I’m an unashamed whore for the Fallout universe. It appeals to both my love of 1950′s science fiction, and my desire to see most of the world destroyed in a massive nuclear war. If only to make sure Reality TV never happens again.

If you haven’t played any of the Fallout games, let me explain. The game is set in a vision of the future as seen from 1950′s America. Their greatest hopes have come true. Everyone has a flying car and a robot butler, and every home powered by nuclear energy. Unfortunately all their greatest fears have come true too, as a war over dwindling fuel supplies has led to a global nuclear war between the Democratic USA and Communist China.

In order to survive the nuclear holocaust, the American population could reserve places in Vault-Tec nuclear shelters, where they could live happily and safely for the rest of their lives, allowing their descendants to repopulate and rebuild America. Well, they could if most of the vaults weren’t a horrific experiment by the government.

Anyway, now that Bethesda have finished with Skyrim, the next big RPG on their agenda should be a new Fallout game. So, without further waffling, here’s some things I’d like to see in Fallout 4.

Some Progress

Apart from the steel mill featured in the Fallout 3 DLC “The Pitt” and possibly Helios One in Fallout: New Vegas very little Old World technology has been repaired or utilised. The Hoover Dam in Fallout: New Vegas doesn’t count. It wasn’t hit by the bombs.

OK, I can understand the lack of weapons technology, as the Brotherhood of Steel (badly) tries to make sure nobody gets their hands on that, but you’d think someone could get the cars or trains working. Surely some bright spod can figure out how to make a fuel out of Brahmin shit or something?

120 years has passed between Fallout 1 and Fallout: New Vegas. Come on!

Some Tidying Up

Speaking of the 120 years between Fallout 1 and Fallout: New Vegas, there’s something that always niggles me when I’m playing a Fallout game. It’s been 120 years and nobody has done any tidying up.

You see it everywhere. Actively used buildings with busted doors and rubble all over the place. It’s great that you’re using this old hotel room as a home, but you didn’t think to clean the burnt skeleton out of the bathtub?

Throw away the busted TVs. Clear the rubble away. Pick up that metal locker. You’ll be doing my OCD a favour.

Bin or Fix the Karma System

Another thing that gets on my tits is the karma system. I know it’s supposed to be there to keep track of the player’s moral choices, but I’ve actually been in a situation where I’ve not lost karma for killing someone and then immediately taken a karma hit for looking at the files on their computer.

It’s broken and stupid.

I think it would make more sense to implement a quest or dialogue based karma system, which affects your morality based on the players choices. This would keep the morality system in place, while not punishing the player for his or her curiosity.

Which brings me on to…

More Exposition

Part of the ongoing story in Fallout is that not many people know anything about what happened before the war. The player is allowed to pick up snippets of info via RobCo terminals and holotapes, and can piece bits of the backstory together from that.

I’d like to see a little more exposition in Fallout 4. I’d like to know what has happened since the war in China and the European Commonwealth, for example. It’s nice to discover what each of the vaults was really used for as you explore them, but let’s have some more exposition on the whole vault experiment. Let’s hear more about Vault-Tec and their involvement with the US government and the Enclave.

I wouldn’t like this to happen at the expense of the overall Fallout atmosphere. I’d simply be happy with more info via the RobCo terminals or talking to…

More People

A minor one really, but I’d like to see more densely populated areas in Fallout 4. OK, it made sense that the earlier games were fairly desolate, but it’s been a long time since Fallout 1 and the NCR have shown that civilisation is gradually being put back together. It would be nice to explore one or two “safe haven” towns or cities where the human population is really flourishing again.

Put in some schools and government offices. Have a few lively bars and clubs. Some bustling markets and trade caravans would be great. Even better, give the player the choice to nuke the fucking lot somehow if they’re feeling naughty.

I keep banging on about it, but 120 years have passed. Let’s see the repopulation of the wasteland happening.

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Well, those are just a few of the things I’d like to see in Fallout 4. Although, to be honest, I’ll buy it anyway, whatever Bethesda does with it. All I really ask for is more Fallout.

I’m such a sucker for Bethesda RPGs, they could shit in a box and I’d still buy it on release day and smear it all over my face.