Bethesda's Fallout 4 lead designer, lead artist, and lead producer spill three minutes and 30 seconds' worth of details about tomorrow's Fallout 4: Far Harbor DLC.
You've already heard that it'll be the largest landmass Bethesda has ever created for an add-on. So, imagine the already impressive size of the Skyrim: Dragonborn DLC island of Solstheim, and, uh, go bigger, I guess. Maine was chosen to extend the New England feel of vanilla Fallout 4, but also to build on the harsher Maine terrain in order to craft a feral experience.
Far Harbor is a "high-level area." I wonder if that means its creatures will sidestep the usual level scaling of Fallout 4, or if there's still level scaling—just at higher levels.
The island houses conflict between a few groups: 1) townspeople, 2) Children of Atom, and 3) the synths. Most of the town is destroyed. Mosts inhabitants live at the edge on a dock. And early on you're pointed toward some codger named Old Longfellow, a salty fisherman, who vaguely (but not really) looks like photos of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The fisherman is now your guide to the island. Bonus points if the old coot quotes the real Longfellow and says, "Into each life some rain must fall."
Bethesda looked at how would the people of Far Harbor would survive in this horrible, irradiated mist. But it turns out fishermen are pretty rugged folks, so that survivalist lifestyle is reflected in their clothing and armor.
They've got large meathooks for melee weapons. There's the Harpoon Gun with 150 damage (ouch) and, naturally, harpoons for ammo. There's also a new Lever Action Rifle. It's got decent punch and pumps out rounds at a fair clip, too.
New armor at the top level: Marine Combat Armor. Picture a Star Wars TIE Fighter's black armor with a Fallout chunkiness. It's heavy stuff. Hope you're not into collecting too much junk if you're wearing it, though more settlements are available in Far Harbor.
In the monstrous compendium, they're introducing the Gulper, a mutated salamander. The Angler, which absorbs fog and spits it at the player. The Fog Crawler; basically a really large, mutated Mirelurk. Plus several other new species playing off Maine's wrecked ecology.
So there's more diving into the real sci-fi meat of Fallout 4: the synths. What does it mean if I think I've replaced someone? Is thinking I'm human enough? I think I'm a human. But could those thoughts all be genuine, or a programmed lie? In my opinion, this is where Fallout 4 gets fun. Poking the bear with questions like these.
Far Harbor also digs deeper into the Children of Atom ethos. Why would a cult form around the belief that an atomic bomb is a great thing?
Bethesda wants not only conflict between different factions vying for the island's space and resources—but conflicts within factions; mini civil wars. And Bethesda is making sure there are several different endings, or at least several different ways of "resolving" these conflicts.
Fallout 4: Far Harbor is part of the Season Pass. It's out on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One tomorrow, May 19. No word yet on what's next for Season Pass holders, except that there is indeed more.
And it's not to late to get in on one of the best role-playing games out there today. We gave it our highest score.
