Fallout 4: 10 Things It Did Better Than EVERY Other RPG
3. A Constantly Surprising, Varied Environment
Creating interesting and diverse environments is a hard job when it comes to a concept like fallout. Of course, you don’t have to be highly realistic, but you do have to show the impact that this apocalypse would have on the local environment. In Fallout 3 we see how a wasteland may be a vast and dangerous place, but the constant shades of brown all start to look the same after a while. Luckily Fallout 4 managed to overcome this.
The post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a blessing in disguise from a design standpoint.
Whereas with most open-world games the land follows a general motif, a wasteland doesn’t have to. Fallout 4 has a vast array of environments, from areas mostly untouched, to cities and stormy wastelands there are so many differing landscapes.
These different types of environments also allowed the designers to have more free will with the colour palate. While some areas may be the traditional browns, you could also have the dark greens of a swamp, or the bright yellow of beaches.
Many RPGs attempt to show different environments, but they often fall into the common trap in games of separating the game into zones, like snow or desert.
Fallout goes about creating unique and ingenious environments that other games struggle to top.