Fallout 4 does not officially release until November 10… but the internet is already crawling with new, never-before-seen images and footage of the game.
Spoilers for Fallout 4 follow! Stop reading now if you want to go in fresh.
The leak started this weekend, with a slew of screenshots hailing from a private Spanish forum. Most of these images, frankly, either looked terrible or showcased stuff that we’ve already seen before, in Fallout 4’s official marketing. Things started ramping up when neoGAF users started leaking images of the PS4 copy of the game, though:
A Fallout 4 vault. Looks about how you’d expect it to look, rusty pipes and all. The question is: what social experiment went down here?
A Fallout 4 environment. Looks a bit rough, but notice the bright, blue sky. I can get used to that.
Here’s what Fallout 4 looks like at night time. Yay, stars. Notice also how the HUD points out what type of locations are in front of you via little icons on the middle of the screen. In the one above, for example, you can see a castle icon.
Most of the images we’ve seen prior to release are of the dude protagonist. But you can play as a lady! Here’s the female protagonist, looking off into the distance. I bet you can enter each of these buildings.
Female protagonist, in her vault suit. This looks like maybe the area that you start off in, except destroyed. I’m guessing you’ll have to do some backtracking.
Cars make a comeback. Can you ride them, though? That’s been missing from Fallout for some time. I miss my Highwayman!
Looks like a destroyed diner. In the promotional images, Red Rocket is where the protagonist can customise Power Armour. Is this a base of operations of sorts? Is there just a power bench inside, or something?
Under certain angles and lighting even garbage in Fallout 4 looks nice. It’s in the art direction, I think.
One of the new places you’ll be able to visit. Looks kind of spooky, eh?
Notice the fog. Adds some good ambience to the environment, don’t you think?
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As of this writing, there are a number of raw gameplay videos floating around on services such as Instagram, Vid.me, and even Pornhub. Most are short, and don’t spoil too much.
Here’s some footage from the start of the game, for example. You can see your character walking around a 1950’s house, reacting to a bunch of objects around him. Environmental storytelling is a tad more in-your-face in this game than earlier ones:
As you can see, the game is pretty vibrant and colourful! And while it doesn’t look as modern, graphically speaking, as recent games, it still looks pretty damn good for Fallout. Note the dialogue system, too. It’s more Mass Effect than Fallout, now, a fact that saddens me. That said, it does allow for the protagonist to have more personality. It’s a trade-off.
Another video from the start of the game:
Unfortunately, other humans in Fallout still have that kind of terrifying, uncanny look. Cripes. At least your house looks nice.
There’s wasteland footage too, of course. Here’s a video where you can see the vault dweller walking around the Boston Public Library:
Fallout 4’s gear looks pretty damn cool, eh? VATs looks slick as well. I’m wary of how easily super mutants go down, though. Makes them feel, well, not very super at all. Well, at least the super mutant banter continues to be excellent.
A continuation of that footage can be viewed here:
I like that buildings in Fallout 4 still feel like mini-mazes. Some doors are open, others are not. Makeshift pathways form out of junk and debris. You have to do your best to make your way through all of it, which really lends itself to a feeling of exploration and density.
But the juiciest thing to come out of all these leaks so far is definitely the Perk chart. While Bethesda released the Perk chart image already, it was missing the specifics of what you could unlock and when. Thanks to these leaked gameplay videos floating around, however, Reddit users have been able to fill out about 95% of the chart. If you’d like to take a gander and perhaps start plotting your own build, I’d right click and open this image in a new page — it’s the only way to read the text.
Some of these are returning perks, others are new. I’m particularly fond of the Charisma rank. Notice the one where you can “pacify” enemies? Sounds like it could be fun!
Naturally, there’s video floating around of the map, too. Not great video, mind you, but it should still give you a sense of the scale at play here:
Lots of rivers and bodies of water. That swimming perk could actually be useful in this game, who knows. The soundtrack also has a good vibe to it.
There are still eight days before the launch of Fallout 4. My guess is that the leaks will only continue as more people manage to get their hands on the game, which has been complete and packaged for retail since October:
Oct 23rd – the bombs have fallen. Fallout 4 is complete. All 27 versions. pic.twitter.com/AwkWOoTEgt
— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) October 23, 2015
Brace yourself.
