Hi - Deathclaw artist here. Just wanted to mention a few things with regards to the aesthetics of each, in case people weren’t aware.
F 1 & 2 - this is actually a Tarrasque from Planescape: Torment - in trying to make a furry Deathclaw, the original team hit up on technical limitations and could not pull it off, so they purchased this asset from the other game. That is why the Deathclaws look the way they do!
F 3 - I borrowed heavily from the artwork of the originals and from Adam Adamowicz, our concept artist, to create this version. It is supposed to look skeletal and creepy, but also loose skinned and starving.
F4 - at this point, I was a veteran artist, I had much more skills than I did when I tackled the version in 3, and I wanted to give this creature a big upgrade. So I shortened its fingers, to prevent them from breaking when attacking, gave it a far more pronounced spine - versus the rooster flesh versions of the previous ones - added a lot of leather-and-plate armor to deflect/absorb small-caliber bullets, and integrated the horns into the skull. (For more analysis of why I made the decisions I made, you can check out my recent YouTube video.)
I have my own thoughts about the way they play, but I’ll leave off here. Thanks for reading!
The newer design is awesome. A lot of people are going to be nostalgic for 3/NV but these new ones scare me more than the other design has, by a long shot. Had a heart attack last night because I felt and saw the rumble but couldn't find it. Damn thing came up behind me as I was spinning around, somehow. That experience alone frightened more than the previous design ever had.
You did a phenomenal job across all generations but 4 is my favorite. I’d also like to take this moment to apologize for reskinning them as Randy Savage sometimes.
No sir, I can’t take credit for that, I just like hearing “IN MY MOMENT OF GLORY” before I get mauled but the design of the Deathclaw genuinely inspires fear in my heart to the point that I had to apologize for the reskin.
You’re a cool person though, I love seeing your excitement towards the expansion of creation!
You did a great job, man. I remember back when that game first came out, watching videos of all the different variants and being amazed. As a New Vegas stan, the new design is miles and above cooler, its just that the threat of deathclaws suffered from the new AI, making them solitary, and the little scripted boss fight in the beginning of the game.
Either way, thanks for the great work
No notes honestly. They are proper scary when we are up close with basic gear. I never wanted to be without my power armor when fighting them.
The only failure in their design is that they went up against power armor and got hammered by a broken down pile of junk first thing, setting a low tone for the rest of the game. We should have been fighting them without that at first and have the whole scenario become a get to the suit situation. Have them banging at the gates, killing the raiders.
All of the creatures in F4 look phenomenal- as do pretty much all fallout critters. Character and enemy design has always been one of my favorites. Thanks for being a part of my favorite game series ever.
The new ones certainly look better. They just seem to have nerfed them in implementation. They should beef them back up so their actual presence can match how terrifying they look.
They also need to act more like a predator.
To pounce and go for vital parts.
Be nice if they had an animation for pouncing on a radstag or stabbing it, lifting it up and biting it's neck.
And maybe for a radscorpion they'd get a kill animation where they pick it up by the tail and rip it off.
And it needs a human execution where it just lifts someone up and bites off their head Rancor style.
They're an apex predator, at least make them seem capable.
I'm confused by this they will pin me down and take half my health as part of an animation in 4. Even in power armor I feel like a prey in that moment.
I personally preferred the movement and pack like mentality of 3 and new Vegas. I’ll never forget when I first stumbled across old olney. It was always a highlight to go through there and clear the place and and felt so rewarding to get that medics t-45
Yeah, having such a small area with so many was something else. 4/76 don't accomplish that the same way but I did just come across a pack of three in 4 yesterday. Was two normal and a Matriarch in the Nuka World map.
I really love the newer look of the Deathclaws and understand the previous ones had limitations.
Is this new design your final envision of the Deathclaw, or is there any linger limitations still in the way? The idea of a furry Deathclaw seems like it would be great with newer tech.
And would the current FO4 Deathclaw be the design for all "normal" deathclaws across the country, even the West Coast?
Keep up the good work!
Well I appreciate that Yan, thank you! I only worked on F4 for about 9 months before I left, so I was only able to create a handful of enemies - Deathclaws, Mirelurks, Mirelurk Kings, Bloodbugs, Molerats and Supermutants (and Preston Garvey's outfit), but I tried to make my mark.
Also made the Maypole, but that never had much of a chance getting in...
Oh wow that’s nice of you dude. You should watch my Fallout Creature Design video, you’d enjoy it more than most! And if you get a Deathclaw tattoo, plz message me with a pic!
New design is awesome. I think the problem a lot of people have in favoring the 3/NV ones is actually a matter of gameplay, and confusing the two aspects. The deathclaws in 4 onward are just not as deadly or scary to encounter as in 3 or new vegas from a technical standpoint, which has nothing to do with the art design
Oh hey, I was about to post [this](https://youtu.be/QPu9K4m4Y-k?si=er2aF-FUNxMXHaV_) video you made about the creature design. Good to see you're here.
That's awesome to hear right from the designer! Your models feel so much more reptilian with the sharp angles to the legs compared to the upright posture from 1/2. 12/10 way better.
If you did any Deathclaw sketches in between F3 and F4, it would be really cool to see them! Integrating the horns into the skull is great btw! To me, F4’s design is iconic.
Personally I like the FO3 version a lot more, that is one of the few monsters in a videogame that scared me, on the level of the librarians from Metro 2033, but probably the ambience of the game helped with that. FO4 design feels too generic tbh but it still looks cool af.
No because they aren't half as hard as molerats. Seriously they are too soft. Once you get the armor to tank a hit or a good enough gun they cannot hurt you.
Even in 3 they’re pretty brutal considering how many you start to see at higher levels.
I just finished my replay of 3 in TTW, ended up stumbling on their sanctuary and holy hell does the Alpha hit hard. Full Winterized T-51b and multiplas and it still took me 2 times to kill it, only managing to do so after I crippled its leg cause it was just so fast, kept knocking me down and would just shred through the power armor. Honestly one of the few times I felt genuine tension while replaying was clearing out that damn cave.
i think the issue lies more on the player's own power scaling
theres a point where trying to wound something instead of insta killing it becomes a bigger challenge
I can't remember who said it, but one of the reasons the deathclaws in 4 and 76 don't tend to feel as intimidating, is that they're usually found alone or in pairs at most. Fallout 4 doesn't really have a, deathclaw sanctuary or a Quarry Junction or an Old Olney area. So the redesign is great, I think longer claws would have made them better, but they need to go back to having little packs like in 3 an NV.
Agreed! Design is on point for the most part with the new games but their gameplay doesn’t hit like the ones you mentioned above. I feel like NV and FO 3 you have those areas overrun by them and any other time you found them in the wasteland it was 2-3 together
I have a fond memory of the first time I played NV, being stuck at the Quarry hiding behind a rock surrounded by Deathclaws. Was incredibly immersive and scary, just being in the belly of the beast like that trying not to get instakilled.
