Fallout 4's only five months away, and yet we don't really know all that much about it. While E3 2015 certainly provided us with a wealth of information, we've still got a ton of questions. What's it about? Why is it so colorful? What locations can we visit? We've gleaned a few details here and there from Bethesda's conference and various interviews and quotes we heard from the show floor, but it's not enough. We want to know more.
So, we did what any rational person would do: we combed through the Bethesda conference frame by frame and analyzed every single piece of concept art for any scrap of information we could find. While there's no guarantee any of this stuff will end up in the final game, these drawings give us a good indication of what to expect - or, at the very least, a few ideas the developers formed during the creation of Fallout 4.
The man in the center is clearly irradiated, and most likely a ghoul from the looks of it. He's also dressed like… is that a Redcoat? It is set in Boston, so I wonder if there's some American Revolution reenactment going on here.
There's a lot going on in this image. You've got the Brotherhood of Steel in the foreground and the redcoat in the background (possibly the same one as above?), and they're both fighting alongside our protagonist. Perhaps you'll be able to call upon them as your companions, and maybe they'll even both join up at the same time? Also, look off in the distance - we've got airships blowing up. Will air travel play a significant role - and will you get to call upon them in battle?
We've had super mutants show up before, but super mutants in power armor? That's new. We've seen video footage of how the player can equip and use power armor, but here's some concepts of a few mutants who are just as decked out. Perhaps society has moved on if mutants are equipping themselves with high-tech gear?. The image to the left also suggests that the mutants themselves might be evolving into something a bit more … sophisticated.
Looks like you'll meet a few children on your journey, and the one front and center here looks like she's more than capable of defending herself. She's got a lunch box and a backpack, like she's headed off to school. She looks confident; like carrying a golf club to fend off radroaches is just part of her daily routine. Could be another sign of humanity trying to return to some kind of pre-war normalcy in a post-apocalyptic world. And of course, the mutated, two-headed cows (or brahmin) make a return.
While we don't know the exact places you'll go in Fallout 4's futuristic version of Boston, we're able to make a few educated guesses about the kinds of places you'll see. This looks like a very New England-style Ivy league school - something from , perhaps? Considering the last image, maybe there's actual learning going on in these halls.
Here's a good one. To the left, you'll see a picture of an alien that looks like he came right out of a 1950s comic book. Fallout 3 delved into the potential existence of life on other planets (especially in the Mothership Zeta add-on). Above the alien? Could be a member of Caesar's Legion. And who are the guys in the middle? They look like a cross between Vault dwellers and spacemen. Considering their helmets, the white 'wings' motif on the shoulder, and the inclusion of various aircraft in previous and future slides, they're probably some kind of test pilot.
This garage looks like it's seen better days. Hopefully that power armor still works. There's another alien in the bottom right, and it looks slightly different from the one we've seen before. A variation? A different species? Or just a redesign? They've usually been relegated to smaller Easter egg moments or DLC before, but considering their prominence in these images, it seems like they might play a pretty important role in Fallout 4.
We've got a dapper gentleman in the middle, a child in rags at the bottom, and a few examples of a bowling outfit - complete with bowling ball. I wonder just how much the pre-war section of Fallout 4 is going to encompass. Can we expect some kind of bowling mini-game? Also, there's a particularly creepy image of some monsters in a dark tunnel. And to the left - is that a new kind of mutant?
Fallout 4's ecosystem appears to be growing considerably since Fallout 3. Two-headed deer are new, as are bats (which you can see in the very top-left in the image). The inclusion of bats in Fallout 4 is an interesting one, considering that they would have appeared in the original Black Isle-developed version of Fallout 3 - before it was cancelled, of course.
We learned during Bethesda's presentation that Fallout 4 will start before the bombs drop, and here's a piece of art that showcases the major beats from those opening moments. And seriously, who's that creeper peeking in from behind the image on the left? He's got to be some new kind of hulking mutant, but is he friend or foe?
The blast didn't cause this. Look at the flat landscape around the ship, and the pools of water that still remain. Or the the rotting trees. Or the state of disrepair of the ship. This area was flooded, and the images of seagulls and yachts only reinforce how important water is to Fallout 4.
We've been assaulted by nautical imagery (and there's more ahead) which leads us to believe that Project Purity was a smashing success. Life is beginning to return to the wasteland, and people have begun to 're-colonize', so to speak, finding some small portion of their old life mixed with the new. It's why everything looks so much more vibrant in these images than they did in past games. As for this image, he's looking out to sea. What could be out there? New lands to explore? Sunken treasure? New threats to face? Either way, the open ocean seems to play a huge part of whatever adventure you'll find yourself on.
