Bethesda Game Studios

there’s-never-been-a-better-time-to-get-into-fallout-76

There’s never been a better time to get into Fallout 76

Bethesda Game Studios, culture, Fallout, fallout 76, Features, gaming / /
More players have been emerging from this vault lately than have in years.

Enlarge / More players have been emerging from this vault lately than have in years.

Samuel Axon

War never changes, but Fallout 76 sure has. The online game that launched to a negative reception with no NPCs but plenty of bugs has mutated in new directions since its 2018 debut. Now it’s finding new life thanks to the wildly popular Fallout TV series that debuted a couple of weeks ago.

In truth, it never died, though it has stayed in decidedly niche territory for the past six years. Developer Bethesda Game Studios has released regular updates fixing (many of) the bugs, adding new ways to play, softening the game’s rough edges, and yes, introducing Fallout 3- or Fallout 4-like, character-driven quest lines with fully voiced NPCs—something many players felt was missing in the early days.

It’s still not for everybody, but for a select few of us who’ve stuck with it, there’s nothing else quite like it.

Like many older online games, it eventually settled into a situation where most of the players were high-level veterans on the PC and PlayStation platforms. (Microsoft’s Game Pass kept a steady trickle of new players coming in on the Xbox.) That’s all changed now, though; thanks to the TV series, the low-level newbies now outnumber the vets. There’s a wide range of players on every server, and the community’s reputation for being unusually welcoming has held strong amid the influx.

If you’re looking to give it a shot, here’s what you need to know.

A weirdly welcoming wasteland

I generally find the communities in most online games off-putting and toxic. I enjoy the gameplay in Overwatch, for example, but a whole buffet of bad actors makes it a poor experience for me a lot of the time.

That’s not the case with Fallout 76. It’s a phenomenon I also observed with No Man’s Sky’s online community: Games that had disastrous launches that drove away the enthusiastic core gamer crowd early on end up having the best communities.

With Fallout 76, the first few weeks were a storm of negativity like no other. But once the folks who were unimpressed calmed down and moved on, the smaller cadre of people who actually liked the game formed a strong bond. The community was small enough that bad behavior could have social consequences, and it turned out that the kinds of people who stick with a game like Fallout 76 tend to be patient and gracious. Who knew?

These donation boxes give experienced players a chance to give back.

Enlarge / These donation boxes give experienced players a chance to give back.

Samuel Axon

For example, there has long been a tradition of experienced players dropping valuable healing items and ammunition by the game’s starting area for newbies to grab. Fallout 76 has strong survival elements, especially at the start, so those gifts make a big difference. This gifting became so common that Bethesda formalized it with a donation box in that starter area. In fact, there are donation boxes scattered all around the game’s map now, and they almost always have stuff in them.

Players will generally be happy to jump on voice chat and talk through the game’s concepts with you or help you defeat difficult enemies. That extends to some communities that talk about the game outside the game, too. (Be sure to look up the subreddit r/fo76FilthyCasuals and its associated Discord; they’re great places to make friends and get advice.)

Time will tell how all that holds as a huge influx of new players shifts the makeup of the community, but so far so good.

There’s never been a better time to get into Fallout 76 Read More »

war-never-changes:-a-fallout-fan’s-spoiler-laden-review-of-the-new-tv-series

War never changes: A Fallout fan’s spoiler-laden review of the new TV series

Amazon, amazon prime video, Bethesda Game Studios, culture, Fallout, fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, gaming, Todd Howard, TV / /
The nukes went off in 2077 in Fallout's universe. The show tells us more about this event than we've learned from the games before.

Enlarge / The nukes went off in 2077 in Fallout’s universe. The show tells us more about this event than we’ve learned from the games before.

Amazon

It’s been just over a week since the Fallout TV series premiered on Amazon Prime, and one thing’s for sure: It’s a huge hit. You can hardly open a social media app without seeing content about it, the reviews are positive, and the active players for the Fallout games have doubled over the past week.

