I’ll be very surprised if Philip K Dick’s “Doctor Bloodmoney” didn’t have at least some influence over the look and feel of this game. The bit where the player character was shooting at mutant crustaceans down at the water’s edge took me right back to that book with its post-apocalyptic cityscapes and dangerous mutations.

I’ve never played the first two games but this looks very intriguing. There’s a suggestion of “Elder Scrolls” style open-endedness about the whole thing and I’m glad it’s apparently being done as another of Bethesda’s solo RPGers rather than some team-based thing.

My only concern is that there doesn’t look like being that much respite from all the grey bombed-out ruins. Ruins might have their own eerie beauty but ultimately they can’t help but be a bit drab, samey and depressing. Here’s hoping there’s some countryside-based sections.

> I’ll be very surprised if Philip K Dick’s “Doctor Bloodmoney” didn’t have at least some influence over the look and feel of this game.

I believe that’s a big influence on the originals, and despite the different developers and drastically different gameplay, 3 looks like it’s going to be very faithful to the mythology, creatures and setting.

> I’m glad it’s apparently being done as another of Bethesda’s solo RPGers rather than some team-based thing.

Are you referring to MMORPGs? If so, then I wholeheartedly agree with you. I’m currently writing up my next PC Gone Mad column, which is basically one big wish list for The Elder Scrolls V, one of the points is that I definitely do NOT want it to turn into an MMO, the horrible grindy fuckers that they are.

> My only concern is that there doesn’t look like being that much respite from all the grey bombed-out ruins.

Yes, this is a good point. Oblivion was beautiful, but the outdoors areas suffered from being very samey. Fallout 3 could well have a bigger problem if the samey environments end up being dull and depressing. I guess a good way of fixing this would be to really pack the place with as much interesting architecture as possible, as greenery seems very unlikely, given the setting.