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Virtual reality Fallout 4 is coming to HTC Vive in 2017

Virtual reality Fallout 4 is coming to HTC Vive in 2017

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Bethesda Softworks is releasing last year's Fallout 4 for the HTC Vive virtual reality headset in 2017. The company made the surprise announcement at its E3 keynote, and we know almost nothing besides that — but for lots of people, that's probably enough. This will make Fallout 4 the first big open-world game to get an official, studio-released virtual reality mode.

This is going to take some adaptation. Things like Fallout 4's conversation interface — which is just text overlaid on the screen in the current game — will probably need to be tweaked for VR, and we're not sure how (or whether) the Vive's motion controllers will be used. We're also not sure how Bethesda will deal with the motion sickness that can happen when you're moving long distances very quickly. But Fallout already has a diegetic interface in the Pip-Boy, which could easily be tacked onto one of the player's Vive controllers.

Besides Fallout 4, Bethesda also mentioned some Doom content coming to virtual reality. We're saying "content" because it's not clear that the actual game is coming — we've only heard that you can "take a virtual tour of Hell and get a look at the very latest in graphics" from the Id Tech engine. But we've had VR Doom promised to us before, and who knows? Maybe we'll see it again.