We've all been playing it for a while now. The game we waited years for after waiting just over a decade for the major instalment before it. The deserts were harsh, the heat was blistering, and there was a good chance a giant ant would be our eventual undoing, but Fallout 3 appeared and proved that the winning formula wasn't tied to the point n' click adventure games of the past. It worked. Yet Fallout 4 was more of the same.
Despite it appearing and releasing in a relatively short amount of time when judged alongside its long absence from speculated media events, Fallout 4 sold like hotcakes. It wasn't the groundbreaking title of its predecessor, but it put up a good fight.
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Regardless of how its viewed in the overall community, it's still a title with a massive amount of concurrent users month after month - much like Skyrim. And for that reason alone, it's fair game for Bethesda to use it as a basis for what is essentially one of the most anticipated VR games of the growing genre. And while it's due to come this year, we don't know a whole lot about what's going into the work to convert the post-apocalyptic wastelands into not only something we'd enjoy jamming our eyes into, but something that actually works on a technical level.
We can imagine the basics, but let's imagine the unconventional, wacky and otherwise insane. It's Fallout. It's full of promise!
Needless Character Interactions
Think of this one as more like A Million Ways to Die in the West. Bethesda's RPG offerings bring us dozens upon dozens of hours of character interactions with those that look - and sound - like the radiated carcass of Stephan Fry. But there's always more to human interaction than the delicate art of words. Where's the body language?
We want to move. We want utter freedom. Not just of speech, but a way to really tell it to Uncle Jimmy over at the bar that he's had enough already and that he should give us the rest of his beer money as he scrambles for the door. If selecting that particular option from a dialogue wheel isn't enough to get his attention, how about some frantic arm flailing? A quick slap on the back of his bald head or by pulling his stool out from under him.
Fallout feels like a Western. There's no getting around that. It's a mess. Its people rarely serve a purpose and nobody cares about shooting up the nearby saloon if it means seeing 200 bullet decals in one 30cm space. So in that regard, take a leaf from previous VR titles and let us be a gun-slinging cowboy. Let us spin our blasters around our fingers and toss them at the enemy when things are heating up. Bonus points if our microphones pick up our whistles and result in another beer being served to our table. Bobby needs a break. Let us high-five the waiter, too. She's rad. Get it?
Repair Work!
This surely isn't too much to ask for. For a world decimated by nuclear disaster, the machines are still coming along pretty well. Floating around in every corner of a town, they serve all kinds of purposes - both just and near pointless. Let us tweak them. Or at least pick on them a little.
Much like how Job Simulator has us regularly stealing the hats of our robotic overlords for the benefit of our own fleshy cranium, let us validate the lives of these bots just as much as we can invalidate them. And no - I'm not talking about going that far.
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Think of them as pets, perhaps. They might actually get in our way when they like to think they're being friendly - but we still want to take care of them when they're sick. Did your favourite mech friend take a few too many bullets? Grab your motion controllers, a wrench and your finest WD-40. Go around back, unscrew those bolts - or get the cutters - and help a robo-brother out. It'd go hand-in-hand with the Automatron DLC.
And why stop there? Stray bullet smash the window of Papa's Diner? Offer to grab another pane of glass and try your hand at that. It doens't always need to be about donning the clunky armour and heading out into the Wilderness. That's scary.
The Distant Future
VR isn't perfect. It likely won't be for a long time, yet. Still technically in its early stages of mass adoption and still a relavtively basic idea at that, what would we like to see in the future? Taste. Taste the fallout.
While Nuka-Cola sounds all fine and dandy as is, what if we could turn our muderous rampage through the wastelands into a culinary venture for the ages? Half the fun - and stress - of that universe is clinging onto dear life by throwing half a dozen radiated apples down your gullet to chase away death after being set ablaze by a bug bigger than a subway turnstile. The least we could manage is tasting out bittersweet victory as we lodge a bullet into its skull and grasp our chest as we clammer around looking for Rad-a-Way goodness before our heart gives way.
Heck, much like Bethesda's other massive-scale RPG - The Elder Scrolls - the major percentage of us spend most of our time waltzing into the homes of unsuspecting potential mutants and siphon through their storage looking for a quick bite to eat. Some is fine - most of it isn't quite up to snuff. But the least we could do is have the freedom to shy away from our fate as a Vault-goer to live a life tasting the delicacies of a dying world. We can pick it up - but then what? It's only good for throwing into a bucket. Just get ready to use those injections in a way that'll have your phobias flaring up. It's the future; not paradise!
While we're told to expect a blowout at this year's E3 where we'll learn that not a single one of these dreams will become a reality, it's time for us all to speculate as to what will and won't make the cut. What would you like to see? Leave your suggestions and million-dollar ideas down below!
