Fallout 4 does not officially release until November 10th...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 better images 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 customize Power Armor. 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:
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As you can see, the game is pretty vibrant and colorful! 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. It kind of looks like once you make a dialogue option, you’re locked into it, too? As in, you can’t go back to explore other options, as you could in older games? Note also that the entire reason you can go into a vault is because of your ‘service’—does that mean you’re a part of the Enclave, technically speaking?
Another video from the start of the game:
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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:
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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:
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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.
Some returning enemies have new tricks, too. Here’s a Radscorpion, burrowing into the ground mid-attack—and then jumping out!
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And some first-person mini-gun footage—notice how, during VATS, the game doesn’t actually completely freeze. Interesting change! You’ll need to make choices quicker, now.
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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:
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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:
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 weaponized can be used for building fodder, in the settlements portion of the game.