Things have literally gotten out of hands as leaks for Fallout 4 are pouring in from every corner of the internet showcasing the massive hype that is built around the launch of the biggest AAA title coming out of Bethesda this year. We have already seen a massive amount of gameplay details, screenshots and even videos from both console versions but the guys over at Neogaf managed to grab the first screenshots from the PC version of the game.

Fallout 4 PC Ultra Screenshots Show Better Textures and Shadow Quality

Fallout 4 PC Ultra Settings Screenshots Gallery (Imgur):

　　The PC platform is core to Bethesda's games as they have been using PC as the lead platform for both their Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. The PC version of Fallout 4 will also be the lead version of the game featuring better graphics quality compared to the console counterparts (Xbox One and PlayStation 4). Talking about the graphics themselves, the scope of Fallout has definitely increased over Fallout 3. The game engine which is an updated version over Creation Engine (Not a totally new engine) allows Bethesda to create a massive world on their existing tool set but enhance the scope and make the world more denser for users to explore.

　　The great thing is that for the Fallout series of games (and Fallout 4 no doubt), the graphics are only part of the equation. The story, atmosphere, humor and general grandness are what draws people to it. It’s so much more than its graphics. The game is built to be optimized for both NVIDIA and AMD hardware and that should be the way how games are to be made on the PC platform allowing the game to run great across all hardware vendors and their respective products. The current Ultra Settings screenshots from the PC version were tested on a GTX 970 graphics card running on a first generation Core series processor (Core i7 920) and from the looks of it, the game does indeed showcase better visual fidelity in the fields of textures and shadows which look better than the console screenshots we saw a few days earlier. This is topped in with the unlocked framerate and support for all possible resolutions which your monitors can handle. PC version also will get benefit later on from IQ enhancing mods such as ENBseries, etc which add a lot of customization to the graphics and atmosphere plus higher quality textures. We have already compiled a good bulk of game details in our previous articles that can be found here and here.

　　View post on imgur.com

　　– How the game looks and feels :

　　 The user described the game as not looking revolutionary but still looking better than what we’ve seen so far in E3 and via the official screenshots. The game as a whole looks much better than the sum of its parts and the lighting is one of the best he has ever seen. There have been a few framerate dips here and there, but there’s also a lot more on the screen than compared to Fallout 3.

　　– Difficulty Levels :

　　There are six difficulty levels. Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Survival. With each difficulty levels the your character’s damage, enemy resistance, the rate at which enemies spawn and the rate at which legendary enemies spawn are different. Legendary enemies will drop legendary loot for the player once defeated. So there’s perhaps even more of an incentive to bump up the difficulty other than craving a challenge. These legendary items have unique characteristics. Examples of which are better critical hit chances or regeneration of Action Points upon landing a critical hit.

　　– The color of your heads up display – HUD – will be configurable via red, green and blue sliders.

　　– The lock-picking and hacking minigames are identical to those in Fallout 3.

　　– Map Size :

　　The player said that it was hard to tell as the map appeared to be quite small in size inside the pip-boy but was actually massive and much closer to the size for Skyrim.

　　– Combat And Enemy AI :

　　The player described the first person experience as being amazing, while Fallout 4 is definitely no Call of Duty the first person experience is fantastic and the immersion is incredible.  It feels visceral, you feel the impact and the recoil of the weapons, each of which feels completely unique. It’s a huge jump from Fallout 3, which had somewhat of a clunky combat system. The enemy AI feels much more real. Your enemies will hide away from your sights, seek cover and opportunistically attack you when your health is low or when you’re busy reloading. Worthy of note is that the player said he was playing in hard mode. Finally he also said that people can choose to play completely without VATS as it’s not really essential in anyway.

　　– Animations And NPC Diversity:

　　The animations looked perfect. And there’s great variety in how the people look. Even generic NPCs like raiders will look completely different from one another.

　　– Dialogue System, Diplomacy And Karma :

　　The player said that he did not really enjoy the dialogue system in the game. And that in 23 hours he faced very few missions in which he wasn’t able to get out of a situation by through dialogue. There is a similar friendship system to that in Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. However there is no visible karma system. The in-game statistics also did not have any indicators for your reputation. So the reputation system will likely work in a similar way to Skyrim’s the player speculated.

　　– Settlements :

　　One of the primary features in the game. A lot of people will love it, some will not care for it. The player described that he actually normally enjoys this sort of thing in role playing games but that in Fallout 4 he felt that it was harder and more in-depth than he would’ve liked.

　　There are almost endless options for it, many missions and objectives that can very easily distract you from the rest of the game.

　　How Settlements Work :

　　You will find red workshops tables spread out in settlements all over the world of Fallout 4. A few of those will be on empty settlements that you can build from scratch, while others will be occupied. If you encounter such an occupied settlement you have to first identify what type of people have settled in it. If they’re friendly NPCs you can complete missions to help them and gain their trust. Everything that was showcased in the E3 gameplay showcase can be done by the player. You can destroy and rebuild everything you see in these settlements.

　　To sustain the population of a given settlement you have to provide them with food, water, energy and beds. Settlements become under attack, in which case you will receive a message notifying you of the situation with the option to go defend your settlement. You can invest countless hours building and sustaining your settlements. A home away from home, where the NPCs are “your people” and you can use these settlements as a base to rest, recoup and carry on with your adventures.

　　– Weapons :

　　The player claims to have seen 12-15 basic weapons which you can modify with mods, which he described as “crazy”. Every one of those 12-15 basic weapons has 25-30 unique pieces that can be used to customize it and  change its stats.

　　– Power Armor :

　　The player described power armor as something that you’d treat almost like a vehicle. You wear the power armor by climbing inside it, if you climb out the power armor stays where you left it. It’s heavy, bulky and slow but extremely powerful.

　　– Loading Screens:

　　The player said he had run into many small buildings that don’t require any loading screens. However, bigger buildings still do. Although those loading screens are quite short. Shorter than loading screens encountered when fast traveling.

　　– Narrative :

　　Finally the narrative. The player said it starts off a bit slow but it picks up and gets quite pacey. He said that in a full day of playing Fallout 4 he only managed to complete 4 of the main quests. They’re long, gruel and tough. But the story is developing into something quite interesting.

1st Round Of Leaked Fallout 4 In-Game Screenshots – 40 Screenshots (Console Versions @ 30 FPS)