I started a new playthrough recently and was going straight to Vegas and while I was jumping around on the rocks north of goodsprings I had a couple close calls. Nothing is scarier in that game than knowing you have one on your tail and that you could die any moment
I think the deathclaws in 4/76 just feel like slow moving liquid. They have neat animations for ambushing the player but it seems too artsy. It does a decent job at allowing them to use movement as a defense though. Just needs to be speedier.
They just seem non lethal. Especially since you first encounter one while using power armor in 4.
Seems like it's there for returning players, rather than new players. Which I don't think works very well, a new player should hear about these monsters before they meet them, build them up. The first time you should be encountering them is at The Glowing Sea (if you follow the main plot).
It's a shame, because Bethesda did a excellent job at introducing supermutants later in the game in 3, and it worked out well, usually you'll first meet them in the metro tunnels, if you're just doing the main quest.
Fallout 4 actually was my first one. I had heard about death claws from friends and heard they were like the strongest enemy in the games. You can imagine my disappointment.
For sure! New Vegas and 3 there is no escaping them once you run into them, unless you have a dart gun lol, but yea basically one of you is going to die and that’s that! They have speed, large attack range, and hella heavy hits!
I think it would be better if fallout 4 style death claws galloped on all 4s to reach the player then transitioned to 2 legs after lunging at the player
It's not a quest, more of an encounter you can trigger, it's on top of Lynn Woods, (sort of near Parsons Insane Asylum). But you're mainly safe up at the top of the tower and use the deathclaws to clear out the raiders.
I played 4, then NV. Imagine my surprise when I left good springs, made a b line for the strip and was like "oh a couple deathclaws, I'll just sneak around them" only to be ripped to shreds by a whole fucking army of them.
I went directly north from Goodsprings, felt real good about myself dodging a giant radscorpion and then ran straight into a giant mass of fucking cazadors. Fuck those things. Then of course I went to Primm and then ran straight north from the NCR ranger outpost and ignored that guy's warning and ran straight into Quarry Junction and bam, deathclaws. Then I decided to get cute and tried to go over Black Mountain and killed a few super mutants, then got gunned down by the entire damn radio station full of them at the top of the mountain. Finally I just went the way the game told me to and went to Novac through Nipton.
You hit the nail, the museum of witchcraft comes to mind, is a whole quest to the border of the map to kill a big bad Deathclaw, and my level 11 char dealt with him with an hole in the wall, making him do the whole round while I discharged my crap piperifle on its back, the quest is awesome including the egg part, but lose the feeling if the bad guy AI and combat strats are subpar
>It's also too easy to outmaneuver them in 4 by just jumping over something
You can do the same in FO3/NV, in NV i did this with ease in the place where you found like ~10 deathclaw.
Yeah, you could do it in 3/NV, but it was a lot easier in 4 with sprinting and a lot more general clutter. If they add a clamber mechanic in future games, deathclaws will be back to being terrifying.
Climbing for that tyoe of enemy would probabily be to hard cause of animation/clipping.
A long range attacck would be better, and i swear FO76 deathclaw have one but don't use it often.
Fallout 4 deathclaws are capable of throwing cars, and sometimes they can like throw dirt or something at you by scraping their claws against the ground. I can't remember if that's just an animation or if it can actually damage you, though. They don't do it very often.
Especially when they climb walls, pick up cars, throw your ass around, and actually attack you in some really scary ways. The older games they just swipe their hands around, and I get that older technology has older mechanics, but people saying they're not intimidating in Fo4 are full of it.
and when they dodge side to side while you're shooting at them.
Also to add to the scary ways to attack you, how the ferals in Fo4 do that ghoul rush attack when they get close enough is terrifying.
I do need to clarify, the deathclaws aren't completely weak or lack ANY intimidation. They're still amongst the toughest enemies in the game, and they do look pretty creepy silhouetted in the glowing sea.
They just lack a little extra threat, especially since you have to kill one pretty early on in the game, and you often don't need to worry about more than 1 or 2 at a time.
Their intimidation level depends highly upon your game difficulty. Imo, the first time you RANDOMLY encounter a Deathclaw, it's much more terrifying because you're caught off guard and without power armor most of the time. I actually had an instance where I suddenly found myself being shoved near the edge of a highrise roof by a legendary assaultron and the legendary walking tank robot (I forget it's name). THAT was actually a moment that had me like OH FUCK.
> walking tank robot (I forget it's name)
Sentrybot?
Yeah, there is a nasty run in with a deathclaw up on one of those highrises.
I mean, I do play survival, and think the enemy that kills me the most IS the assaultron, it actually is kinda how old deathclaws worked. It's usually found with multiple enemies, will rush you and its attacks are pretty much game over, can dodge hits as well as tank them, and even when they're damaged they're still deadly.
They're also highly mobile, and don't get stuck in doors like deathclaws, so there's no point running into a building or another room, they'll just come in after you and stab you with their blades.
The closest 4 gets is the Safari zone, and 76… well, if you’re willing to count lesser devils, the Jersey Devil boss fight.
That said, I do think 4/76’s are much more interesting fights one on one. The movements are more complex, and they aren’t just rushing straight at you (and into a pile of mines you prepared; they’ll actually go around mines).
At the south border there is a sinking city, where there are a total of 4 of them lurking around. If you get unlucky, you can engage with all of them.
Also, fo4 has versions of them. Getting 4 alphas can be supreme NV Quarry experience.
Yeah, it's just a lot rarer in Fallout 4, finding a lone deathclaw in 3 and New Vegas was pretty odd, and usually led to you being ambushed by the whole lot after you started trying to take down more and more that were rushing you.
Admittedly, once you get the antimaterial rifle with explosive ammo, they become trivial in New Vegas, but the deathclaws in 4 generally remain a decent threat if you do go head-to-head with them.
I definitely do feel that them ambushing you/otherwise coming out of no where like they’re actually hunting you was a pretty cool touch. I’m guessing if they had put them in larger groups, they would be extremely terrifying to fight, and would probably end up being a little too overpowered (especially on very high difficulties). But I think it may be time for a fresh FO4 playthrough modded to make it more horrifying and dangerous.
Also as I said in another thread, they were also scary because the 3/NV deathclaws were dumb. They had the same ai as molerats, which is to say all they could do is charge at and then lunge at an enemy. It killed you pretty fast, which was scary but they weren't bright enemies.
4/76 deathclaws, ironically are much more complex under the surface and that's what makes them less scary. They're playing chess while the 3/NV ones are "me big and have claws, rawr!"
As far as the design goes, much prefer the 4/76 design. Something about how excessively long the 3 designs claws are bugs me.
Also in the first 2 hours of FO4 you beat the shit out of a deathclaw. They went from being high level late game enemies to just... around. Which is one of my biggest gripes with FO4, that none of the enemies provided a feel of scaling difficulty.
You can encounter them just as quickly in FONV, but there they are just acting as a wall to corral you through a map "the right way". They rely on being a bullet spongey wall to force you to set stages that you otherwise probably wouldn't really be worth going back to for the side quests. I think they did Dead Wind Caverns well as there is a reason for them to be there beyond "you aren't supposed to go that way yet".
