There’s no doubting that Besthesda Studios captured the world’s attention with the long-awaited first look at Fallout 4 gameplay. The game is seemingly everything fans had been asking for, featuring customizable bases, a lovable invulnerable dog companion, and reportedly over 400 hours worth of playtime to fully explore what the new setting has to offer.
Fallout 4 is Bethesda’s big ticket item of the year (and perhaps E3’s as well), and they’ve jam-packed the gameplay trailer with plenty of small details to compliment the big ones. The game had a whopping 30 minutes of stage-time during Bethesda’s conference, which left ample chances for them to sneak several details past viewers. We dug around and found 5 details that were subtly placed in the premiere footage and may mean big things in terms of gameplay.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at 5 details from the gameplay trailer that you may have missed.
1. Ranged Weapons Have Melee Abilities
You want a bayonet on your sniper rifle? Maybe a silencer on your Fatboy? With Fallout 4, it seems like anything is possible, and that level of customization will now allow players to quickly melee enemies who get too close, regardless of what weapon they happen to be holding (presumably, grenades and mines are exempt here).
In previous games, players holding ranged weapons would likely pause, go to their inventory, and switch to a melee-only weapon, so this change should help reduce the gameplay-slowing effects of switching between ranged and melee combat.
During the live Pip-Boy demonstration, one menu briefly shows what appeared to be a ‘Bayoneted Triple Barrel Missile Launcher’, which sounds like an overall bad idea. Either way, it demonstrates that those who want melee options on just about any kind of weapon - whether it’s a sniper rifle or, say, a rocket launcher - should be quite happy when they arrive in Boston.
2. Power Armor Gets A Complete Overhaul
The initial trailer showed fans their first look at the T-60 power armor, which is the most advanced model ever seen in any Fallout title. For the first time ever, players will be able to modify the material the power armor is made out of, and paint it in different themes. These themes range from things like military paint and lead plating to presumably colorful iterations like the Vault-Tec style, and those options aren’t strictly just for show - different paint jobs grant different bonuses to statistics like strength or charisma.
It looks like power armor will now have a functional headlamp, which will go huge distances when fighting in dark locations or during the night. It also completely changes the player’s user interface, boasting a robotic display not unlike something from Iron Man, and also featuring a suit health indicator. Based off of some quick cuts in the gameplay trailer, it looks like individual sections of power armor can now be crippled, and potentially even blown off by attacks.
3. Sprinting Is Now An Option
Previously, Fallout titles dealt with speed in a simple way: heavy armor and large weapons slowed players down by a fixed amount, whilst lighter armor helped improve their overall speed. However, the system wasn’t perfect - Fallout is the kind of game were occasional sprinting would make sense, but it was just never included.
As the trailer quickly went over the SPECIAL stats form, eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that when the Endurance section was hovered over for a brief second, its description confirmed sprinting to be a feature of the game.
According to the menu, sprinting will drain Action Points in lieu of a separate stamina stat, which means players attempting to get out of dodge when a Deathclaw approaches can do so at a more logical speed. The one caveat to that is players won’t be able to fall back on VATS should they need to enter into combat right after running.
4. Enemies Can Burrow In The Ground
This is one of the more obvious things from the trailer, but it’s a drastic change in the core gameplay for Fallout 4. Radscorpions and molerats were seen getting the drop on the player after having burrowed themselves underground, an aspect of their behavior that hasn’t been seen in any other previous Fallout titles.
If Fallout Shelter taught us anything, it’s that radscorpions can seemingly come out of anywhere, especially when you’re not expecting them. Now that players can build settlements, it’s possible that they’ll have to deal with the occasional radscorpion or molerat infestations from within their own base. Wandering around any sand or dirt-based areas will also add a new sense of danger, with enemies capable of springing out from the Earth at a moment’s notice.
