Fallout has always been about the loot. Be it picking up some Rad Scorpion glands, DeathClaw claws or the trusty nuke that you pick-pocketed of the unsuspecting mutant. The only downside to all the loot is how you accessed, organised and used it.

The PipBoy was a great way to feel more immersed in the game but as an inventory system is was basic and confusing for a new comer. In its most basic form the inventory was one giant bullet list broken into subscreens. Having lots of loot meant scrolling a long way and hard to find.

9. Exploration: Bigger Is Better

One of the most enjoyable things about a Fallout game is exploring all those abandoned caves, building and vaults. Scavenging for more supplies which you can later use with your next-gen easy peasy inventory system. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas were big by no short comings but with next gen open world games need to feel expansive.

No matter how big the previous were for their time, they still had the Truman Show effect of hitting the invisible wall at the end of the map.

Fallout 4 should definitely be much bigger than the previous games and so much more to explore. Not just landmarks for quests or the story but unmarked, non quested areas which you can just stumble upon. Some of the best times in the game are just finding places for yourself and not being pointed in a direction.

Improving the map not just in size will be in my next two points.

8. Procedural Map Generation

This is a tricky one because the Fallout series has always been based around certain areas with very clear goals and procedural generation currently is being boasted in MMOs, Dungeon Crawlers and Minecraft and its clones.

Now the whole map does not need to be generated from scratch as the story will always play a big part in Fallout and for that Structure is needed. There is no reason why “dungeons” in Fallout can not be unique and by this it could mean unexplored vaults, some towns and buildings. Key areas for storyline quests can still more static and emphasising in the story but there is nothing stopping a bit of both.

Fallout 4 would become a more unique experience with one game never truly being the same as the last. The best thing is technology now allows us to do this and increase the fidelity of games by making them seem less scripted and more organic. Fallout is the perfect type of game for this. It would also fit into making the map much bigger as mentioned in the point above giving there a much bigger scale to the game.

7. Dynamic Quests

Moving onto my next point from procedural generation is a dynamic quest system. Allowing players to experience more MMO adaptive quests were things can happen randomly and the player chooses to either help, ignore and even go the other way and make matters worse much in line with Fallout’s reputation system but taking it a step further.

The key is to not make the quest mundane by including just fetch quests and kill quest. Having some interesting dynamic quests in Fallout 4 would make players feel much more in control of their own life in the game and give them the freedom to act more within the lines of the real world.

Not being as easy as it sounds sure, but there is nothing stopping Bethesda from making the experience more unique for each player. Surely in a real apocalypse we won’t all have the same journey would we?

6. Skills and Levels

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L system is tried and tested, true to table top Dungeons and Dragons and there is nothing wrong with this system in Fallout 3, New Vegas or Fallout 4 if it was to be included.

What is missing though is the fluidness of levelling up, a human being doesn’t just go ping! You can now open that chest you could just a moment ago just because you kill that big beast. Neither should Fallout, in the next line in evolution for the series they should take note from their other game Elder Scrolls and players should evolve by doing.

Sneak around a lot? Back stab people and disappear without ever being seen? Then you should naturally grow in stealth skill and hiding should become easier and you should be better at things like not being seen to easily.

This system works well in Elder Scrolls and would work great in Fallout. Some might dislike this suggestion and not want any change to how you level up but based on the previous points this seems like a step forward rather than one backwards. Should there be levels is a tricky question and will be delved into in the next point.

5. Perks and Skills Evovled

With a more fluid level and skills system would at the same time mean changes to the perks system. If skills were raised by doing actions in the Fallout world when perks and traits would have to be designed around that organic growth.

Taking the example from earlier. Sneaking based perks would only be available at certain levels but what if a sneaking perk require a certain quest to be completed which in the story narrative explained why you would gain such a skill or how about needing more than one skill to be at a certain level mixed with a certain S.P.E.C.I.A.L requirement.

What if there were backgrounds and a personal character story and choices you have made affect what outcomes not only happens in the world, other character you meet but how your character evolves personally. Be evil and get a more deadly, gruesome sneak perk or play nicely and get a buff based sneak skill to help those around you. The possibilities and combinations are endless.

Finally, what if certain skills could be lost through actions, quests or random events. If you lost a limb could you still be a master at stealth? Would lock picking still be possible if you only had one arm? This leads onto the next suggestion in What 10 things should be in Fallout 4.

4. Perma-death and permanent change

Permanent change is becoming more and more common and can be seen in many ways from losing your entire character to losing everything that he is holding and variations of the two.

Fallout has been a series about survival and what makes survival feel real? The chance of loss, proper loss which is unchangeable which in turn also makes it instil fear. Not just fear of loss but fear of change that is uncontrollable to the player. To make permanent death or change possible balancing the entire game is important.

Make a game too hard and lose too much and it is game over for any game. No one wants to play a game that is impossible and makes you lose everything. Especially if you have been playing for 40+ hours.

Whether Fallout 4 would do well with permanent death or some variation is hard to judge but a game about survival needs some sort of ultimatum to back up the feeling do what it takes to survive.

3. Wacky and Wild Humor

Fallout 4 would not be Fallout if it did not keep its sense of humour. It needs to keep in that wacky craziness that is Fallout not only in the communication with other characters but the Easter eggs dotted around the wasteland that is the world.

With plenty of room to expand I am certain Fallout 4 will do just fine with the funny side of the game. Of course there will be scary bits, serious bit (maybe) but there always has to be the chaotic crazy carnage we all know and love.

p.s Wild Wasteland Perk must stay.

2. A Better Crafting Experience

Part of exploring for weapons, food and bits is the ability to be able to create things from pieces of other parts. There was crafting in Fallout 3 but it was pretty basic and most people did not bother to explore it. Fallout New Vegas improved upon it a little more by expanding into bullet creation but still kept the fundamental system of the previous game.

The UI was also a big problem that is tied in with point 10, creating items and knowing what parts were need was just not an easy or fun experience. Fallout 4 would need an easy to use and understand crafting system which is built on a solid UI but to master it should take time, experience and a true explorer of the Fallout 4 world.

1. Multiplayer Co-op/Nemesis

This is something that people will agree to disagree on. Some gamers want co-op and others want it to stay a solitary experience but you know what’s better choice.

Having the ability to choose if you want to play on your own or with friends or against people you have never met before allows win-win for all gamers who like the Fallout series. How to multiplayer would work could depend on the entire game mechanics, story and world but a system like Bloodborne with the ability for more than one player to join you or invade would be nice as well as maybe a guild system for total control of your space.

The fine details on multiplayer there are many roots but having it surely wouldn’t be the worse choice for the game to make?

So that is just some of the features that I feel should be included with the next instalment, Fallout 4. Some of them are updates to existing components and others are brand new mechanics for the franchise. Bethesda could already be making all of these suggestions or none but the important thing is to always be wanting a better experience from the last.

If you are wondering why I did not talk about location, location and location it is because the above features do not matter where Fallout 4 is based but the world could effect how some are roll out in practice.

Let us know what features you would like to see by tweeting us at @VGUGaming with #Fallout4Uncovered or comment below.