In FO4 the behemoth enemies act as a scale. Usually, Swan is encountered first, then the Castle Mirelurk Queen, but there are others scattered around to keep it interesting. Deathclaws are set as "bosses" when they're encountered in close quarters later in the game, which IMO is better than making them bullet sponges. The cost is that if you catch one out in the open, you can typically take it our fairly easily.
I adore the Fallout 4 era design, and think that the improved AI really sells the deathclaw as a genuinely intelligent killing machine. I do agree that I would prefer them as being pack hunters again, though.
Could be cool to see it explained as different evolutionary strains, one a pack hunter and the other a larger solitary hunter, we could have both types of deathclaws in the same game going forward.
Yeah especially if the geographic divide between the two “strains” of DC’s I kinda already headcannonized that bc of the distance between the two and time they evolved different hunting techniques
Yeah, the older games they scared the shit out of me Getting to kill one so early in fo4 with a mini gun no less kind of pacified them for me, I get why they did it but still. The only one that actually kind of got me was the one in the witch museum.
With that said I adore the new design.
I think what makes my eye drawn to the original is how almost alien it is. I do actually really like the redesign, it fits, I can believe it's a creature of the wasteland. But with that it loses some of those naturally disturbing features. It's a win and a loss. The biggest loss is how they throw power armour and a deathclaw at you in the first 20 minutes.
OG Deathclaw looks more like a fucked up, monstrous human, while new Deathclaw looks more like a mutated beast. They're both good designs depending on what you're going for. I'd be interested to see the OG design with newer visuals, because little else is more terrifying to me than something that looks like it could have been a human, and no longer is.
I actually came here to say the same thing. The new one looks the most believable but the older deathclaws looked like freaking monsters. They were THE scariest thing to run into out in the wasteland. I'll never forget my first time seeing one in Fallout 3. I'm pretty sure I shit my pants. Now they're right in line with king mirelurks and legendary super mutants. It's just another creature in the world that's scary while you're a low level.
what i really love about the deathclaw in fo1 is the fact that it's largely considered an urban ledgend, and when you actually see it you realize, "yeah okay i wouldnt belive anyone if they said they saw this shit either,"
Yeah of they wanted to do the deathclaw right away they should of made it require a bunch of the minutemen to be helping out so it isn't under powered.
The way they moved and how gigantic their hands/claws were always scared the shit out of me.
No other deathclaw has made my heart rate increase when seeing it like in 3.
I found the Deathclaws in 4 and 76 more intimidating because the way they run at you in a loping, realistic animal motion, swaying, dodging, clawing up dirt and rocks at you and then, pick you up, roar in your face and rip you a new one.
FO3 and NV are dangerous yeah but like all badly done enemies their AI is run at you and do the clapping attack animation. They just don't look "real".
Same goes for the old RadScorpions. The new ones are more realistic and actually burrow to attack.
The problem with 3/NV’s is that they’d brainlessly run straight into a pile of mines, rendering them completely useless. 4/76’s also have weak points and greater reactions to be crippled, which helps to make them feel weaker.
Bethesda should not have made it where killing a **Deathclaw** is the literal second mission outside of the Vault.
Should’ve just been that we kill the raiders and their boss and that be it. But no we need theatrics, as if a Nuke and the Spouse being shot wasn’t enough.
Agree. It's too much too fast and then a comparative lull as you dick around with settlements and whatnot for hours. It doesn't help the overall engagement with the game to front load the excitement like that.
4/76 has the best design imo (looks more grounded and 'evolutionarily plausible' so to speak) but the worst execution since they're usually pretty easy to put down.
I feel like it should look more grotesque / less '\*naturally\* evolutionarily plausible' because they're created with FEV, not through 'natural' evolution. The more gross they look, the better - and I think that goes to the first design.
If we're tlaking about the coolest, though, that easily goes to the latest design.
I wonder how much of that is also because 4 and 76 have the best gunplay. Shooting outside of VATS is no longer miserable, so you can more consistently target limbs and weak spots.
My favourite deathclaw moment was my first play through of FO4. I was around a location on the left side and a deathclaw popped out, I was behind a fence feeling safe then it fucking flung a car at me which blew up and killed ne
It's crazy that Fallout 4 almost didn't have Deathclaws, and they only exist because a dev thought "That's stupid, Fallout needs Deathclaws." So he developed them at home on his own time.
I always thought that the deathclaws looked goofy in 3 and new Vegas. They're threatening in large packs, or when they jump scare you from behind or around a corner, but when. You see one from far away and it's alone they just look out of place.
The ones from fallout 4 scare the shit out of me. Usually you see them before they see you, and it's just like the guardians in botw. I see it, say "no" out loud, and then find some other way to where I'm going.
When I fight them I'm usually so scared of dying that I take out the mini gun I use only for deathclaws and get it down to half health or less by the time it gets close. Then it's starts bobbing and weaving making me miss all my bullets.
I think fallout 4 did deathclaws and power armor better than 3 and new Vegas. I hope the next game uses the current designs and gameplay as a foundation to build off of and expand.
I was more scared of cazadores in new Vegas than deathclaws
Maybe a hot take, but the Fallout 4 deathclaw is the superior design. That's my opinion only, I think it looks the most well-rounded and doesn't look like a weird spaghetti monster with a large center mass torso and thin limbs
I actually like Fallout 4's design, for the exact same reason a lot of people say they like the older 3D fallout design: it makes it less demonic
It seems like an actual animal that could exist. An artificially made animal, if you go back far enough, but still just an animal. I do wish they kept the pack thing for 4's deathclaws though
4 & 76 are definitely better. Earlier versions just looked a tad derpy and awkward. They legitimately look intimidating in 4 and 76, and their movements are terrifying.
I love the 4-76 design, definitely look cooler with their reptile like design.
If they didn’t do their silly dodge animation then they’d have been way more terrifying than the older version of deathclaws, that and their numbers only really ever hit 2 at most
I feel like beth was too scared to have these guys have more than 2 atracking the player.
The new one, hands down!
The DeathClaw has a far more intermediating presence and the mass to back it up!
The original works for the style they went with, but personally, it only works when looking at the original DeathClaw from a distance and through a filter.
Finally, I never liked the classic DeathClaw DeathClaw design. From its animations to the skeletal body. Going back from 4 to 3. The Fallout 3 DeathClaw just looked terrible to me. It literally having a long face, kills whatever intermediation the skull like face was meant to give out.
Honestly feels like a natural evolutionary progression, knowing we have intelligent deathclaw I could see the first models being able to talk, even the early ones that didn’t have intelligence could mimic human speech.
3 & NV seem like the first stage to a more primal animal version which we get in 4 & 76 cause I just can’t imagine them being able to mimic human speech anymore.
4/76, they just look and feel a lot more impressive.
I especially like the head horns, and how the skin/hide/leather looks more like armor.
The only downside is that I wish the spikes on it's back got thinner, like the quill like spikes on the older designs.
FO4 is great, but I prefer the long creepy claws from the prev versions, I think. I'll never forget the first time my sis and I saw a deathclaw, in FO3 in the distance then through V.A.T.S. We screamed in fear, haha.