A few days ago, I shared some spoiler-free impressions of the first three episodes. I loved what I’d seen up to that point—the show seemed faithful to the games, but it was also a great TV show. A specific cocktail of tongue-in-cheek humor, sci-fi campiness, strong themes, great characters, and visceral violence really came together into a fantastic show.

Still, I had some questions at that point: Would the franchise’s penchant for satire and its distinct political and social viewpoint come through? Where was all this headed?

Like a lot of us, I’ve now finished the series. So if you have, too (or if you haven’t but just don’t care about spoilers), it’s time to dive into all eight episodes of season one together.

I’m a long-time Fallout fan, so I’ll focus on how the show ties in with the games, but like the show itself, I aim to make this interesting even for the newbies.

Heavy spoilers for Fallout season one start here, as well as a few spoilers about Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 4.

Something for everybody

So was the show as good after eight episodes as it was after three? Absolutely. If anything, the show only got better as it progressed. The more inducted into the world, lore, and characters new viewers became, the more effective the show could be.

There was a lot to set up, after all. Some of us have been playing the games for years, so we knew all about Vault-Tec, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, the New California Republic, Pip-Boys, gulpers, and ghouls. But if you’re coming into the world fresh, that’s a lot to take on.

I was worried while watching that despite the show’s efforts to introduce new viewers, it might not be good enough, but I’ve been told by multiple people who haven’t played the games that they didn’t have trouble keeping up.

Once the various elements were established, the show was able to hit its stride and start bringing in the aspects of Fallout that weren’t prominent in the opening stretch.

Further, it expertly walked the line to give established fans something to chew on at the same time. The timeline of Fallout lore and stories spans hundreds of years, but the TV show is actually set after all of the games.

Event Year
Bombs Drop 2077
Fallout 76 (2018)

 2102
Fallout (1997)

 2161
Fallout 2 (1998) 2241
Fallout 3 (2008)

 2277
Fallout New Vegas (2010) 2281
Fallout 4 (2015)

 2287
Fallout Season 1 (2024)

 2296

That meant the show revealed some things about what happened to certain factions and places that previously appeared in the games. Most notably, Shady Sands is a crater, and the New California Republic—one of the most important factions and one of the strongest governments from the games—no longer exists as we knew it.

That led some fans to speculate that TV series executive producer and game creative director Todd Howard was trying to make the popular New Vegas game (which was not made by his team) non-canon, but in a recent interview, he clarified that both the show and New Vegas are very much canon, noting that the bomb fell on Shady Shands very shortly after the events of that game. The timeline on the show is cutting it close, but a generous interpretation allows it all to line up.

Of course, the show expanded on some elements from the games in ways that could be seen as breaching canon. You could write most of them away as things the games never addressed—like the vials ghouls must consume to avoid going feral or the origin story of gulpers. The games at times implied different things about both of those aspects, but they didn’t necessarily contradict them.

The series also canonized some specific choices that players could make in some prior games. For example, it’s confirmed that the Brotherhood of Steel airship seen in the show is the same one seen in Fallout 4, meaning that the canon outcome for Fallout 4 is obviously not one where that airship was destroyed. (Players of that game had the option of pursuing paths that led to its destruction or not.)

  • Shady Sands as it’s seen in the show.

    Amazon

  • New Vegas is teased as the next destination.

    Amazon

  • The last moments had a brief tease with what appears to be a Deathclaw skull, too.

    Amazon

With minimal exceptions, previous games in the series avoided canonizing outcomes like that by being set decades or even centuries (as well as hundreds or even thousands of miles) apart—such that it wasn’t necessary to reveal what happened in those cases. Since this show is set in a region that is well-documented in prior Fallout titles, that’s not the case here.

The tease that we’re going to New Vegas next season probably means that several multiple-choice outcomes from that game will have to be canonized, too. Is Mr. House still running the show? What happened to Caesar’s Legion? Why does New Vegas look so bombed out compared to how it appeared in the game? We’ll probably find out.

