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3 more Bethesda games that deserve the pinball treatment

What might Bethesda Pinball 2 look like?

3 more Bethesda games that deserve the pinball treatment
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| Bethesda Pinball

Zen Studios is bringing Bethesda Pinball to mobile tomorrow, allowing us to flip and bump our way through tables themed after Fallout, Doom, and The Elder Scrolls.

No one makes virtual pinball games as consistently well as Zen, and there's something wonderfully incongruous about the whole concept. Whether it's a dragon blurting out the ball in a stream of fire, a super mutant lobbing extra balls, or a space marine blasting a giant demon while you play, it's all looking delightfully kitsch.

A large part of that appeal, of course, is down to the distinctive and beloved worlds Bethesda tends to create and facilitate.

Which got us to thinking: which other Bethesda properties would benefit from the pinball treatment? What might a prospective Bethesda Pinball 2 look like? Here are some ideas.

Dishonored

Dishonored 2 recently hit the shops for console and PC, to widespread critical acclaim. The original was a stealthy, improvisation-heavy spiritual successor to first-person masterpieces like Thief and Deus Ex, and the sequel provides more of the same - only better.

More importantly, while it's not as well established as the iconic games in Bethesda Pinball, Dishonored's world is just as rich. Set in kind of alternate universe steampunk victorian era where crudely futuristic machinery is powered by whale oil, it'd certainly make for a visually alluring pinball table.

Possible pinball features: a 'Blink' bonus that lets you teleport the ball by stopping a shifting pointer, a bonus 'alternative route' lane that lets you sneak around the back of a watching guard Wolfenstein

If the other games on this list lack a little of the heritage of the existing Bethesda Pinball, the same can't be said of Wolfenstein. In fact, it precedes them all.

Wolfenstein 3D hit the PC in 1992, a year before Doom. It pre-empted the latter game's early first person shooter gameplay as you took control of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz in his one-man fight against technically advanced alternate-history Nazis. Subtle it wasn't. A recent reboot has revitalised the franchise.

Possible pinball features: a bonus area where you have to pelt a giant cyber-enhanced Hitler with pinballs, treasure bonuses stashed behind hidden panels The Evil Within

This is the most recent and least well known property of the lot, but it could make for a compelling pinball table concept. The Evil Within is essentially Bethesda's very own Resident Evil - it was even directed by original RE creator Shinji Mikami.

The point is that it would allow for some classic schlocky elements and screamy sound effects, as well as the potential to bash hideous abominations in the face with a metal ball. Which is always nice.

Possible pinball features: a creature with a safe for a head as the centrepiece, a crossbow-shooting mini-game, a zombie that needs to be hit precisely in the head and then quickly 'burned' by hitting a 'lighter' trigger
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.