Some examples of several different outposts you'd see in the wasteland. There's the big one in the middle, but you've also got a treehouse and a rebuilt skyscraper. Fallout 4's cities are going to be much more varied and full of life than they've ever been. Based on the wide variety of locations, it appears much more fragmented as well. I wonder how much time has passed between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, and if humanity's doing a good job recovering from the initial blast.
It would seem that whoever was working on this dig wasn't quite fast enough, considering the general state of disarray, all of the dead trees in the background, and the lake that's formed in the meantime. Yep, flooding again. There's a lot of death still in the air, but life appears to be rapidly returning to the world.
We've seen Red Rocket gas stations before in Fallout 3, but it appears the East Coast branch of the franchise received a bit of a redesign. What's teresting, however, is that sweet-looking bowgun in the lower left - finally making its way into an official Fallout release after all these years. You just know that thing will come with exploding crossbow bolts.
That image in the center is interesting - like a petroleum container of some kind? - but the image my eyes are drawn to is the one above it. That looks like a submarine - likely Chinese, if the crest is any indication. Maybe some underwater action is in our future? Given the protagonist's focus looking out to sea in a previous image, chances are pretty good. Other images worth pointing out include the bottom-left (some kind of new energy weapon) and the bottom-middle. Different haircuts on the same face - NPC variants or part of the character creation tools?
The poor robot (which appears to be a new addition to the series) is doing its best to keep the dirt farm thriving. Meanwhile, that heavily armed bandit in the upper right looks like a real bad time. Joking aside, the fact that anyone is even attempting to farm in this wasteland is further proof that life is starting to come back to the area, and humans are rediscovering the joys of agriculture.
Hopefully one of them is that sweet, colonial-era ship in the bottom right - unless it's been turned into a colonial airship, which would be awesome. Either way, the colonial era looks like it's going to be just as big as the nautical theme, and the society that's sprung up from Boston's ashes is taking a liking to tri-corner hats. Ten bucks says there's a group that calls themselves the Tea Party.
The buildings off in the distance (like the air traffic control tower) are appropriately futuristic, almost like flying saucers. The planes around them look like they've seen better days, though. This looks like a very interesting (and possibly major) location in the final game. Perhaps there's a mission to get a Vertibird working. "What Vertibird," you ask? Well...
Take a glance at the background - is that the same airport as before? Will we be able to ride around on Vertibirds? Is this a mission where we get to steal our own? Can this just be the entire game please?
OK, yeah, this looks cool. Here, we've got a fully-functional airship, just trucking along in the atmosphere. It's got some nautical flags up at the top, and much of it looks like it's been customized from other parts. Those engines on the side look like they've been ripped from a Vertibird, though how they've been able to get this giant hunk of metal in the air is... impressive. I wonder if you'll get to fly it?
Commerce blooms in what looks like the central hub for this particular town. This is Diamond City, which appears to be located in a reinforced Fenway Park. Look at the massive light structures in the background - and is that the poking out above the other structures? I wonder if they keep a literal Green Monster around to guard it.
If there's a surefire way to ensure ladies don't frequent your establishment, it's putting "Ladies Invited" on a sign in neon lights. Also, what is Memory Den? Perhaps someone monetized that simulation program you find in Fallout 3? Maybe that's why there's so much pre-war art here - people have found a way to virtually live out what life was like before the bombs dropped.
Are these pods related to the Memory Den? They certainly look like the from Fallout 3. Or maybe they're some kind of sleep or purification chamber. Whatever they are, this room screams high-society. Look out the window - you can see the sky, so this is probably near the top of some high-rise somewhere. Maybe VR is a special luxury for the upper-class?
Here's the biggest evidence for inland flooding thus far. Look how close the shoreline is to these buildings. If Project Purity was, in fact, a success, this ocean is probably mostly clean by now. So yeah, you'll totally be exploring a decaying, flooded, Venice-style city at some point.
Boston looks like a much more varied wasteland than either Washington DC or new Vegas. Swamps, for instance, are new to Fallout 4, and are likely a result of all of the flooding that took place since Fallout 3. Wading through water used to be fatal (unless you had a huge stash of RadAway), but here, it would appear that walking through water is perfectly safe - well, except for those monsters in the distance. You won't get radiation sickness, anyway. Nature appears to be reclaiming the land once ruined by humanity.
Even in the ruined landscape of the post-apocalypse, there's still room for adorable puppies and kitties. Look at the image at the bottom left - dogs being walked by some kind of floating robot? Is this a pre-war image, or perhaps the return of some kind of posh, upper-class society returning to the wasteland? It would gel with the player's Jeeves-ian butler robot and the more refined colonial look that appears to be spreading. And is that a Fatboy up top? Looks much sleeker than previous models.
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