All told, new fans got to explore the world of Fallout for the first time, even as longtime fans got to see where the story has gone since they last played the games. The story hadn’t been moved forward in nine years, since 2018’s Fallout 76 was actually a prequel that took place long before any of the other games in the series.

It took some skillful work to serve both of those audiences without compromising the experience of the other, so kudos to the show’s writers.

War never changes: A Fallout fan’s spoiler-laden review of the new TV series Read More »

three-episodes-in,-the-fallout-tv-series-absolutely-nails-it

Three episodes in, the Fallout TV series absolutely nails it

amazon prime video, Bethesda Game Studios, culture, Fallout, gaming, Todd Howard, TV / /

I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire —

Hyperviolence, strong characters, cool visuals, and some humor make a good show.

–

  • Like the games, the show depicts a Vault Dweller making her way out into the Wasteland.

    Amazon

  • This Brotherhood of Steel Initiate is another central character.

    Amazon

  • And there’s The Ghoul, one of the show’s standout characters.

    Amazon

  • Lost‘s Michael Emerson plays a compelling supporting character.

    Amazon

  • Some scenes take place inside the games’ famous Vaults.

    Amazon

  • And, of course, there’s power armor.

    Amazon

Amazon has had a rocky history with big, geeky properties making their way onto Prime Video. The Wheel of Time wasn’t for everyone, and I have almost nothing good to say about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Fallout, the first season of which premiered this week, seems to break that bad streak. All the episodes are online now, but I’ve watched three episodes so far. I love it.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing the games that inspired it, so I can only speak to that experience; I don’t know how well it will work for people who never played the games. But as a video game adaptation, it’s up there with The Last of Us.

In my view, Fallout is about three things: action, comedy, and satire. In this spoiler-free review of the first three episodes, I’ll go over each of these touchstones and discuss how the show hit them or didn’t.

I hope to find the time to revisit the show with another, much more spoiler-y article sometime next week after I’ve seen the rest of the episodes, and we’ll save discussions about the story for then.

Fallout as an action spectacle

To say Fallout is about high-octane action might be a controversial statement, given the divide between fans of the first two games (turn-based tactical RPGs) and most of the newer games (open-world action RPGs).

Hyperviolence was being depicted and simulated in those original titles even if they weren’t part of the action genre, so I hope you’ll agree that one would expect some action and gore in a TV adaptation regardless of which Fallout games you liked.

Boy, does this show deliver. While there is some dispute over which genre the Fallout games are supposed to be, there’s no such confusion about Fallout the TV series. If it were at Blockbuster in the ’80s or ’90s, its box would be in the “Action” section.

All three episodes have at least one big-screen-worthy action set piece. They’re not expertly choreographed like a John Wick movie, but they’re thrilling regardless—mostly because of how extreme and darkly funny the violence can be.

The first big action sequence in the first episode reminded me that this show is coming to us by way of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, producers of HBO’s Westworld series. As in that show, Fallout‘s violence can be sudden, brutal, and casual. Heads explode from shotgun blasts like popped bubbles in Cronenbergian splatters. Someone’s face gets ripped right off, and another person gets a fork plunged into their eyeball.

Fallout‘s gore goes beyond Westworld’s shock factor into the territory of humor, and that’s clearly intentional. Homages to the Bethesda games’ slow-motion VATS kills are aplenty, with gratuitous shots of bullets tearing through bodies and painting the walls red.

It’s so over the top it that doesn’t bother me; it’s cartoon violence, ultimately. Most of the time, I enjoy it, though a couple of instances of dog-related violence didn’t feel too great. But if you’re squeamish, you’re going to want to steer clear. Of course, the games were like this, too. It just hits a little differently when it’s live action.

Fallout as a comedy

There are numerous executive producers attached to this show, including Nolan, Joy, and Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard, among others. But the two people most creatively responsible for what we’re seeing here are the writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider, Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Portlandia, Silicon Valley, The Office).

That makes sense—you have one showrunner with action and video game adaptation chops and another known for comedy.

