Beta Test Your Fallout 4 Survival Skills

Bethesda have made the upcoming survival difficulty mode update for Fallout 4 available for testing via Steam on PC allowing us to see how much harder we can make it for ourselves as we stumble around the Commonwealth when it launches proper on PC and console next month.

In their latest blog post they go over the philosophy and intent for the changes and it's well worth a read.

There are a ton of changes all intended to force you to make "interesting choices" as Bethesda call them, having systems play off each other in a manner similar to something like Dark Souls.

Some of the big tent-pole changes are:

No more saving: You can only save by finding a bed and sleeping. No more manual saving will mean you have to be much more cautious of what you are walking into and will put more emphasis on building those settlements.

No more fast travel: Fast Travel is literally disabled, meaning you have to put on those sturdy boots and actually walk somewhere. Emphasising exploration in a big way and making use of facilities where you are instead of relying on your "best" settlement.

A wellness system: We are used to diseases in the Elder Scrolls titles but the Fallout series in general has mostly avoided them. Disease as well as exhaustion, hunger and thirst will now all be concerns, with new items like antibiotics coming into play removing the reliance on the cure-all stimpak.

There are a lot more changes involving an adrenaline and fatigue system as well as changes to bed types, carry weight, healing, companions and much more. It's looking like a very comprehensive overhaul that'll certainly change how the game plays.

To read more about the above and all the other changes as well as how to test the PC beta release, check out Bethesda's blog post.