Fallout 4 VR is scheduled for release in 2017, but a handful of lucky attendees at Bethesda's E3 press event got to experience the virtual wasteland first-hand. I was one of them, and although I spent two hours waiting while everyone else enjoyed an open bar and a free Blink 182 performance, it was (almost) worth it.
I add the parenthetical because my hands on time with Fallout 4 VR was severely truncated. I spent about 5-10 minutes with the demo which might as well be three seconds in Fallout 4 time. A pre programmed raider attack supplied some action, but what I really wanted to do was explore.
This too was limited. My VR handlers kept urging me to stay put and wait for the raiders. Moving around in Fallout VR still follows the same lillypad/teleportation mechanic common in VR titles. You aim a cursor and warp to where you were aiming, which feels a bit clunky. The pistol aiming was spot on though. I was picking the heads off of mannequins and bullseying bottles like it was nothing. The raiders didn't stand a chance. It felt damn good.
A key component was missing though - object interaction. I couldn't pick up loot or interact with buttons and containers. Even Dogmeat was off limits. Since so much of the Fallout 4 experience is about that loot game it was a letdown to not be able to snatch stuff up like I wanted to. I have spent a lot of time with the HTC Vive and if Fallout VR has the same level of interaction as Job Simulator VR then I'll be happier than a Deathclaw in a Brahmin farm.
Basically, you already know if the prospect of Fallout VR excites you or not. It excites me, but I've done enough VR demos to have guarded expectations about this stuff. If you're looking for a holodeck level of immersion, keep looking. For a long time. VR is in its infancy and devs are still figuring out how to solve the technical shortcomings like walking about in a natural way. But if you're an early adopter hoping for AAA ports there aren't many with as much potential as Fallout VR.
