Bethesda E3 2015 Press Conference

Pre-E3 conferences have become the norm for big publishers – Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have held theirs for years. This year, Bethesda has decided to join in on the fun and hold one of their own. We were invited thanks to Computerland, our local video game distributor.


When we arrived to the venue, there was a huge line of people waiting to enter. There were fans wanting to see if a seat would free up last-minute, and a big line of journalists and other people who got invites and tickets beforehand. We were in within ten minutes.

The hallway was lined with statues of memorable characters from Bethesda games – Pip Boy from Fallout, some weapons from Doom, etc. The theater was already full when we got in, even though it was a full hour before the show started. The press and visitors were visibly excited about the event.

The show opened with Doom – we got to see the gameplay right away and the demo didn’t feel too scripted. They’ve shown what they’re striving for in terms of graphics, as well as mechanics. Just like Doom 3 when it came out, and was somewhat of a precedent in terms of graphics quality, it feels the new Doom game will also set the standard for graphics for the next generation of first person shooters.

It looks much brighter than its predecessor, and feels less focused on horror and more on fighting. The audience was very excited by the finishing moves, and all I could think about was how it seemed Doom had more fatalities than Mortal Kombat. We were shown a single player portion, after which Bethesda announced it will also have an arena-like multiplayer mode. They also announced a map-making tool which will allow players to easily create levels for the game. Aside from directing the architecture of the levels, players will have the ability to set detailed goals, making alternate game-modes with ease. This is a great move – you can never go wrong by fostering a community. They showed a demo of the tool, and it looks powerful.

Next up was Battlecry, a team-based action game, in development at one of Bethesda’s studios. Some footage from the game was playing and we were invited to participate in the beta. They unveiled a new faction and all the classes it will feature.


There was also new footage of Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. It was launched on console a couple of days ago, and has apparently been pretty successful there. They talked about what we can expect in the future – we’re finally going to see the inside of the Imperial City, thanks to a PvP arena. Orcish lands are going to open up soon with more PvE content. They haven’t told us if that’s going to be a full-fledged expansion, or what kind of PvE content we can expect, but I’m sure we’re going to hear about that in the coming days.

Everyone was surprised when they announced a strategy card game in the Elder Scrolls universe, called Elder Scrolls: Legends. The news wasn’t received well- the applause was light and scattered across the room. I don’t think many people felt there’s enough space for an Elder Scrolls themed card game on the market. We’ll have to wait and see, because the only info we got is that the game is being made, and it’s heading to mobile.

At one point, the developers behind Dishonored took to the stage and announced Dishonored 2. The audience was pretty excited about that, and it seemed like there were a lot of fans of the first game in the seats. The story is taking place 15 years after the original, and we’ll get to play as either Emily or Corvo.


They saved Fallout 4 for the end. We got to see a lot of new footage – namely, the character creation and the first few of minutes of the game. The character creator seems like an upgrade of the standard RPG system with the sliders and all, and it seems to work well. It’s pretty seamlessly blended in with the intro and looked quite natural. There was a lot of cheering when the main character met the dog, which should have a bigger role to play than in earlier games.

Several surprises followed: first, we were told about this little mobile game called Fallout: Shelter. It looked cool, even though not many people were interested while there was more information to be had about Fallout proper. They claim players won’t have to spend money to speed up progress or unlock parts of the game – spending money will reward you with more loot, but won’t be necessary. It’s available on the App Store as we speak, so you can give it a go.

The other surprise was that the collector’s edition of Fallout 4 is going to have a wearable Pip Boy which you can slot your phone into and connect it with the game. It’s going to work like an additional screen for the game and take on the role of an actual Pip Boy. It’s kind of gimmicky, but I’m guessing a lot of people will find it cool. If they make it work, it will be a great way to get players inside the game.

After that, they started talking about the crafting system. By using it, you’ll be able to turn one of the 60 basic weapons into one of 800 advanced ones. There’s a lot of combinations to make, and I think people were really surprised with the breadth of the whole thing. It feels massive. You can also modify armor, and the game’s supposed to have a house building system.

You’ll be able to build and decorate your own home, and secure it with defensive structures like traps, electricity and guards. There will be several places across the world where you can do this, and you’ll have the option to start trading routes between them.

And that’s all side activities. The only things we saw related to the main story is the character creation. It’s interesting to see a publisher show off a game and not talk about the storyline, the quests and such, but instead focus on these detailed, peripheral systems.

From what we’ve seen, Fallout 4 seems like an interesting experience. We don’t know what we’re going to get in the end, but it might just be a novel experience, peppered with mechanics we’re not used to seeing in RPGs, and not yet another sequel. Right now, I’m excited about it. We’ll have to wait and see if Bethesda manages to beat the odds and get all those different systems working together.