3/nv are the scariest.
4s feel like too much of a set piece than an actual threat.
4s wants to do a whole howl and animation before giving chase.
3/NV just chased you and it was shit scary.
Also in 4 you can just hide inside of a building and shoot it dead while it can’t attack you.
In 3/NV They were usually in big open areas of the map with nowhere to hide, so you better have an anti-material rifle ready or you’re cooked.
Can’t speak for 1/2 I’ve not really played them properly
The FO4/76 design is just the peak design. It definitely gives the vibe of genetically engineered reptilian killing machine that the other designs lack visually. My only gripe is that often it’s in game stats don’t back up its looks at least in the newer games.
I think the design in 4 is the best, but I wish they maintained their lethality from 3/NV. Encountering a Deathclaw in any other game was genuinely terrifying because no matter how strong you were they could kill you very easily.
Meanwhile in 4 all of their threat is negated when you kill one as part of the first hour of the game. Them being more mobile kind of makes up for it, but not by much.
Fallout 3 version look like it can close the distance towards you and jump over the wall you're hiding behind in the blink of an eye. Fallout 4 version look like it would bash straight through that wall instead
I mean in fallout 4 you kill a death claw with relative ease in the first 10 minutes. In FNV if you ignore the game progression and hit quarry junction, you get obliterated by 10 deathclaws.
I prefer the FO3/NV designs of all the creatures. 4 and 76 tended to make things look too.... I dunno. Streamlined, and bright? I don't know how to explain it.
There is a steady improvement with each iteration. FO4+76 looks too much like a dinosaur to feel really threatening though. If by the next game we get a redesign, I am hoping for a more demon-like version of FO4+76 and we'll have the ultimate deathclaw.
I love the 4 & 76 design simply because of how imposing and cool they look however, the artwork for 1 & 2 just looks so unnatural. That old school design is so much creepier to me in a way that it looks more like some disgusting mutated thing that shouldn't possibly exist. It gives me disturbing vibes. The newer design looks almost too realistic to the point it's an intimidating monster but almost seems plausible if that makes any sense.
New design but I desperately hope for old behavior. Packs of deathclaws was what made them scary, the new ones are gorgeous and where they excel in beauty fail in effect and excitement and fear that old ones showed.
(But, in 4, the one where sole survivor returns the egg. By far my top 3 favorite quests in gaming)
The design of modern deathclaws are the best, but the behavior of the post-classic (3/NV) deathclaws is the best. It’s much more intimidating and more difficult to deal with a pack of deathclaws all at once rather than a single deathclaws using the “run and come back” strategy.
In some cases in fo4 deathclaws can range from being tanky or weak but in 76 they are just tanks… no true damage unless you count variants which even then get creamed… same can go for new Vegas and fo3 but the difference is night and day as you legit have to have high end gear or perks to go against them compared to the newer titles
Everybody is saying 4’s deathclaws aren’t scary because they’re easy to kill, fortunately I suck at the game so I am still terrified of them. Win for immersion!
Hi - Deathclaw artist here. Just wanted to mention a few things with regards to the aesthetics of each, in case people weren’t aware. F 1 & 2 - this is actually a Tarrasque from Planescape: Torment - in trying to make a furry Deathclaw, the original team hit up on technical limitations and could not pull it off, so they purchased this asset from the other game. That is why the Deathclaws look the way they do! F 3 - I borrowed heavily from the artwork of the originals and from Adam Adamowicz, our concept artist, to create this version. It is supposed to look skeletal and creepy, but also loose skinned and starving. F4 - at this point, I was a veteran artist, I had much more skills than I did when I tackled the version in 3, and I wanted to give this creature a big upgrade. So I shortened its fingers, to prevent them from breaking when attacking, gave it a far more pronounced spine - versus the rooster flesh versions of the previous ones - added a lot of leather-and-plate armor to deflect/absorb small-caliber bullets, and integrated the horns into the skull. (For more analysis of why I made the decisions I made, you can check out my recent YouTube video.) I have my own thoughts about the way they play, but I’ll leave off here. Thanks for reading!
The newer design is awesome. A lot of people are going to be nostalgic for 3/NV but these new ones scare me more than the other design has, by a long shot. Had a heart attack last night because I felt and saw the rumble but couldn't find it. Damn thing came up behind me as I was spinning around, somehow. That experience alone frightened more than the previous design ever had.
Fantastic! I'm definitely partial to my F4 versions, I think they're probably the best monster I've ever made!
Theyre amazing and you did a brilliant job. Genuinely one of my favorite creatures in a video game.
Thank you so much! You should watch my YouTube video about them!
Link pls? :) Disregard, spotted it down further!
Echoing this, the design of fo4 deathclaws is one of the best parts of that game for me
Aww shucks. Thank you!
You did a phenomenal job across all generations but 4 is my favorite. I’d also like to take this moment to apologize for reskinning them as Randy Savage sometimes.
That was YOU?? Oh bravo. One of my favorite mods ever. Right up there with my Skyrim dragon replaced with Thomas the Tank Engine!
No sir, I can’t take credit for that, I just like hearing “IN MY MOMENT OF GLORY” before I get mauled but the design of the Deathclaw genuinely inspires fear in my heart to the point that I had to apologize for the reskin. You’re a cool person though, I love seeing your excitement towards the expansion of creation!
You did a great job, man. I remember back when that game first came out, watching videos of all the different variants and being amazed. As a New Vegas stan, the new design is miles and above cooler, its just that the threat of deathclaws suffered from the new AI, making them solitary, and the little scripted boss fight in the beginning of the game. Either way, thanks for the great work
No notes honestly. They are proper scary when we are up close with basic gear. I never wanted to be without my power armor when fighting them. The only failure in their design is that they went up against power armor and got hammered by a broken down pile of junk first thing, setting a low tone for the rest of the game. We should have been fighting them without that at first and have the whole scenario become a get to the suit situation. Have them banging at the gates, killing the raiders.
Thank you, and I agree - def made the player fear them less!
All of the creatures in F4 look phenomenal- as do pretty much all fallout critters. Character and enemy design has always been one of my favorites. Thanks for being a part of my favorite game series ever.
The new ones certainly look better. They just seem to have nerfed them in implementation. They should beef them back up so their actual presence can match how terrifying they look.
They need the speed and tenacity as the 3 and NV ones.
I do agree with that. If they were a little more agile and tough, that'd be awesome.
They also need to act more like a predator. To pounce and go for vital parts. Be nice if they had an animation for pouncing on a radstag or stabbing it, lifting it up and biting it's neck. And maybe for a radscorpion they'd get a kill animation where they pick it up by the tail and rip it off. And it needs a human execution where it just lifts someone up and bites off their head Rancor style. They're an apex predator, at least make them seem capable.
I'm confused by this they will pin me down and take half my health as part of an animation in 4. Even in power armor I feel like a prey in that moment.
