Cast your thoughts again to 2008. Fallout 3’s launch is on the horizon, and pleasure surrounding it’s sky-high. Not solely is it the return of a beloved franchise that many feared would by no means return to the limelight after a ten-year hiatus, it’s additionally coming again underneath a distinct developer, and in a kind that’s radically completely different from what the sequence has been recognized for thus far. And but, coming off the again of on the spot classics like Morrowind and Oblivion, Bethesda Sport Studios is inspiring an excessive amount of confidence within the path it’s taking the sequence. In October of that yr, Fallout 3 releases, and virtually immediately, it cements a spot for itself as one of many best video games ever made, and that’s a moniker that it nonetheless holds to today, greater than a decade and a half later.
Proper now, in 2024, curiosity in Fallout has flared up once more for apparent causes, regardless that it’s been six years because the sequence’ final recreation got here out (and almost a decade because the final mainline single participant instalment). Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV present has garnered widespread acclaim from almost everybody that has seen it, which in flip has resulted in folks going again to the video games in droves, both to re-experience them, or to dive into their choices for the primary time due to the joy surrounding the Amazon sequence. And amidst these re-examinations of the Fallout video games, it’s nonetheless exhausting to not be impressed by what an absolute juggernaut Fallout 3 was again when it first got here out- and continues to be even now, even when a number of features of the expertise (particularly from a technical perspective) do present their age.
There’s clearly lots to like in Fallout 3, however as is the case with the overwhelming majority of Bethesda Sport Studios’ RPGs, the star of the present right here might be the open world, which continues to be a formidable accomplishment even now, at a time the place open world video games are a dime a dozen. Reactiveness, interactivity of methods, and emergent gameplay have been Bethesda’s bread and butter for so long as anybody can bear in mind, and there are few video games underneath the studio’s belt that embody these qualities in addition to Fallout 3 does. Exploring the wasteland in Fallout 3 felt consistently rewarding, not solely due to the numerous secrets and techniques, quests, and what have you ever it had tucked away for gamers to seek out in each nook, but additionally as a result of merely messing about with its many methods and seeing how the sport would react made the complete expertise a wildly unpredictable one. Even now, it’s exhausting to seek out open world video games which can be as ridiculously immersive and as dangerously addictive as Fallout 3 was (and nonetheless is).
Its post-nuclear apocalypse setting of the ruins of Washington D.C. (and its surrounding areas) additionally did lots of the heavylifting on this space. Narratively, Fallout 3 borrowed lots of parts from the video games that preceded it, with acquainted factions such because the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Metal having main roles to play within the story, however the Washington D.C. setting painted all of these acquainted parts in a brand new gentle. Past that, merely studying extra about how the Capital Wasteland had fared within the two centuries following Fallout’s international nuclear holocaust made for a few of the recreation’s most gripping and engaging bits. Even microscopic examples of that – like stumbling throughout an evocative little bit of environmental storytelling or discovering logs chronicling occasions that occurred lengthy earlier than you examine them – stood out in reminiscence.
Clearly, as Fallout followers would inform you, none of this could have had the form of affect it did if not for the sequence’ trademark black humour. Publish-apocalyptic settings are removed from a rarity in leisure media, however Fallout all the time managed to face out within the crowd due to its weird parts, its extreme goofiness, its in-your-face satire, all offering wonderful distinction to the sequence’ starkly miserable setting. And Fallout 3, regardless of coming from a studio that had by no means made a Fallout recreation earlier than, captured that tone and aesthetic completely. Some sequence purists will admittedly disagree with that, and plenty of do take umbrage with the sport’s high quality of writing, storytelling, and quest design, amongst different issues. Fallout 3 defenders, nonetheless, would inform you that although it was actually a distinct tackle the sequence’ trademark tone and magnificence, it wasn’t any much less efficient than what we had seen previously.
However in fact, there have been areas the place Fallout 3 deviated from its predecessors in radical methods. It was the sequence’ first 3D recreation, it was a totally open world expertise, it was performed from a first-person perspective (with a third-person choice additionally accessible) fairly than a top-down one, and fight was utterly redesigned. With adjustments this important, issues may have simply gone mistaken for Fallout 3 and Bethesda- although it’s truthful to say that the 2008 RPG managed to stay the touchdown with its makes an attempt at redefining what a contemporary Fallout recreation might be.
Out of all of the areas, the one the place it most likely stumbled greater than within the others was the fight, the place Fallout 3 functioned primarily as a shooter. Its real-time fight mechanics have been admittedly tough (which might be a beneficiant option to describe them), and it’s simple to see why there was a not insignificant contingent of folks that weren’t too loopy about how drastically the sport shook up the sequence’ method on this space. However even with its fight, Fallout 3 did some unbelievable things- V.A.T.S. being chief amongst them. Now a staple of the franchise, again in 2008, V.A.T.S. was nothing wanting a stroke of absolute genius, with Bethesda managing to seek out a wonderful option to mix real-time fight with the sequence’ turn-based roots.
With an enormous open world setting that was begging to be completely explored, all of it drenched in ambiance to utterly immerse you in its apocalyptic fiction, Fallout 3 was – and there’s not a touch of hyperbole right here – an absolute revelation when it first launched. In true Bethesda vogue, even upon launch, the sport had its justifiable share of technical points, a lot of which weren’t precisely minor ones (whereas on PS3, the sport was rattling close to unplayable), and but, despite these points, and despite a good bit of pushback from sequence veterans who felt it deviated from Fallout’s core identification an excessive amount of, Fallout 3 exploded in reputation as quickly because it hit the cabinets. It’s been almost sixteen years since then, and a number of other extra Fallout titles have come out, however none of them have managed to copy the nuclear affect with which Fallout 3 landed again within the day.
Final yr, it emerged from leaked Microsoft paperwork (courtesy of the FTC trial) {that a} Fallout 3 remaster was probably in growth, or, on the very least, had been at one level. Whether or not or not that venture continues to be alive and a part of the corporate’s plans stays to be seen, however given the recognition of the 2008 traditional, the renewed curiosity in all issues Fallout, how lengthy it’s been because the final Fallout recreation got here out, and the way lengthy it’s going to be earlier than the subsequent one arrives- we desperately hope that the remaster is certainly actual. Going again to Fallout 3 even in its unique kind continues to be an absolute deal with, however going again to it with a remastered and enhanced model could be a dream come true.
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