Fallout 4 DLC: Todd Howard Explains How Survival Mode Will Be A ‘Different Experience’

Bethesda’s Todd Howard recently sat down for an interview with Game Informer where he talked about all things Fallout 4 DLC. In particular, the exec talked about what the company has in store for the upcoming “survival mode.” During the interview, Howard said the company will be running a beta test in order to make the mode as good as it can possibly be.

Those who are hoping and waiting when they are going to be able to play the beta on the PS4 or Xbox One anytime soon, are going to be a bit disappointed. Howard says the company is first going to offer up the survival mode on Steam beta. He said one of the reasons for this approach is because it’s easier to make some changes on the PC. “Once we settle on it, then we’ll release it for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We want to get it up soon on Steam beta. It’s not going to be months and months off. If it’s not really working, and we need to iterate on it, it may stay in beta for a month, depending on what we are changing. But we want to make it have the game feel different.”

Finally he added that when he has played the survival mode, it’s been some of the most fun he’s had playing Fallout 4. “We’re doing things like you can’t save, it only saves your game when you sleep. You can’t fast travel. There’re all of these diseases. We’re trying it all. It’s a different experience. We’re not trying to make it a ton harder. It’s harder because you’re doing more things. We want the combat to feel different, as opposed to just being a bullet sponge.”

If that content does indeed live up to the hype Howard is giving it, then survival mode is going to be quite popular. That’s impressive enough considering the Fallout 4 just crossed the three million units sold threshold on the PC alone.