A while back, I told you that “If Fallout 4 has multiplayer, we riot.” Well now we have a legitimate reason to ready our pointy sticks and loud speakers. Fallout is, and always has been, a decidedly single player experience. So I ask you, should you be concerned that a Bungie staff member has departed their studios and move on to join Bethesda Softworks? Well probably not.
Bungie gameplay designer, Josh Hamric, has moved on to become a senior systems designer for Bethesda. But new job title aside, what does that mean? Well Josh was previously a big name within Bungie for working on online games including Halo Reach and Destiny, and moving onto Bethesda he might be overseeing an already in place gameplay system.
I’ve said before that the online mechanic has a place in modern video gaming, there’s no real denying that. But in a game that’s all about seclusion and being the lone wanderer, do you really want some guy bouncing around a hub world, dancing and emote-ing? I sure as hell don’t. That’s not to say that multiplayer is bad, but just that it has its place, and that Fallout is not that place at all. It’s easy to see why The Elder Scrolls went multiplayer, but Fallout couldn’t pull that off in any meaningful way. Right?
Who knows. I imagine Bethesda are doing something spooky down in their dungeons and labs, I can only hope it’s for the best. With their first ever upcoming E3 press conference slated for this year, they can either break a lot of hearts or forge a stronger bond with gamers than ever before.