The Fallout games are hilarious—goofy, even, and that tracks right into the show. It’s not always as laugh-out-loud funny as I expected (though it sometimes is), but it’s definitely fun, and there are some strong jokes.

It’s hard to discuss them without spoiling some punchlines, but a lot of the humor comes from the fact that one of the show’s three central characters grew up deeply sheltered, both literally and figuratively. “Okey-dokey,” she says in the face of the most horrific situations imaginable. The contrast really works.

There’s humor in other places in the show, too, especially if you like dark humor. As I said a moment ago, the violence is hilarious if you have the stomach for it. Like the games, the show has many winks and nods.

I’d like to see a little more of this in the future than there is now, but it’s enough for it to feel like, well, Fallout.

Three episodes in, the Fallout TV series absolutely nails it Read More »

indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-is-a-new-first-person-nazi-whipping-journey

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a new first-person Nazi-whipping journey

bethesda, Bethesda Game Studios, gaming, Indiana Jones, MachineGames, nazis / /

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle —

Modern action/FPS is set inside Indy’s classic post-Ark, pre-Crusade era.

–

Indiana Jones in front of an alcove in a ruin.

Enlarge / CGI Harrison Ford just can’t believe he’s getting roped into another globe-trotting adventure.

Bethesda/Machine Games

Almost two years ago to this day, Bethesda told everyone its Machine Games subsidiary was working on a new Indiana Jones game, one with “an original story.” Now we can see what Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is going to look like, with a gameplay trailer showing up during Microsoft’s Developer Direct event, and when it’s arriving: “2024.” You can now wishlist it on Steam and the Xbox store; it’s exclusive to those platforms.

Gameplay reveal trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

While the game has Harrison Ford’s likeness, it’s not Ford voicing your character. Troy Baker, the original voice of Joel in The Last of Us, picks up the role of the archaeologist.

From the trailer, Great Circle looks a lot like the modern Wolfenstein games that Machine Games made—and that’s a good thing. The New Order and The New Colossus excelled at making you feel more like a human action hero than a shooting tank. They’ve got a knack for first-person platforming, stunts, and cinematic moments that are nowhere near as painful as in many shooters. They excel at balancing immersing you as a player and letting your character have a personality.

That, plus the developer’s interest in mystical-tinged WWII-era tales and art deco-influenced visuals, made them a natural fit for the project. It’s hard to think of Indiana Jones in the first person, but then it’s hard to think of any other team that could pull it off.

  • That cavalier charm! None but the most heinous of artifact-stealers can resist.

    Bethesda/Machine Games

  • These sites we’ve visited? They form a circle around the globe. A great circle, you might call it.

  • This is when I knew the Wolfenstein devs were involved.

    Bethesda/Machine Games

  • You will absolutely be able to whip, throw a hammer at, punch, shoot, shove, and otherwise bludgeon some Nazis.

    Bethesda/Machine Games

Machine Games has also shown a notable dedication to letting the player knock out, stab, and kill Nazis. The trailer shows Indy dispatching foes with whips, fists, and trickery but also straight-up plugging them with a revolver and two-handed machine gun. There will be other ways of dealing with foes and situations, according to Entertainment Weekly’s interview with Machine Games’ lead designer, Jerk Gustafsson.

The plot involves the theft of a relic from Indy’s teaching gig by a supersized villain, Locus. Digging into the mysterious theft, Indy makes marker-drawn stops on his paper map in the Vatican, the Himalayas, Egypt, and Thailand. There’s a journalist love interest, a villain with the decisive name Emmerich Voss, and, of course, there’s Marcus Brody.

Great Circle is the latest from Lucasfilm’s new game strategy under its Disney ownership. The firm has given out its IP licenses to lots of notable firms to make new games: Respawn with its Jedi-based series, Ubisoft’s yet-unreleased Outlaws, and a Knights of the Old Republic remake that is either dead or alive, but definitely struggling a bit.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a new first-person Nazi-whipping journey Read More »