Skip to main content

Fallout and potentially other Bethesda games are coming to Zen Pinball

Fallout 4
Image used with permission by copyright holder
If Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter have a little too much death and destruction, you will soon be able to play a slightly more whimsical entry in the series. Zen Studios announced Bethesda Pinball, a virtual pinball set that puts Fallout and the Vault Boy front and center.

The announcement doesn’t make mention of other specific Bethesda franchises that could be included in Bethesda Pinball, but it seems likely that Id Software classics like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, as well as Bethesda’s other major RPG series The Elder Scrolls, could be featured. Eurogamer also speculates that Arkane’s Dishonored series could be included and that the set will be an expansion pack for existing games like Zen Pinball 2 rather than a stand-alone experience.

Bethesda offers new guidelines to get the best out of Dishonored 2 on PC

Current tables for Zen Pinball platforms include Plants vs. Zombies, Street Fighter II, and even Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Zen Studios also collaborated with Valve to release Portal Pinball last year, which included favorite characters like Chell and Wheatley, complete with the silly, sarcastic banter that made the two original games so popular. The company even worked with Telltale Games to create a set based on its popular The Walking Dead adaptation.

Should Bethesda choose to dig even further into its back catalog, the publisher could help to create some entertaining — if self-deprecating — pinball sets. Brink, though a high-profile critical and commercial failure, had a bright color scheme and quick gameplay that would translate well to a pinball board. Rogue Warrior, meanwhile, is one of the worst games created, but its Mickey Rourke-rapped, expletive-filled end credits sequence is one of the great gifts to humanity.

No date or other concrete details have been offered for Bethesda Pinball, but Zen Studios said to “stay tuned for more info” in its announcement tweet.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Fallout 4 is finally getting free Xbox Series X and PS5 upgrades
New Fallout 4 Creation Club mod content coming with the Xbox Series X and PS5 launch.

Bethesda has confirmed that the current-gen update for Fallout 4 will finally release on April 25.

That's good timing, as a Fallout TV show just released on Amazon Prime this month to positive buzz. Fallout 4 came out for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox One in 2015, and this definitely looks like it will be the most substantial update the game has received since its last expansion was released.

Read more
Bethesda finally confirms that Hi-Fi Rush is coming to PS5
Key art for Hi-Fi Rush.

Microsoft and Bethesda finally confirmed that Hi-Fi Rush is going multiplatform. In particular, it was announced that the rhythm action game is coming to the PS5 next month.

Rumors of Hi-Fi Rush going multiplatform began in January, spurring some discourse about a change in Microsoft's first-party strategy. Although Xbox eventually addressed the concerns in a February 15 podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would not say then if Hi-Fi Rush was one of the games; instead, he only teased that four games were going multiplatform and that the announcements were coming soon. During the Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase this morning, we learned that Obsidian Entertainment's Pentiment and Grounded were coming to Nintendo Switch on February 22 and April 16, respectively.

Read more
Frostpunk 2 will come to PC Game Pass when it launches this year
A city in Frostpunk 2.

11bit Studios confirmed that Frostpunk 2 will be released on PC sometime during the first half of 2024 and will be on Game Pass from day one alongside the first full gameplay reveal for the highly anticipated survival city-builder.

The new gameplay trailer for Frostpunk 2 is just over two minutes long and gives the public a first look at the game's city-managing mechanics. Frostpunk 2's gameplay significantly departs from its predecessor in some ways, as it's more focused on the macro management of a city that's survived an apocalypse rather than the micromanaging of resources for basic survival. After getting an extended hands-off look at Frostpunk 2 in action last year, I said it "scales its challenges and gameplay systems up while also holding on to the ethical dilemmas and emphasis on consequences that made the original so great (and depressing.)."

Read more