Welcome to the first part of our new series of blog posts! In this series of multiple posts, we will be uncovering how we will be handling an aspect of the game that we have had quite a few questions about: Hardcore mechanics.
Many of you may be familiar with the idea of Hardcore mechanics in games such as Fallout New Vegas, however our system is built slightly differently. Instead of a single switch that turns on a variety of limitations, our game will allow you to customize your hardcore experience with a selection of hardcore “modules”, independently from the difficulty selection.
When you start the game you will be given the option to switch on or off eight (subject to change) different modules:
- Food, Water & Sleep
- Temperature & Diseases
- Ammo, Chem & Misc Weight
- No Fast Travel
- Companion Death
- Weapon Condition & Repair
- Blind Mode
- Ironman
Each of these effect the game in their own way. This also factors into the special equipment dropped by legendary enemies; the more hardcore mechanics you activate the more valuable the dropped equipment will be. Keep in mind that the Hardcore mechanics are not connected to the game's difficulty settings, meaning things like health and damage output are not affected by Hardcore.
In this post we will discuss Ammo, Chem & Misc Weight, No Fast Travel, Companion Death, Blind Mode and Ironman.
Ammo, Chem and Misc Weight are pretty straight forward. Activating this module causes all of your ammo, medical supplies, chems and some misc items to all have weight values, and as a general rule, the bigger the ammunition or supplies, the more weight they have. Now each individual bullet may not weigh very much, but as those who have played hardcore in Fallout: New Vegas or Survival in Fallout 4 are aware of, it adds up over time. This will encourage you to keep in mind what kind of gun you want to carry and how much ammo you want to bring with you at any given time, same goes for medical supplies and chems, giving more emphasis on planning your raiding trips.
No Fast Travel is another one that's pretty straight forward. Switching this on disables fast travel, however much like in Fallout 4, there will be ways around it.
Companion Death is exactly what it sounds like; when a companion reaches zero HP, they will die forever unless it is explicitly stated that the character cannot die. You will be given time to recover them, but if you don’t have sufficient medical supplies with you or decide you don’t want to use them, they will die permanently.
Blind Mode, if selected, will almost entirely disable the HUD, requiring the player to rely more on exploration and force them to use the PipBuck to check their status. This includes health, ammo and weapon condition. Even waypoints will not appear on the HUD, forcing the player to navigate the map the old fashion way. Basically, if a status of something can be found in the PipBuck, it won't be shown on the HUD. In addition the map will only show areas you have explored, the rest is covered by a fog of war. The player’s perception will determine on how much area around the player is revealed in the map as they walk around.
Finally Ironman mode will force the player to only rely on two auto-save slots, which saves on fast travel, upon entering a new location, after a set time, and when the player turns off the game. The save made during exiting the game will be temporary, and will be deleted after loading.
In the coming weeks, we will reveal more about the various hardcore mechanics and how they affect the game, so stay tuned!