Game director Todd Howard has said "graphics matter" when it comes to suspending our disbelief, and Bethesda are squeezing the PC, Xbox One and PS4 for everything to make Fallout 4 matter to us.
He added that "memory is important" too, allowing for more stuff to cram our view and keep it dynamic as "all of that suspends your disbelief that this is a real world." Howard admitted Fallout 3 could bum you out.
"Looking back at Fallout 3, there is a sameness to the environment," Howard told Gamespot. "It can be, if you're playing the game for an eight-hour stretch, a little depressing." The game was often criticised for its abundant use of the colour brown.
"If we make a world that has, not just more details, but more dynamic details that we can keep track of and stream in and load quicker, all of that suspends your disbelief that this is a real world," he said. "The graphics matter, they do matter in suspending your disbelief."
Fallout 4 has some very ambitious plans, including the optional pursuit of building up settlements in the world from scratch and populating them with traders and residents, which will need defending from raiders and beasties. Our player character is also fully voiced.
Howard promised the world of Fallout 4 is a lot more colourful and vibrant, though not so much near where the bomb went off. It releases on PC and console November 11, 2015.
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