1. A More Emotionally Engaging Story
One way Bethesda has always been stuck in the past when it comes to their newest RPGs is how every one of their games casts you as a silent protagonist. Sure, you can reply to NPCs that you engage with on your travels, but you'll only be choosing responses to conversations based on a finite number of text-only options. Obviously it's an attempt to immerse you into the character, as removing the voice lets the player's imagination run wild, or at the very least lets them easily project themselves directly into the game world. Unfortunately, more often than not it just leaves the character you spent so long customising nothing but a lifeless avatar. Without an identifiable personality or defining features, your playable vault-dweller's story lacks the emotional resonance that Bethesda probably tried so hard to capture. However, with Fallout 4 Bethesda has gone to great lengths to personalise the story to the individual player. By starting off pre-war and moulding the look of your family, the developer has added an emotional backstory and context that has been missing from its games up until now, with the fully-voiced protagonist being the icing on the cake to this new-found commitment to immersive storytelling. What are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments!