Over at the Bethesda Blog, where Bethesda Softworks developers are able to communicate news and inside information to the community, some new information regarding the next piece of DLC for Fallout 3 was recently revealed. This new release comes hot on the heels of three new screenshots of the game (including one featuring the new auto-axe, basically a huge buzzsaw that you can use to cut enemies in half) released on Thursday.

The new information comes from hands-on impression exclusives offered to attendees of the 2009 DICE Summit, an interactive entertainment symposium featuring presentations by many of the biggest names in the gaming industry, which took place this past week. The folks over at IGN and Gamespy were both given a full hour to play around in the post-apocalyptic sandbox of Pittsburgh, an industrial slum fueled by slaves and ruled by a tyrannical raider. The expansion begins with the main character being confronted by Wernher, an escaped slave of The Pitt looking for the aid of a hero; if his story isn’t enough to tugg at your heartstrings then perhaps the rumor that the ruined city’s slaver lord is in possession of a cure for mutation might be sufficiently enticing. Wernher leads you to the rail system, presumably how he made it to the Capital Wasteland, and gives you access to a small, man-operated traincar that can get you to The Pitt. Once you’re in Pittsburgh you will be unable to return to DC until the mission is completed, and it is currently unclear if you will be able to return after completing the content. Hopefully Bethesda will learn from gamers’ reactions to how the main story ended and not repeat the same mistake.

Unlike Operation Anchorage, a combat-heavy release of DLC that looked more or less like the original game with some recoloring, The Pitt is reported to be much more plot-driven, with a lots of new dialogue, quests, and the morally ambiguous situations that have come to distinguish the Fallout franchise. I think most Fallout 3 fans will welcome this change. Even Todd Howard, the game’s executive producer, admitted that as a first-person shooter, Fallout 3 is just mediocre (which begs the question, why go to the trouble of creating new content that is almost entirely combat-based?).

goodmanw @multiplayers: Is it going to be like the first DLC, very gun heavy, or more of the normal Fallout 3 gameplay?

Hines: More in the normal gameplay. Clearly that’s a big concern. We tried to be clear with everybody that, hey this first one “Anchorage” is going to be more combat, more straight ahead stuff. Whereas “The Pitt” is going to go back to more of the “Fallout”-type gameplay where you can make choices.

The IGN preview of The Pitt also confirms this contrast with the game’s previous DLC:

If you weren’t thrilled with Operation: Anchorage’s heavy focus on combat, you’ll likely enjoy The Pitt a lot more. There’s lots of dialogue, side quests, and a bigger emphasis on exploration for this second game add-on. There are several different ways you can approach the process of getting into the slave camp. I decided to just walk up and say hi. That didn’t go over so well with the slavers. And if you’re worried that all of this “saving the day” business is going to turn your evil character good, don’t. I found at least one place to be nasty inside of the steel mill. While the slaves sweated with steel production, one slave had carved out a niche for himself. He sells information to his captors as a snitch. Give him some juicy gossip and he’ll trade you some stimpaks for the info.

Furthermore, there’s significantly more genuine content here (like trogs), as joked about in an MTV Multiplayer interview with Bethesda’s Pete Hines, again confirmed by IGN’s impressions:

DuhraL @multiplayers: w/ the first DLC, they used a lot of the wasteland assets with a blue filter on top. Does the “Pitt” feel like a new city?

Hines: I don’t think that’s actually entirely accurate, but you could probably answer that better than me. When you were in it did it feel different? To me it does.

MTV Multiplayer: Yeah, the [Pittsburgh] bridge looks different.

Hines: It’s much grittier, much more industrial. It feels like what you might think post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh would look like.

Despite maintaining that hitting the level cap during the main story is difficult, everyone I know who has played the game effortlessly managed this feat (in fact, there were experience-reducing mods for the game created within two weeks of its release). With an intelligent application of skill points and perks, combat is completely trivialized in Fallout 3 by level 20, which really made Operation Anchorage feel watered-down. It seems that Bethesda has taken steps to prevent this problem with The Pitt by using the tried-and-true (albeit hackneyed) quest mechanic of stripping you all items early on, preventing rich, well-equipped players from completely dominating post-apocalyptic Pennsylvania with gattling lasers and mini-nukes.

Without giving too much away, in order to access The Pitt you’ll need to subject yourself to slavery yourself or get hired as a slaver, both choices leading to being stripped of your current equipment, though once you’re in it’s possible to scrounge for weapons and other useful items (it should also be noted that there are no vendors at all in the city). On the inside, you’ll need to strategically manipulate your situation with the slavers and your fellow slaves in order to eventually arrange a meeting (or a beating) with Ashur, the raider who controls The Pitt, and find out whether or not his cure for mutations is legit.

I reached the gate and tried to talk my way in as a fellow slaver. When the sarcastic bastard manning the gate told me that all I needed to do was head inside to fill out an application, I knew I was in trouble.

Sure enough, I was immediately greeted by a gang of slavers who beat me down, took all of my possessions, and turned me into a slave. But hey, at least I was in, right? Thankfully, a kind woman named Midea was there to help me, and told me that she would be able to help me get what I needed. Alas, that meant “working” for the slavers, collecting steel ingots for their foundry. Apparently the ingots were just lying around for the taking, but I had to journey out into a particularly dangerous area to get them. This area was infested with trogs, a new type of humanoid enemy that is fast, ferocious, and attacks in groups.

Does Ashur really possess a cure for mutation? Count on there being some kind of twist.

Also count on paying $9.99 or 800 Microsoft points for The Pitt, which is scheduled for an early March release.

Source: Bethesda Blog

Source: MTV Multiplayer Interview

Source: IGN impression

Source: Gamespy impression

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