance, your new parent character finds his or her way into a vault, and wakes up 200 years later, the apparent sole survivor of Vault 111. 

Bethesda was careful to tiptoe around story details, but we get the feeling your family may not be entirely dead and buried. After all, your child is supposed to take visual traits from both the mother and father, so perhaps your baby survived too. Maybe the story centers on finding your long lost family, or even locating descendents and relatives. 

Customize Everything

Fallout has always been known for its expansive options, but those have usually centered around story and world-building. This iteration looks to take that a step further, by adding a healthy dose of Minecraft. It will let you build your own settlement, complete with defenses to ward off raiding parties, and it will gradually start to attract traders who can get you the best goods. 

Not only that, but the bucketloads of useless junk you acquire in Fallout and Elder Scrolls games can finally be put to good use, by breaking it down to make weapon mods or even craft entirely new weapons. We saw a wealth of varieties presented rapid-fire. Finally, if customizing your town and weapons weren't enough, how about your own suit of armor? Those same tools can be applied to the series' iconic power armor, and we even saw it being used with rocket boosts in a short clip of a combat sequence.

Fallout Shelter

Companion games are a dime a dozen these days, and most of them aren't worth much but some wasted time. Fallout Shelter actually looks shockingly fun, as it puts you in charge of your own Vault and tasks you with keeping the denizens happy and healthy. You can even send them out on raids for precious supplies. It's free-to-play, but the presentation assured that there are no countdown timers or similarly-reviled F2P gimmicks.

The most surprising part, though? That it released right after the conference ended, giving players hungry to dive back into the wastes the opportunity to do it immediately. It's only on iOS so far, but an Android version is incoming.

A Real Pip-Boy

The Pip-Boy may be just as iconic as the Vault or Power Armor to Fallout fans. The wrist-mounted personal computer serves as your menu, item organization, and music player all in one. For Fallout 4, Bethesda has decided to give fans a real crack at a Pip Boy, offering a Collector's Edition that includes a replica. It can slot in a smart phone with its own dedicated second-screen app, letting you check your stats on the fly in real life. It even presumably includes the "game tapes" with Fallout universe versions of games like Donkey Kong and Missile Command.

Silly? Yes. But Todd Howard may have summed it up best: "I find second-screen experiences--they're usually just stupid gimmicks. But as far as stupid gimmicks go, it's just the best f-ing one." 

Oh, That Release Date

We had heard rumblings and rumors of a release date that was to come sooner than we might have expected, but given that this was Fallout 4's first real public showing, those seemed unlikely. Just like Fallout Shelter, though, we learned that Fallout 4 is closer than we might have realized. It's coming November 10, 2015. That's alarmingly soon, so practice up on your duck-and-cover.