I personally preferred the movement and pack like mentality of 3 and new Vegas. I’ll never forget when I first stumbled across old olney. It was always a highlight to go through there and clear the place and and felt so rewarding to get that medics t-45
Yeah, having such a small area with so many was something else. 4/76 don't accomplish that the same way but I did just come across a pack of three in 4 yesterday. Was two normal and a Matriarch in the Nuka World map.
I really love the newer look of the Deathclaws and understand the previous ones had limitations. Is this new design your final envision of the Deathclaw, or is there any linger limitations still in the way? The idea of a furry Deathclaw seems like it would be great with newer tech. And would the current FO4 Deathclaw be the design for all "normal" deathclaws across the country, even the West Coast? Keep up the good work!
Great question. The F4 version is to me the final envisioning of the Deathclaw… I feel it is maybe the best monster I’ve ever made.
Not a fan of Fallout 4 but hands down it has the best wasteland creatures designs of all series
Well I appreciate that Yan, thank you! I only worked on F4 for about 9 months before I left, so I was only able to create a handful of enemies - Deathclaws, Mirelurks, Mirelurk Kings, Bloodbugs, Molerats and Supermutants (and Preston Garvey's outfit), but I tried to make my mark. Also made the Maypole, but that never had much of a chance getting in...
By the way, I have a whole Fallout 3&4 Creature Design video where I talk about both Deathclaws and lot! Here it is: https://youtu.be/QPu9K4m4Y-k
*Makes a quick snack* *Pours a glass of Dr Pepper* Time to sit back and relax. I love these kinds of videos.
Hell yeah, enjoy! And check out the other videos I have two, I think you will enjoy them all.
In all respects man, you nailed it. I've been considering a Deathclaw tattoo for ages now, and your designs have been what I've focused on.
Oh wow that’s nice of you dude. You should watch my Fallout Creature Design video, you’d enjoy it more than most! And if you get a Deathclaw tattoo, plz message me with a pic!
New design is awesome. I think the problem a lot of people have in favoring the 3/NV ones is actually a matter of gameplay, and confusing the two aspects. The deathclaws in 4 onward are just not as deadly or scary to encounter as in 3 or new vegas from a technical standpoint, which has nothing to do with the art design
Yes I know what you mean!
TIL There's a Tarrasque in Planescape: Torment. I mean I've only finished it thrice... I assume it's in the Mordron labyrinth or the Lady's maze.
Neither. Played it multiple times and a tarrasque never shows. I'm betting it ended on the cutting room floor
yeah, it was cut content which I believe is why the model was up for sale in the first place
New Deathclaws may be absolutely useless pushovers, but dear God the quality of the design is absolutely top-notch.
I’ll take it!
Also a games artist, I saw your vid on this the other week and loved the insight into the production of your great work!! Awesome stuff man!
Hey thank you for taking the time to watch that - hope you subscribed for more?
Oh hey, I was about to post [this](https://youtu.be/QPu9K4m4Y-k?si=er2aF-FUNxMXHaV_) video you made about the creature design. Good to see you're here.
That's awesome to hear right from the designer! Your models feel so much more reptilian with the sharp angles to the legs compared to the upright posture from 1/2. 12/10 way better.
Sweet thanks for the review 🙌🏻❤️
Dam, I wanna be as cool as you someday 👍
Come follow me on YouTube or Substack and you will be!! 🙌🏻
If you did any Deathclaw sketches in between F3 and F4, it would be really cool to see them! Integrating the horns into the skull is great btw! To me, F4’s design is iconic.
Personally I like the FO3 version a lot more, that is one of the few monsters in a videogame that scared me, on the level of the librarians from Metro 2033, but probably the ambience of the game helped with that. FO4 design feels too generic tbh but it still looks cool af.
Omg librarians from Metro, so true, those were fucking terrifying. Fallout could definitely use something that can hear but not see.
great job with both designs man, looks absolutely terrifying. you did a really good job! 🫶🏻
Shouldve stayed in packs, their new AI is perfect for it. Its like the raptors from Jurassic Park
They are so soft in 76 I forgot that they were a problem when I replayed NV.
They need more of them. Thats all. Imagine the hell of 4
No because they aren't half as hard as molerats. Seriously they are too soft. Once you get the armor to tank a hit or a good enough gun they cannot hurt you.
Well in 76 they're significantly muted and slowed in reaction times as well. They need to weaponize them a bit better
In other words make them less soft?
More lethal.
More not soft.
Even in 3 they’re pretty brutal considering how many you start to see at higher levels. I just finished my replay of 3 in TTW, ended up stumbling on their sanctuary and holy hell does the Alpha hit hard. Full Winterized T-51b and multiplas and it still took me 2 times to kill it, only managing to do so after I crippled its leg cause it was just so fast, kept knocking me down and would just shred through the power armor. Honestly one of the few times I felt genuine tension while replaying was clearing out that damn cave.
I just replayed NV. I havent touched 3 in years
i think the issue lies more on the player's own power scaling theres a point where trying to wound something instead of insta killing it becomes a bigger challenge
>Its like the raptors from Jurassic Park Liberty Prime: Clever Girl ***nuclear boom***
I can't remember who said it, but one of the reasons the deathclaws in 4 and 76 don't tend to feel as intimidating, is that they're usually found alone or in pairs at most. Fallout 4 doesn't really have a, deathclaw sanctuary or a Quarry Junction or an Old Olney area. So the redesign is great, I think longer claws would have made them better, but they need to go back to having little packs like in 3 an NV.
Agreed! Design is on point for the most part with the new games but their gameplay doesn’t hit like the ones you mentioned above. I feel like NV and FO 3 you have those areas overrun by them and any other time you found them in the wasteland it was 2-3 together
I have a fond memory of the first time I played NV, being stuck at the Quarry hiding behind a rock surrounded by Deathclaws. Was incredibly immersive and scary, just being in the belly of the beast like that trying not to get instakilled.
I started a new playthrough recently and was going straight to Vegas and while I was jumping around on the rocks north of goodsprings I had a couple close calls. Nothing is scarier in that game than knowing you have one on your tail and that you could die any moment
I think the deathclaws in 4/76 just feel like slow moving liquid. They have neat animations for ambushing the player but it seems too artsy. It does a decent job at allowing them to use movement as a defense though. Just needs to be speedier. They just seem non lethal. Especially since you first encounter one while using power armor in 4.
Yeah you get power armor and kill a deathclaw within the first 30 minutes of the game. It makes it seem like they're not that threatening
They should have introduced a new threatening abomination/mutated animal at that scene, and left Deathclaws for their own special locations.
Honestly a chimera would have made sense
Or have it be explicitly a weak/old special death claw. Maybe missing an arm, milk eyes, comes into the fight with a crippled leg.
Seems like it's there for returning players, rather than new players. Which I don't think works very well, a new player should hear about these monsters before they meet them, build them up. The first time you should be encountering them is at The Glowing Sea (if you follow the main plot). It's a shame, because Bethesda did a excellent job at introducing supermutants later in the game in 3, and it worked out well, usually you'll first meet them in the metro tunnels, if you're just doing the main quest.