And just in case any of these videos go down, here are some GIFs.
Killing enemies with a laser gun still produces a unique animation, as you can see from the disintegrating head above. Also, is it just me or are the blood spatters better now, too?
A closer look at a critical hit. The camera angles look better in Fallout 4, but I’m sure you’ll still occasionally see a goofy one.
Notice how your dog just does not give a shit that it’s on fire during combat. Amazing.
And yes, you’ll be able to loot to your hearts content in Fallout 4. Best of all, it’s all actually useful now — anything that can’t be weaponised can be used for building fodder, in the settlements portion of the game.
Videos in this article have been removed.
Comments
24 responses to “Loads Of Fallout 4 Gameplay Details Leak Early”
Most of these aren’t loading on my phone, has anyone listed all the perks with descriptions yet?
I’d like to start planning a character now so I don’t spend my entire first evening with the game in character creation.
I actually took a break during character creation in Divinity Original Sin, so I could have long deep rhoghts about what I was doing. And that’s after watching in-depth vids about it on YouTube beforehand. /o\
The perks and details are available in a picture yes.
Goddamit :p
Got it ! It was just astonishingly tiny on my phone!
Cheers for the heads up!!
But what does Gary have to say about all this?
Gary..
GARY!!
The game “has been complete and packaged for retail since October”, she says on 2 November in the US…
Having watched the four vids there’s no real story spoiler stuff there. There was some posted to Instagram, but that footage looked as though it was recorded through a lens made of butter, so you couldn’t tell what the spoilers were.
I’m disappointed in the animations, but that’s never been a strong suit of Bethesda’s. It seemed that things did pause when you brought up your Pip-Boy (there was an assumption that they wouldn’t). I also like that the green filter that polluted F3 has gone missing.
I see no problem with the first part. She says October. Caption says October 23rd. Leaks have been gradually flowing in since. What is the issue?
Glorious.
ill also point out that the leaks have not come from pirates or reviewers, but from broken street dates, both ps4 and xbone, so folks start checking every single store that sells console games. it wont effect us PC users though
Yup. Same thing happened with The Witcher 3 (and other games of course).. that thing broke street date on PS4 very early.
Recent broken street date leaks haven’t resulted in the games releasing early though. Usually a store starts selling copies of the game to the public, which allows other stores to break release too in the name of competition.
Recent games like Witcher, MGSV and a few others still release on launch day because somebody with links to a retailer got an early copy on the sly and details of those involved won’t come out.
Obviously, a heads-up from anyone who finds a local shop that’s broken street date would be a public service.
It won’t matter to me, as my preorder’s sitting at EB waiting for me to wander in with three pineapples in my hot little fist, but there are many here who’ll thank you.
And yes, I’m embarrassed to pre-order, but it’s my first pre-order since GTA4. The CE was just too good.
Checked out the screenshots, avoided playing any of the videos or GIFs, except the map one.
I’ve also decided not to pre-order.. with so many games having day 1 problems, I’ve held off this time. I will wait till the dust settles and then pick up a copy.
This is going to be a game I will play for years to come, just like the previous ones, so I want my first play through to be awesome.
I pre-ordered the game from JB HiFi (thanks for letting me know about the price Kotaku!) and these pictures are nearly irresistible D:
Trying my best not to spoil the game at all for myself. I’d like to see the game breaking bugs and hair-pulling corrupted save files with my own eyes first and foremost!
Char grilled dogmeat… dang.
Give it to me now! haha
Seriously hoping the street date breaks on this, I can’t remember the last game I looked forward to this much. Although if the street date breaks, my day off next week that I’ve booked for the release will fall on the wrong day lol
I’m hoping I can do wacky side quests, like become a porn star or a championship boxer.
Anybody order a hot dog?
To paraphrase someone on Reddit, it wouldn’t be a Bethesda game unless you saw someone on fire and completely out of stuffs to give.
Flamin’ dog, grabbing all the attention!
Map
http://imgur.com/gallery/LQA8Jvv/new
pirating yarr
Street date has to go soon. X-box players are reporting it on Reddit getting theirs in the mail already. So many playing.
Break Goddamn You, BREAAAAK!