Highlights
- Fallout 5 can continue the tradition of unique and bizarre junk weapons, like the Rock-It Launcher and Junk Jet.
- While junk-launching weapons appear in multiple Fallout games, they’re often overshadowed by more reliable conventional weapons.
- A new junk-launcher in Fallout 5 could be a fully viable alternate fighting style, adding nuance and making junk more useful.
Fallout 5 can continue an odd yet entertaining tradition that past games have established regarding a specific weapon type. The Fallout games are no stranger to going in bizarre directions, as several weird quests and the existence of the WIld Wasteland trait have made perfectly clear. Those tendencies don’t frequently dip into the game’s combat mechanics though, unless one considers lasers and plasma weapons bizarre. However, Fallout‘s combat can still get pretty unusual, especially with certain weapons involved. Fallout 5 has a particular opportunity to do so by following in its predecessors footsteps in one certain way.
With one of the better combat systems in Bethesda games, Fallout has a good amount of weapon variety for players, with many different builds for players to employ. As of Fallout 4, the available weapon classes are:
- Guns
- Energy Weapons
- Explosives
- Melee
- Unarmed
This selection of weapon categories combined with other skills like Speech and Science help the Fallout games to be remarkably versatile, giving players many options for various situations. It ensures that there are countless potential endgame builds that could carry players through the final hours. No matter what build they use, though, players will almost always have a signature weapon to go with it.
Fallout originally featured Big Guns as another weapon skill, but it was phased out starting with Fallout: New Vegas, with the weapons under the category being distributed to other weapon classes as appropriate.
How Fallout 5 Could Power Up One of its Iconic Armaments
One of Fallout’s most iconic elements could use a big upgrade in Fallout 5 to make it even more rewarding for players to make use of.
Fallout 5 Can Once Again Prove How Much Fun Shooting Junk Is
Fallout’s History of Junk Weapons
One unusual weapon is the Rock-It Launcher from Fallout 3, which had the unique quirk of firing anything that the player could load into it. This turned virtually any item that the player could pick up into ammunition. Fallout 4 would repeat this design with the Junk Jet, with both instances being special weapons that players would build from blueprints. Unfortunately, despite the comedy potential of these weapons turning pencils and basketballs into lethal weapons, they have always been overshadowed in damage and utility by more conventional weaponry. Even so, both weapons have an amusing charm that can let some overlook their weaknesses.
Among the previous games’ vast library of weapons that could return in Fallout 5, another junk-shooting gun based on the Rock-It Launcher or Junk Jet would be an entertaining option. One advantage would be that it could give many of the random items with no other purpose a reason to be collected by the player. Ironically, junk becoming more useful for crafting in Fallout 4 ended up hurting the Junk Jet’s viability in that game. That doesn’t mean that a new iteration of the weapon would be hopeless, though. In fact, Fallout 5 could make the best version of the Rock-It Launcher to date.
How a Junk-Launcher Could Work in Fallout 5
Even if Fallout 5 brings back the mechanics involved in Fallout 4‘s crafting system, a new junk-launcher could prove remarkably viable. For one thing, the damage could be buffed to make up for the value of the material being lost. Different kinds of items launched could also have different properties. For example, a sharp object could pierce armor, while sufficiently heavy objects could knock foes down. Fallout 5 could add more nuance to make the weapon more interesting. With enough care, it could go from a silly novelty weapon to a fully viable alternate fighting style that can find ammo almost anywhere.
The last two numbered games featured a gun that could weaponize trash. Even if Fallout 5 is very different from past games, it could benefit from reviving the concept once again. The Rock-It Launcher and Junk Jet may not have been high-end weaponry, but they’re a lot of fun to experiment and play around with regardless, and another appearance would let players experience their wonders all over again. Introducing its own version of the Rock-It Launcher could be Fallout 5‘s way to continue the tradition of this silly weapon.
Fallout 4
- Released
- November 10, 2015
- Engine
- Creation
- ESRB
- M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS
- How Long To Beat
- 27 Hours
- X|S Enhanced
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 51 GB (December 2023)
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
