As the rumours and speculation surrounding the announcement trailer suggested, Fallout 4 will do something else the franchise has never done before namely, giving players a look at the world before the bombs dropped. The pre-Vault civilisation has always been hinted at, but never really appeared on screen in any extended capacity. In Fallout 4, meanwhile, the opening of the game (with character creation, control tutorials, the works) taking the form of a flashback of the pre-apocalypse. It's there that you see how all the Fallout tech worked before the planet was decimated, with a Mr Handy bringing you coffee in the morning and a Vault-Tec representative stopping by the house. Part of why the Fallout mythos works so well is because the back story has never been explained that well. It left room for interpretation for creative fans, and removed the burden of playing as a character who survived the near-extinction of the human race (that's pretty heavy). Removing both in Fallout 4 takes away some of the mystique, and the fun.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
