The post-apocalypse goes next gen
Fallout 4 review
Fallout 4 is too big for me to tell you even a fraction of all there is to say about it. Its user interface is often too opaque, and at times Fallout 4 has some of the same technical issues as Bethesda's previous games, from strange AI quirks to performance hitches and actual hard locks of the software. It's frequently unforgiving. And occasionally, despite a next-gen visual overhaul, its human characters still look a little terrifying. I'm not nearly as big a fan of the Diamond City radio DJ as I was of Three Dog in Fallout 3. And all of that matters just enough for me to feel obligated to say it before I explain how, after more than 60 hours of Fallout 4 in seven days, the only thing stopping me from going back into it is taking this time, right now, to tell you about the game. Fallout 4's Skills and abilities are considerably streamlinedLike every Fallout game, Fallout 4 places you in the shoes of a fish out of water, thrown into the wasteland remains of a nuclear post-apocalypse. Before the bombs fell, some citizens were able to find shelter within the Vaults, massive, hyper-advanced underground cities designed to withstand the end of the world. You play as a survivor from Vault 111, who, through circumstances I should best leave unelaborated, finds himself transported 200 years into the future and separated from his family. Ostensibly, Fallout 4 is an RPG — those familiar with the genre will immediately comprehend the game's SPECIAL system, which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. While this is lifted directly from previous Fallout games, Fallout 4 is considerably streamlined in the way that the player character's abilities are managed. Each SPECIAL ability has 10 skills attached to it, and each skill requires a progressively higher rank in that ability to unlock. When you level up, you have a single point, which you can use to unlock an available skill, or to increase one of your SPECIALs. Granted, the change is initially intimidating — available perks and SPECIAL skills are shown together on a giant poster, listing every perk available on a grid.
Fallout 4 is unapologetically hardcore, an amazing thing for a mainstream game in 2015
You will die, and Fallout doesn't give a shit
» The CRPG Renaissance, Part 1: Fallout The Digital Antiquarian
This early advertisement for Fallout makes a not-so-subtle dig at gaming’s then-current flavor of the month, the highly streamlined — or, in the view of some, dumbed-down — CRPG Diablo.
A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine (Published 2025)
Drones have changed the war in Ukraine, with soldiers adapting off-the-shelf models and swarming the front lines.
The Return of the Cutting-Off Way
Structural changes are driving us towards a more chaotic world, defined by "neither peace nor war, but conflict."
PlayStation 4 re-review, five years in
We look at how Sony’s PS4 platform has evolved since launch
» The CRPG Renaissance, Part 5: Fallout 2 and Baldur’s Gate The Digital Antiquarian
As we learned in the earlier articles in this series, Interplay celebrated the Christmas of 1997 with two new CRPGs. One of them, the striking post-apocalyptic exercise called Fallout, was greeted with largely rave reviews. The other, of course, was the far less well-received licensed Dungeons & Dragons game called Descent to Undermountain. The company intended to repeat the pattern in 1998, with another Fallout and another Dungeons & Dragons game. This time, however, the public’s reception of the two efforts would be nearly the polar opposite of last time.
[ALL] Inconsistencies and general issues with Before the Storm
105 votes, 63 comments. Okay, so before I start let me say that the original Life is Strange is my favorite game of all time and I’ve defended it…
Fallout 76 – DEEP-HELL
That’s a quote from Polygon.com’s recent article about, of all things, Fallout 76.
Where the Palestinian Political Project Goes from Here
For decades, Hamas and Israel have maintained a violent equilibrium. How will the war change that paradigm?
The Expert Trap and the Next War
what forecasting failure tells us about the future
God of War (2018)
As part of our new series of patron-supported Critical Compilations, today we tackle 2018’s God of War, brought together by Alon Lessel. Alon is a game critic, musician and Trotskyist from Is…
Dispersed, Disguised, and Degradable: The Implications of the Fighting in Ukraine for Future U.S.-Involved Conflicts
Wars reveal new information about warfighting and can spur changes in how foreign observers prepare for future conflicts. In this report, the authors make eight novel or notable observations about the Russia-Ukraine war and forecast how these observations might translate to a potential NATO-Russia or U.S.-China war. The authors also identify broader tactical, operational, and strategic implications for U.S. policymakers.
The Video Game Industry Can't Go On Like This - Kotaku
At about this time next year, we’ll have a pretty good idea of what the next generation of video games will look like. New consoles will likely be shown
