Last year, I wrote a piece about why I thought Fallout 4 shouldn’t have cooperative multiplayer as a mode in the game. I’ve since changed my mind on that, having played Dying Light and experienced what could make for a good co-op game in a post-apocalyptic scenario.
Given the game’s inevitable open world setting, Fallout 4 (which has yet to be announced, sadly) is ripe with promise and its multiplayer, if done right, could be far better than anything we’ve seen to date in the field of games out there.
1. The not-so Lone Wanderer. The Lone Wanderer (or whatever you want to call the protagonist of the Fallout games) has always wandered around with companions by their side. Not content to go it alone in each of the games, players have always had the option to recruit followers for support in combat. Having a drop-in co-op mode could justify the existence of a second, third, or even fourth player.
The heroes don’t even have to interact with one another for a co-op experience to work, because players would be telling their own stories and weaving their own narrative experiences with the co-op game—just as they do in H1Z1, DayZ and Dying Light.
2. Co-op quests. Completing quests in the game’s story should not require multiple players to complete, but having co-op versions of single-player quests would be pretty nice.
3. VATS could slow time instead of pausing time. Instead of freezing time, VATS could simply slow down time to allow players to target specific body parts of a foe. FEAR’s and Max Payne 3’s multiplayer mode seemed to pull it off just fine with its bullet-time effects, so there’s no reason why Fallout 4 can’t do the same thing.
4. Co-op challenges. Co-op challenges could involve players scavenging for loot, killing hordes of mindless mutants, or reaching a destination before their co-op partners. Dying Light does this all well, and Fallout 4 could do well to follow in its footsteps.
5. Co-op is just plain fun. That’s it. There’s no other reason not to have it.
