Features We Need To Have In Future Fallout Games

From packs of irradiated zombies to giant killer robots and mutants performing Shakespeare, Fallout 4 seems to have just about everything, but it actually doesn't. Yes, for all the awesome stuff packed into Bethesda's latest post-apocalyptic romp, there are still some great features missing from the game that could make it even better. What's particularly frustrating is that some of these features were even included in earlier Fallout games but removed for some inexplicable reason. What do we want for the inevitable expansions and sequels? Just take a look at these features we need to have in future Fallout games.

The sky is the limit when it comes to the multiplayer potential of Fallout. Whether it's a full MMORPG, like Bethesda previously did with The Elder Scrolls Online, or an entirely separate multiplayer co-op mode, like BioWare used in Mass Effect 3, there has to be some way to allow Fallout fans to experience the world together. My preference would be for occasional cross-game encounters such as the ones in Dark Souls II, or even the random meetings of Journey. However they decide to do it, one thing is certain: we need Fallout multiplayer, and the sooner, the better.

The Fallout landscape is strewn with cars and motorcycles, many of which are still equipped with perfectly viable motors filled with nuclear power. While most of those were ruined by EMPs and rust, we've seen plenty of functioning vehicles in the Fallout world, not the least of which are the Brotherhood of Steel's impressive array of Vertibirds. So why can't we actually pilot these vehicles? Being able to customize a Mad Max-style car would be awesome. Heck, I'd settle for a horse! War never changes, but guess what? Neither does the need for speed.

Seriously, you guys. This is a basic function. The tutorial S.P.E.C.I.A.L. films are really cool and everything, but they don't do such a great job of actually tutoring. With the amount of skill points you allocate at the start of Fallout 4 before you have any real idea what they do, it's almost inevitable that you're going to screw things up, which means wasting level after level just correcting your mistakes. Only, it's not really your mistake, since you don't know any better. It's the game's mistake for not allowing you to reset your skills and perks. We've got all these stupid bottlecaps; let us spend them on something actually useful for once.

You can craft all sorts of things in your Fallout 4 workshops. But one thing you can't do much about is your character's appearance, especially if you're wearing a suit of power armor. Sure, you can paint it a couple different colors. But why not allow players to fully customize their costumes? I'd much rather look like Iron Man or an astronaut than yet another basic, bland T-60 suit. Plenty of MMOs have fully customizable character appearances, so there's no reason why Fallout can't do it as well.

I know what you're about to say: anytime I play, it's low intelligence mode. A nice try at a joke, funny guy, but we're being serious. In previous games, a significant number of lols could be had by intentionally giving your character a really low intelligence score and watching him or her fumble for words, interact with computers like a three-year-old, and generally get treated like an absolute idiot by NPCs. Yes, it's probably a strain on Bethesda's resources in the age of full-voice acting to record what's essentially full scripts worth of dialogue just for fans who want to have their character be treated like an idiot. But so what? It's fun, and that's the whole reason we play games to begin with.

Another feature found in previous editions like Fallout: New Vegas was Hardcore Mode, where your character would get hungry, thirsty, and tired, affecting your performance. You had to constantly worry about procuring food, water, and sleep while adventuring, which you can completely ignore playing the regular modes. It's not for everyone, no, but it added a level of both difficulty and realism to the game that is sometimes sorely lacking. Unlike Low Intelligence Mode, it doesn't seem like Hardcore Mode would be particularly difficult to implement.

Over the last two decades, we've explored Southern California, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and now Boston. We've saved people, destroyed cities, and supposedly changed the country for better (or worse depending on your choices). Yet nobody in the game seems to have noticed. Mass Effect and Dragon Age have shown that it's possible for a player's actions to affect events in future games; it would be awesome if Fallout adopted these techniques to turn the Wasteland into a persistent world as well. Otherwise, does it really matter whether we chose the Institute, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Railroad, or the Minutemen, if nobody in Fallout 5 even remembers?

The Pip-Boy edition of Fallout 4 was a masterstroke of marketing, allowing players to link up their phone to the game. But let's take it a little further by implementing mobile apps that allow players to play Fallout wherever they are. Oh, sure, the main game would be impossible to run on a phone. But what about mini-games that managed your settlements? There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to punch up a Fallout app on my phone and spend fifteen minutes making furniture for my blinged out Red Rocket station. Or even trade and exchange crafting resources with other people via a mobile crafting app. Fallout while you're waiting in line for the DMV? That would be enough reason to cancel the apocalypse right there.