What about multiplayer?
It's a conversation that always pops up when talking about Bethesda's open-world RPGs. Whether it is the nuclear wasteland of Fallout or the snowy peaks of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, there are definitely more than a few fans who want to experience these vast, richly detailed worlds with a couple of their friends.
Those fans will have to wait a bit longer, as Fallout 4 will not have any kind of multiplayer functionality. But that doesn't mean Bethesda didn't experiment with the idea.
Speaking with Mashable, Fallout 4 director Todd Howard says the team at Bethesda did toss around the idea of adding multiplayer to their latest RPG.
"Believe it or not, every time we do a game we design a multiplayer mode just to see what we would do," Howard says.
The team comes up with possible multiplayer concepts and mechanics in the early-stages of the game's production, but those ideas never seem to make it beyond that initial brain-storming period.
"Then we go, 'Yup, we shouldn't do that. That's an awesome idea that is way too distracting from the main thing we want to do, which is single player,'" Howard says. "I could see ways it would work, but development-wise, they're very different experiences."
Bethesda is focused on delivering a stellar, story driven, single-player RPG. Adding multiplayer to the mix definitely changes that. As we've seen with Elder Scrolls Online, though it shares a name with games like Skyrim and Oblivion, ESO is a very different beast. It has to be. Because of its multiplayer focus, Elder Scrolls Online is a MMO first and a Elder Scrolls Game second.
Adopting a multiplayer approach to Fallout would likely create a similar result. It may win over some new fans who want to play with their friends, but long-time fans of the single-player experience would likely be burned as a result.
It sounds like Bethesda definitely knows what it is doing. While they are adding numerous new systems to Fallout 4 for the first time, the developer is being sure that those new additions don't detract from the single player experience fans have come to expect. For some of the big new changes coming to the game, be sure to read up on all the news about Fallout 4 we gathered from this year's E3.
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