We all knew that Fallout 4 would be the star of Bethesda’s E3 Showcase, and the company’s Todd Howard had a great deal to say about it during the show. Although it was blindingly obvious from the teaser, we now officially know that the game is set in Boston. Character creation takes place before the nuclear apocalypse and uses a special sculpting method that allows players to craft an impressive variety of faces without using a ton of sliders. Despite worries due to the teaser’s depiction of a voice acted male character, it has been confirmed that the player can create either a male or female Vault Dweller.
Two hundred years after entering Vault 111, our Dweller will emerge as its sole survivor – and just how that happened is a mystery for now. The game appears to be even more freeform than Fallout 3, with a crazy amount of optional crafting and customization activities. Players can build and decorate their own strongholds in multiple locations, and even run Brahmin caravans between them. There’s also an extensive crafting system that allows you to turn just about any object in the game into a piece of usable equipment, and every equipment mod is shown visibly in the game.
Bethesda is taking the Fallout 4 experience out of the game, but it’s no ordinary “second screen” nonsense. No, players can buy an actual Pip-Boy in the ($115) Pip-Boy Edition of the game. It allows players to slide their smartphones into its casing and connects to the game’s expanded Pip-Boy, which does everything from playing audio cassettes to fully-created video games-within-a-game. Less wealthy players can also just download the Pip-Boy app on iOS and Android, but let’s face it. That’s not nearly as cool as strapping the real thing to your wrist.
Speaking of mobiles, Bethesda had a final Fallout -related surprise for us. They’ve developed a free iOS app called Fallout Shelter that allows you to take on the role of a Vault Overseer. It’s a strategy-simulation game in which you’ll have to keep your Vault Dwellers healthy and happy as they work in the vault and run off to explore the wasteland outside. There are a few optional microtransactions, but Bethesda promises there won’t be any paywall timers and the game can be played offline.
Fallout 4 will be released on November 10, 2014. Fallout Shelter is available, like, right freaking now, so go download it, you lucky Apple people.