Why 'Fallout 4' could be the game of the year: You can customize pretty much everything
'Fallout 4,' the latest chapter in the extremely popular post-apocalyptic open world game franchise, is easily one of the most anticipated games of 2015. But from everything Bethesda Softworks showcased on Sunday night, the biggest crowdpleaser was the enormous emphasis on customization.
You can create your character by simply selecting parts of the face and sculpting.
Thanks to Bethesda Softworks' dynamic Creation Engine, the same system that's used to create all the non-playable characters you see in the game, you don't need to use sliders to adjust any aspect of your character's appearance. Just touch and go.
There's tons of possibilities.
And finally: This will be the first "Fallout" game where you can play as a female! Hooray for inclusion!
You can customize both the male and female characters, but whoever you leave the menu as is who you'll play.
Of course, the customization options don't stop at character creation.
Building and crafting is a major part of "Fallout 4," so Bethesda Softworks is now allowing your character, while playing, to rebuild his or her settlement to your liking. You can scrap any item in the world for materials, and then use those materials to build the way you want.
And since it's all a dynamic game engine, it all works in real-time: Just rip apart anything you see in the world and use it later for rebuilding.
It's all about making it your own experience: You can build and decorate a place you want to live in - and something nice for your doggy companion, too.
As your settlement grows, traders will arrive. You can plant food and water, and even create power generators to basically run the town. Yes, you have to connect all the wires, but it all works seamlessly. You can even hook up a terminal to the power grid so you can control everything the power lines are connected to, like lights and even defensive turrets.
And you'll want those defensive turrets, since your settlements can and will get regularly attacked by raiders from the wasteland.
And that's not all! Every single weapon in "Fallout 4" is fully customizable: There are over 50 base weapons and over 700 modifications for those weapons, and you modify weapons using materials from your environment: everyday objects like alarm clocks, duct tape and toasters can be salvaged and harvested to build weapon mods like scopes, grips, muzzles, beam-splitters, and so much more.
Even baseball bats can be customized for maximum carnage.
And for the first time, players will also be able to customize their power armor, for all those hairy situations you're likely to encounter while exploring the vast wastelands.
By giving players the ability to customize everything - from identity to family, weapons, power armor, and even your own living settlement - it should be near impossible for two players to have the same experience in "Fallout 4." The series is known for its vast open worlds and its strong sense of style and humor, but this level of customization will hopefully make Bethesda's latest effort even more accessible to audiences unfamiliar with the series.
"Fallout 4" will release on November 10, but if you can't wait until then, Bethesda Softworks just released its first iPhone game, which will absolutely sate your "Fallout" thirst until then.