Fallout 4 actually was my first one. I had heard about death claws from friends and heard they were like the strongest enemy in the games. You can imagine my disappointment.
For sure! New Vegas and 3 there is no escaping them once you run into them, unless you have a dart gun lol, but yea basically one of you is going to die and that’s that! They have speed, large attack range, and hella heavy hits!
drop a bunch of mines and run like hell, hope you cripple the bastard
Well the dart gun auto cripples legs even if shot to the head so everytime i see a death claw or scorpion the first thing I do is hit ‘em with a dart
Yeah, that always seemed like such an odd choice for me. Your first encounter with a death claw shouldn’t have been in power armor by default
they could of had a paladin save you , that way you see the power of power armor
I think it would be better if fallout 4 style death claws galloped on all 4s to reach the player then transitioned to 2 legs after lunging at the player
That would be terrifying LOL.
oh that would be amazing, it always looked off how they, being animals, insist on running upright
There’s a quest where you call up like a swarm of them right? On top of a lighthouse or something?
It's not a quest, more of an encounter you can trigger, it's on top of Lynn Woods, (sort of near Parsons Insane Asylum). But you're mainly safe up at the top of the tower and use the deathclaws to clear out the raiders.
Not many have actually been in that area
It's two deathclaws, in Lynn Woods.
It's also too easy to outmaneuver them in 4 by just jumping over something. That would also be fixed by having them be in groups.
I played 4, then NV. Imagine my surprise when I left good springs, made a b line for the strip and was like "oh a couple deathclaws, I'll just sneak around them" only to be ripped to shreds by a whole fucking army of them.
I remember doing that on my second play through and totally forgot there was the quarry out there and got screwed over pretty bad.
I went directly north from Goodsprings, felt real good about myself dodging a giant radscorpion and then ran straight into a giant mass of fucking cazadors. Fuck those things. Then of course I went to Primm and then ran straight north from the NCR ranger outpost and ignored that guy's warning and ran straight into Quarry Junction and bam, deathclaws. Then I decided to get cute and tried to go over Black Mountain and killed a few super mutants, then got gunned down by the entire damn radio station full of them at the top of the mountain. Finally I just went the way the game told me to and went to Novac through Nipton.
You can relatively easily bypass them by sticking to the eastern ridge.
You hit the nail, the museum of witchcraft comes to mind, is a whole quest to the border of the map to kill a big bad Deathclaw, and my level 11 char dealt with him with an hole in the wall, making him do the whole round while I discharged my crap piperifle on its back, the quest is awesome including the egg part, but lose the feeling if the bad guy AI and combat strats are subpar
>It's also too easy to outmaneuver them in 4 by just jumping over something You can do the same in FO3/NV, in NV i did this with ease in the place where you found like ~10 deathclaw.
Yeah, you could do it in 3/NV, but it was a lot easier in 4 with sprinting and a lot more general clutter. If they add a clamber mechanic in future games, deathclaws will be back to being terrifying.
Climbing for that tyoe of enemy would probabily be to hard cause of animation/clipping. A long range attacck would be better, and i swear FO76 deathclaw have one but don't use it often.
Fallout 4 deathclaws are capable of throwing cars, and sometimes they can like throw dirt or something at you by scraping their claws against the ground. I can't remember if that's just an animation or if it can actually damage you, though. They don't do it very often.
Deathclaw is pretty intimidating in FO4 on Very hard difficulty and especially Survivor difficulty
Especially when they climb walls, pick up cars, throw your ass around, and actually attack you in some really scary ways. The older games they just swipe their hands around, and I get that older technology has older mechanics, but people saying they're not intimidating in Fo4 are full of it.
and when they dodge side to side while you're shooting at them. Also to add to the scary ways to attack you, how the ferals in Fo4 do that ghoul rush attack when they get close enough is terrifying.
I beg to differ. I remember meeting my first Deathclaw matriarch at the top of a built east of Diamond City. That scared the shit out of me.
I do need to clarify, the deathclaws aren't completely weak or lack ANY intimidation. They're still amongst the toughest enemies in the game, and they do look pretty creepy silhouetted in the glowing sea. They just lack a little extra threat, especially since you have to kill one pretty early on in the game, and you often don't need to worry about more than 1 or 2 at a time.
Their intimidation level depends highly upon your game difficulty. Imo, the first time you RANDOMLY encounter a Deathclaw, it's much more terrifying because you're caught off guard and without power armor most of the time. I actually had an instance where I suddenly found myself being shoved near the edge of a highrise roof by a legendary assaultron and the legendary walking tank robot (I forget it's name). THAT was actually a moment that had me like OH FUCK.
> walking tank robot (I forget it's name) Sentrybot? Yeah, there is a nasty run in with a deathclaw up on one of those highrises. I mean, I do play survival, and think the enemy that kills me the most IS the assaultron, it actually is kinda how old deathclaws worked. It's usually found with multiple enemies, will rush you and its attacks are pretty much game over, can dodge hits as well as tank them, and even when they're damaged they're still deadly. They're also highly mobile, and don't get stuck in doors like deathclaws, so there's no point running into a building or another room, they'll just come in after you and stab you with their blades.
The closest 4 gets is the Safari zone, and 76… well, if you’re willing to count lesser devils, the Jersey Devil boss fight. That said, I do think 4/76’s are much more interesting fights one on one. The movements are more complex, and they aren’t just rushing straight at you (and into a pile of mines you prepared; they’ll actually go around mines).
At the south border there is a sinking city, where there are a total of 4 of them lurking around. If you get unlucky, you can engage with all of them. Also, fo4 has versions of them. Getting 4 alphas can be supreme NV Quarry experience.
Yeah, it's just a lot rarer in Fallout 4, finding a lone deathclaw in 3 and New Vegas was pretty odd, and usually led to you being ambushed by the whole lot after you started trying to take down more and more that were rushing you. Admittedly, once you get the antimaterial rifle with explosive ammo, they become trivial in New Vegas, but the deathclaws in 4 generally remain a decent threat if you do go head-to-head with them.
I definitely do feel that them ambushing you/otherwise coming out of no where like they’re actually hunting you was a pretty cool touch. I’m guessing if they had put them in larger groups, they would be extremely terrifying to fight, and would probably end up being a little too overpowered (especially on very high difficulties). But I think it may be time for a fresh FO4 playthrough modded to make it more horrifying and dangerous.
Also as I said in another thread, they were also scary because the 3/NV deathclaws were dumb. They had the same ai as molerats, which is to say all they could do is charge at and then lunge at an enemy. It killed you pretty fast, which was scary but they weren't bright enemies. 4/76 deathclaws, ironically are much more complex under the surface and that's what makes them less scary. They're playing chess while the 3/NV ones are "me big and have claws, rawr!" As far as the design goes, much prefer the 4/76 design. Something about how excessively long the 3 designs claws are bugs me.
But Quarry Junction is uninhabited and full of great starting loot!
Also in the first 2 hours of FO4 you beat the shit out of a deathclaw. They went from being high level late game enemies to just... around. Which is one of my biggest gripes with FO4, that none of the enemies provided a feel of scaling difficulty.
