The long wait is over for some Fallout 4 news as an official trailer was released today. After teasing an announcement yesterday and amidst much speculation that news on the franchise would be coming along with this year's E3 Conference, the new trailer is a pleasing mix of old and new.
The trailer begins by establishing this juxtaposition, pulling back from a television screen to show a ruined home decaying in the harsh sunshine of Post-Apocalyptia while flashing back to the time before the bombs went off. The trailer's first actor, a german shepard dog, is juxtaposed with a support robot which looks like a "Mister Handy" series robot. In this instance, the dog represents the "new" while the robot represents the "old", which serves the ironical portrayal of "past versus present" always so apparent (and so apparently well loved) in the Fallout series.
The Ink Spots are again serenading the series with "It's All Over But The Crying", which plays throughout the trailer. Having already contributed "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" to Fallout 3, this is another beautiful serenade which captures the serenity of the Wasteland. Moreover, drawing Fallout 4 closer to Fallout 3 helps to make the series feel connected beyond merely visual aesthetics. In the past (and, so far, looking forward) the team at Bethesda has done an absolutely outstanding job of putting together a soundtrack that is at once contemporary with their theme as well as incredibly entertaining. I've played Fallout just for to the radio before, and now I'm hopeful that I may again.
As the trailer continues, the flashbacks start to include more than the familiar robots of the past. People appear, as families with children and as civilians rushing to the vaults, while an anonymous radio announcer from the time that the bombs went off mourns the ending of the world as he knows it. This is all a pretty depressing juxtaposition between the dead Wasteland and the living Republic of yesterday. Yet while the bigger issues tell a sad tale, the glimpse of Pre-Apocalyptia is enticing. It's easy enough to imagine Fallout's world is based on the idea of the Cold War getting hot and leave it at that, but the lore and history which the fastidious gamer encounters tells another story. The world of Fallout is actually far less like our own than one assumes. I hope that Fallout 4 will find a way to let the players explore this history.
The folks at Bethesda, and indeed the loyal gamers who play their games, may be tired of the oft quoted "War, war never changes" that accompanies every game in the franchise, but even that (cleverly) only serves to illustrate the truth of the quote. While I do hope for a fair bit of change in the next game, it's nice to see that some things will stay the same.
The player, it appears, will be from Vault 111 and the german shepard from the beginning of the trailer will be his companion. A set of Power Armor is also present and seems to belong to the Vault dweller. While I do not feel opposed to exploring the Wasteland as someone else, the reiteration of certain elements helps draw the series closer together. It's the opposite of what we're experiencing in the Assassin's Creed franchise and while that enables Ubisoft to explore a wider array of narratives and settings, Bethesda has never made me feel limited for places to explore or ways to handle enemies (although, I wouldn't say no to helming a pirate ship--or maybe a pirate airship!?)
All in all, the trailer doesn't provide much more than some pretty visuals and a definitive theme, nostalgia. The narrative and exact setting remain unclear but the developers focus on delivering the uniquely "Fallout" experience is not. I'm looking forward to this reiteration of the series and I can't wait to hear more details!
