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With the release of an initial teaser trailer ahead of June's E3 show, Fallout 4 has now been confirmed - the first new Fallout game since 2010's New Vegas. We've been poring over the three minute clip in minute detail in order to dig out every bit of information we can about the game ahead of a bigger reveal at Bethesda's pre-E3 event, in order to bring you everything you need to know about the next entry in the post-apocayptic RPG series.
Make sure to keep checking back on this article, as we'll update it whenever we have more details about Bethesda's latest post-apocalyptic RPG - expect more information next week at E3.
Fallout 4 teaser trailer analysis
The teaser video opens with a lazily-strummed guitar and a retro-futurist 1950s TV displaying the bleak post-disaster "please stand by" message. You're then treated to a fly-through the new world, following behind an Alsatian as the scenery shifts from pre-war Boston to the post-nuclear apocalypse landscape, as a pre-war radio message relays the harrowing moment the nuclear apocalypse arrived.
You're treated to a montage of images showing off this particular area of the Fallout world, then at the end of the trailer the hound sniffs around a garage filled with Fallout memorabilia, including a set of Brotherhood of Steel-style power armour, a Nuka-Cola machine, a bobblehead and various weapons, before teaming up with a Vault dweller in a "111" jumpsuit.
There are several clues we can glean from the trailer. The first is the location: a vertical pan past Boston's Bunker Hill Monument and what seems to be a Boston Tea Party-era ship (possibly the USS Constitution) nails this part of nuclear-ravaged America down to the home of MIT and Harvard.
^ It's Boston all right
As with Fallout 3 but not Fallout: New Vegas, the protagonist is a vault dweller, this time from Vault 111. Also, as in the previous modern Fallout games, you can have a companion. The prominence given to the dog in the trailer makes us think, however, that instead of having various different companions depending on your whims, you may have one - your faithful Alsatian.
Several of the characters/enemies from previous games are present and correct; there's various Brotherhood of Steel types, Vertibirds possibly from the Enclave, a Protectron robot with a nattier paint job than we’re used to but rather the worse for rust, the terrifying deathclaw, floating Eyebot and helpful Mr. Handy (at least in the pre-war world, helpfully serving up breakfast).
There are also some new baddies to deal with; while previous titles had the zombie-like Feral Ghouls, there now appear to be genuine zombies, attacking you in a supermarket. The supermarket scene also shows off the game's physics, as a shopping trolley is pushed out of the way and a cardboard box goes flying.
^ Inside the Red Sox stadium
We're also treated to some of the game's locations. From a baseball stadium (Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox?), which looks to have a Ranger-like armed guard outside, to the ramshackle metropolis of Diamond City inside the stadium walls.
One aspect the trailer seems to make a big deal of is the world above the wasteland; along with the Vertibirds, there's an airship floating above the Paul Revere monument, and the tea-party-era ship mentioned above, which seems to be equipped with rocket engines.
^ The Enclave is watching you
There's one big clue right at the end, which has opened up plenty of scope for speculation: the vault-dweller protagonist turns to his dog and says "let's go, pal". This may have been done just for the sake of the trailer, but it breaks convention with previous Fallout titles - the protagonist never speaks. Those three words may also lend credence to a leaked script, where someone, possibly the protagonist, speaks of his great-great-grandfather's experience in the Second World War and describes how the world unravelled into the apocalypse.
It all adds up to an exciting new chapter in the Fallout universe, and the first full new game for five years. We're excited, and we'll bring you more news as we hear it.
Fallout 4 formats
So far, Bethesda has only confirmed that Fallout 4 is in development for PC, Xbox One and PS4. There's no word on a previous-generation console release, and given the fact that no Fallout game has ever appeared on a Nintendo console, it's a fairly safe bet we won't be seeing a Wii U release any time soon.
Fallout 4 release date
Bethesda has remained silent as to when we can expect to actually get our hands on Fallout 4; it's only currently confirmed as 'in development' for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The company didn't even mention a release window, although a few leaked adverts and retailer listings suggests the game might see a release this side of Christmas. Amazon, Gamestop, GreenManGaming and GAME have all added listings for the game that indicate a 2015 release, and Bethesda's own online shop originally listed Fallout 4 as 'due out TBA - 2015'. This has since changed to simply 'TBA'.
Bethesda's entire development team has been working on Fallout 4 since releasing the final piece of downloadable content for Skyrim in February 2013, so it's not completely out of the question, and the company has prior form when it comes to winter releases; Fallout 3 launched in October 2008 and Skyrim arrived in November 2011. Even so, until we hear otherwise we aren't holding our breath for a 2015 release.