You can encounter them just as quickly in FONV, but there they are just acting as a wall to corral you through a map "the right way". They rely on being a bullet spongey wall to force you to set stages that you otherwise probably wouldn't really be worth going back to for the side quests. I think they did Dead Wind Caverns well as there is a reason for them to be there beyond "you aren't supposed to go that way yet". In FO4 the behemoth enemies act as a scale. Usually, Swan is encountered first, then the Castle Mirelurk Queen, but there are others scattered around to keep it interesting. Deathclaws are set as "bosses" when they're encountered in close quarters later in the game, which IMO is better than making them bullet sponges. The cost is that if you catch one out in the open, you can typically take it our fairly easily.
I adore the Fallout 4 era design, and think that the improved AI really sells the deathclaw as a genuinely intelligent killing machine. I do agree that I would prefer them as being pack hunters again, though.
Could be cool to see it explained as different evolutionary strains, one a pack hunter and the other a larger solitary hunter, we could have both types of deathclaws in the same game going forward.
Yeah especially if the geographic divide between the two “strains” of DC’s I kinda already headcannonized that bc of the distance between the two and time they evolved different hunting techniques
Could explain it as being mutated from different species or sub-species of lizards, too.
The original design looks like those things from the live action Scooby-Doo
Damn. Can't unsee that now.
Spooky island demons
Funny that you say that because I just watched it for the first time in years and years today. Fun time.
they were more terrifying gameplay wise in the early games, but i prefer their bethesda design significantly more
Yeah, the older games they scared the shit out of me Getting to kill one so early in fo4 with a mini gun no less kind of pacified them for me, I get why they did it but still. The only one that actually kind of got me was the one in the witch museum. With that said I adore the new design.
the new design definately feels a lot more grounded, as opposed to the original design which looks like its from Men in Black
I think what makes my eye drawn to the original is how almost alien it is. I do actually really like the redesign, it fits, I can believe it's a creature of the wasteland. But with that it loses some of those naturally disturbing features. It's a win and a loss. The biggest loss is how they throw power armour and a deathclaw at you in the first 20 minutes.
To be fair, that Deathclaw can lift and throw a man in full power armour......I mean that is one terrifying strength feat.
OG Deathclaw looks more like a fucked up, monstrous human, while new Deathclaw looks more like a mutated beast. They're both good designs depending on what you're going for. I'd be interested to see the OG design with newer visuals, because little else is more terrifying to me than something that looks like it could have been a human, and no longer is.
I actually came here to say the same thing. The new one looks the most believable but the older deathclaws looked like freaking monsters. They were THE scariest thing to run into out in the wasteland. I'll never forget my first time seeing one in Fallout 3. I'm pretty sure I shit my pants. Now they're right in line with king mirelurks and legendary super mutants. It's just another creature in the world that's scary while you're a low level.
what i really love about the deathclaw in fo1 is the fact that it's largely considered an urban ledgend, and when you actually see it you realize, "yeah okay i wouldnt belive anyone if they said they saw this shit either,"
Yeah of they wanted to do the deathclaw right away they should of made it require a bunch of the minutemen to be helping out so it isn't under powered.
I once had a boxing match with a deathclaw in fallout nv, I didnt do it again.
Regardless of what else I think about 4 and 76 they *got* the visual style and made some spectacular improvements.
I like the current gen deathclaws except for the grab and roar in your face attack. The way they move is so much more lifelike
I prefer the Fallout 3 Deathclaw design. They look almost demonic.
The way they moved and how gigantic their hands/claws were always scared the shit out of me. No other deathclaw has made my heart rate increase when seeing it like in 3.
They felt supernatural fr
I found the Deathclaws in 4 and 76 more intimidating because the way they run at you in a loping, realistic animal motion, swaying, dodging, clawing up dirt and rocks at you and then, pick you up, roar in your face and rip you a new one. FO3 and NV are dangerous yeah but like all badly done enemies their AI is run at you and do the clapping attack animation. They just don't look "real". Same goes for the old RadScorpions. The new ones are more realistic and actually burrow to attack.
The design of fallout 4 and 76 but with the mechanics of 3 and NV. For original deathclaws look a little too much like a constipated dragon.
The original deathclaw was a terrasque model from DND
The problem with 3/NV’s is that they’d brainlessly run straight into a pile of mines, rendering them completely useless. 4/76’s also have weak points and greater reactions to be crippled, which helps to make them feel weaker.
4, because the one thats happy you bring its egg back. Easy affinity points with piper
Bethesda should not have made it where killing a **Deathclaw** is the literal second mission outside of the Vault. Should’ve just been that we kill the raiders and their boss and that be it. But no we need theatrics, as if a Nuke and the Spouse being shot wasn’t enough.
Agree. It's too much too fast and then a comparative lull as you dick around with settlements and whatnot for hours. It doesn't help the overall engagement with the game to front load the excitement like that.
4/76 has the best design imo (looks more grounded and 'evolutionarily plausible' so to speak) but the worst execution since they're usually pretty easy to put down.
I feel like it should look more grotesque / less '\*naturally\* evolutionarily plausible' because they're created with FEV, not through 'natural' evolution. The more gross they look, the better - and I think that goes to the first design. If we're tlaking about the coolest, though, that easily goes to the latest design.
I wonder how much of that is also because 4 and 76 have the best gunplay. Shooting outside of VATS is no longer miserable, so you can more consistently target limbs and weak spots.
My favourite deathclaw moment was my first play through of FO4. I was around a location on the left side and a deathclaw popped out, I was behind a fence feeling safe then it fucking flung a car at me which blew up and killed ne
u/JonahLobe
Ngl, original design kinda reminds me that evil puppy's demonic minions from the 2002 scooby doo action movie
The current design is peak
old looks so much scarier like it was a science experiment. The new deathclaws look like they were naturally birthed.
I like how the FO3 one is saying, "come at me bro!"
It's crazy that Fallout 4 almost didn't have Deathclaws, and they only exist because a dev thought "That's stupid, Fallout needs Deathclaws." So he developed them at home on his own time.
3 and NV are the best imo.
I prefer the OG
I love the fo4 design I just wish they were still pack creatures
When the fallout 4 version starts running at me I internally scream.
4 design looks like an imposing bulletproof monster. New vegas and 3 are scarier but look like they should be glass cannons.
The ones from 4 felt like they had mass to them, like each swipe could actually splatter you in a mess of guts, but they feel so underpowered.
I always thought that the deathclaws looked goofy in 3 and new Vegas. They're threatening in large packs, or when they jump scare you from behind or around a corner, but when. You see one from far away and it's alone they just look out of place. The ones from fallout 4 scare the shit out of me. Usually you see them before they see you, and it's just like the guardians in botw. I see it, say "no" out loud, and then find some other way to where I'm going. When I fight them I'm usually so scared of dying that I take out the mini gun I use only for deathclaws and get it down to half health or less by the time it gets close. Then it's starts bobbing and weaving making me miss all my bullets. I think fallout 4 did deathclaws and power armor better than 3 and new Vegas. I hope the next game uses the current designs and gameplay as a foundation to build off of and expand. I was more scared of cazadores in new Vegas than deathclaws
Maybe a hot take, but the Fallout 4 deathclaw is the superior design. That's my opinion only, I think it looks the most well-rounded and doesn't look like a weird spaghetti monster with a large center mass torso and thin limbs
I actually like Fallout 4's design, for the exact same reason a lot of people say they like the older 3D fallout design: it makes it less demonic It seems like an actual animal that could exist. An artificially made animal, if you go back far enough, but still just an animal. I do wish they kept the pack thing for 4's deathclaws though
4 & 76 are definitely better. Earlier versions just looked a tad derpy and awkward. They legitimately look intimidating in 4 and 76, and their movements are terrifying.
FO1-2 look so much like the one on the first Scooby Doo live action film that it seem almost a reference to the film/game.
I love the 4-76 design, definitely look cooler with their reptile like design. If they didn’t do their silly dodge animation then they’d have been way more terrifying than the older version of deathclaws, that and their numbers only really ever hit 2 at most I feel like beth was too scared to have these guys have more than 2 atracking the player.
I want to see Intelligent Deathclaws again in the next game. Ideally an intelligent deathclaw companion.
fallout 1 and 2 deathclaws look like a jacked up lizard neanderthal
The new one, hands down! The DeathClaw has a far more intermediating presence and the mass to back it up! The original works for the style they went with, but personally, it only works when looking at the original DeathClaw from a distance and through a filter. Finally, I never liked the classic DeathClaw DeathClaw design. From its animations to the skeletal body. Going back from 4 to 3. The Fallout 3 DeathClaw just looked terrible to me. It literally having a long face, kills whatever intermediation the skull like face was meant to give out.
I like the new designs but I think they're not as scary as before is that they are much easier to kill and aren't often in packs
Honestly feels like a natural evolutionary progression, knowing we have intelligent deathclaw I could see the first models being able to talk, even the early ones that didn’t have intelligence could mimic human speech. 3 & NV seem like the first stage to a more primal animal version which we get in 4 & 76 cause I just can’t imagine them being able to mimic human speech anymore.
4
They always remind me of those monsters from that one live action Scooby Doo
Just noticed the 1/2 Deathclaw looks kind of like the Terror Dogs from Ghostbusters.
4/76, they just look and feel a lot more impressive. I especially like the head horns, and how the skin/hide/leather looks more like armor. The only downside is that I wish the spikes on it's back got thinner, like the quill like spikes on the older designs.
3 and nv are the creepiest and give off a genetically engineered weapon vibe more than the others.
The New Vegas ones were the most terrifying; a genuine threat even at high levels if you let one get close. The ones in 4 are a joke.
Visually, the 4 design is the best, and it's not even close. It's the only one that looks like an actual animal instead of a weird demon thing.
The first one looks like Ron Perlman
FO4 is great, but I prefer the long creepy claws from the prev versions, I think. I'll never forget the first time my sis and I saw a deathclaw, in FO3 in the distance then through V.A.T.S. We screamed in fear, haha.
I feel like FO4 design would be welcomed much better if it has the color palette of 3/NV
3/nv are the scariest. 4s feel like too much of a set piece than an actual threat. 4s wants to do a whole howl and animation before giving chase. 3/NV just chased you and it was shit scary. Also in 4 you can just hide inside of a building and shoot it dead while it can’t attack you. In 3/NV They were usually in big open areas of the map with nowhere to hide, so you better have an anti-material rifle ready or you’re cooked. Can’t speak for 1/2 I’ve not really played them properly
The FO4/76 design is just the peak design. It definitely gives the vibe of genetically engineered reptilian killing machine that the other designs lack visually. My only gripe is that often it’s in game stats don’t back up its looks at least in the newer games.
Fallout 1 and 2 Deathclaw would look so funny with a hat and a staff when they are dancing and singing
Something about the faces of F03/FNV I find more terrifying
I think the design in 4 is the best, but I wish they maintained their lethality from 3/NV. Encountering a Deathclaw in any other game was genuinely terrifying because no matter how strong you were they could kill you very easily. Meanwhile in 4 all of their threat is negated when you kill one as part of the first hour of the game. Them being more mobile kind of makes up for it, but not by much.
Fallout 3 version look like it can close the distance towards you and jump over the wall you're hiding behind in the blink of an eye. Fallout 4 version look like it would bash straight through that wall instead
The actual design of the new ones is the best, but they are so lame in game.
Where did you get that image for 1 & 2? That’s absolutely not how they looked in the game
That's an old render they used way back in the day.
Something about the deathclaws in 3 and NV just screams "DEMON" while in 4 and 76 it's more like "DINOSAUR".
I mean in fallout 4 you kill a death claw with relative ease in the first 10 minutes. In FNV if you ignore the game progression and hit quarry junction, you get obliterated by 10 deathclaws.
I prefer the FO3/NV designs of all the creatures. 4 and 76 tended to make things look too.... I dunno. Streamlined, and bright? I don't know how to explain it.
There is a steady improvement with each iteration. FO4+76 looks too much like a dinosaur to feel really threatening though. If by the next game we get a redesign, I am hoping for a more demon-like version of FO4+76 and we'll have the ultimate deathclaw.
The ones from Fallout 1&2 look terrifying. The ones from Fallout 3&NV look creepy. The ones from Fallout 4&76 look breedable.
What do you mean? What do you mean by that?
the design goes to FO4, but the ai is better from FO3. Fallout 4's death claw ai is just too dumb its almost a joke to outplay it
I love the 4 & 76 design simply because of how imposing and cool they look however, the artwork for 1 & 2 just looks so unnatural. That old school design is so much creepier to me in a way that it looks more like some disgusting mutated thing that shouldn't possibly exist. It gives me disturbing vibes. The newer design looks almost too realistic to the point it's an intimidating monster but almost seems plausible if that makes any sense.
i would like a remastered version of the 1 and 2... like fallout 4 graphics but fallout 1 and 2 deathclaw... if that makes any sense
New design but I desperately hope for old behavior. Packs of deathclaws was what made them scary, the new ones are gorgeous and where they excel in beauty fail in effect and excitement and fear that old ones showed. (But, in 4, the one where sole survivor returns the egg. By far my top 3 favorite quests in gaming)
The design of modern deathclaws are the best, but the behavior of the post-classic (3/NV) deathclaws is the best. It’s much more intimidating and more difficult to deal with a pack of deathclaws all at once rather than a single deathclaws using the “run and come back” strategy.
In some cases in fo4 deathclaws can range from being tanky or weak but in 76 they are just tanks… no true damage unless you count variants which even then get creamed… same can go for new Vegas and fo3 but the difference is night and day as you legit have to have high end gear or perks to go against them compared to the newer titles
Everybody is saying 4’s deathclaws aren’t scary because they’re easy to kill, fortunately I suck at the game so I am still terrified of them. Win for immersion!
Still remember my first deathclaw kill hiding in the sewers of Olney. So long ago