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Fallout is one of the most iconic video game franchises of the 21st century and for good reason. While many people’s first exposure to the post-apocalyptic RPG was the hit Prime Video show, it’s been popular with gamers for much longer. For me, my first exposure was the hit games of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, but where I really fell in love with this story was Fallout 4. 

Gameplay: 2

In many ways, the gameplay of Fallout 4 matches a lot of the gameplay from earlier titles. You are exploring a major city, in this case Boston, that has been hit by atomic bombs and are trying to uncover more about the main story. There are countless points of interest to discover with unique stories, side quests, and rewards, all culminating in completing the main story of finding your son. 

While the skeleton is similar to the other games, the level of detail and polish on this game were truly next-generation at release and hold up to this day. Starting with the combat, in previous iterations of the series, the combat felt very stiff and janky. It was a part of the game that you did to continue stories and wasn’t very satisfying, having players essentially spam V.A.T.S. in every firefight. However, in Fallout 4, it’s truly one of the highlights. Each weapon and its customization options are incredible, and the fighting feels much more fluid and overall fun. Something I appreciate too is that all combat styles are viable and all have the same level of detail to them. If you want to be a sniper, a power armor enthusiast, or Grognac the Barbarian and hit people with sticks, all of those options and more feel well designed. It gives you endless replayability to this game and, in my opinion, the peak of fighting in any Bethesda title.

Another key difference this game introduced was the base building mechanics. At launch, there was a lot of discussion around it feeling tacked on and people not understanding it, but as it developed, it became one of the highlights of the game. The scenery you see in Fallout games that really strikes a chord is how people are living in the hellscape and trying to scrape by. This feature lets you not only experience walking through someone else’s post-apocalyptic homestead, but allows you the flexibility and creativity to make countless versions of your own. You can focus on making a fortress for your Minutemen to defend (Another Settlement is under attack) and optimizing trade routes between your many settlements, or create unique styles for each one of the bases and dress the settlers to match that vibe. Add in the additional DLC content and the support of some helpful mods for the PC version, and your creativity can really run wild. The feature I really liked about this was as it was the first iteration of the feature, you really got the most bang for your buck, compared to future titles like Fallout 76 where they tied customizations to microtransactions.

Story: 2

The story in this game is great, and incredibly close to perfect. I tend to believe that earlier Fallout games tend to have better main stories and characters, but that is not to say it is bad by any stretch. The many different endings and warring factions you can side with or against do give a lot of replayability and flexibility based on your play style. I think there are a lot of strong quests and strong stories to be told in the Commonwealth, but it has some areas I could see improvement, mainly the length compared to previous titles. 

The biggest one that always comes up is the voiced protagonist. In earlier games, you would respond to prompts with an exact selection of dialogue. Fallout 4 introduced roughly four options to pick from during dialogue prompts but with a very low-level explanation of the response. I often find that the words or delivery of the dialogue is disproportionate to the selection I made, and feels out of place without the context. It also feels like the removal of choice in the sense that the dialogue is all similar. It is really hard to have an “evil” playthrough or certain styles of earlier games, and it feels like the dialogue tree is several versions that get to the same result. 

The voice acting is great, and it’s not entirely on the voiced protagonist. The removal of choice and consequence for dialogue is really the focus here. It is frustrating compared to earlier games, and really my biggest complaint about the game. It does not detract from the amount of fun you will have with this game, but when looking with a critical eye against earlier games in the series, it’s worth noting. While it does have an impact on the story, it mostly falls under a mechanical critique. It wades in between being a negative change versus a positive direction forward for future games. While my initial expectation was to dislike a spoken main character, after playing it made the cinematography and pacing of the dialogue better, even if it felt simplified from the previous titles.

Atmosphere: 2

One of the most iconic things about the Fallout games to me has always been the world-building and destroyed scenery you walk through. The worlds are so beautifully broken and full of details like two skeletons sitting on a dock sharing beers, as they clearly sat there as the bombs went off. The amount of effort that went into things you may see for just a second in a game you spend hundreds of hours with is truly remarkable and gives this game so much life. 

The radio feature is also one of my favorite things about this series, and it shines again in Fallout 4. It adds a level of flair listening to these old-timey chart-topping songs as you walk through a bombed-out city block, or hear the DJ tell you about the “great green jewel of the Commonwealth” in his shaky voice. There is something so relaxing about throwing on your favorite station in the game and just setting out into the wild of the world to scavenge for supplies that puts you right in the heart of your character. If you want to make the game far more terrifying, try playing it without the radio on and head into any subway. 

Focusing in on Boston, they absolutely nailed the city itself and did a fantastic job at tying its history into the Fallout universe. They have all the key landmarks like Bunker Hill and Fenway Park to keep you grounded with reality while adding some of their own to add to the deep lore of the game. The holodecks you find all have great Boston accents and keep you immersed while walking through the rubble of New England.

Value: 2

The quests, settlement building, and storyline definitely keep you playing, but my main love for this game is just exploration. Throwing on my favorite radio station and setting off down a block in downtown Boston or exploring a bombed-out crater in the Glowing Sea still gives me that sense of exploring a new world even after so many playthroughs. The world that they built to explore is so endless and detailed that you can find yourself tens of hours in before even starting the main storylines, all while enjoying the time spent. Overall, I would say you will get great value out of this game no matter how you play it, and it is well worth whatever price tag it’s selling at, but I would note it does frequently go on sale if you are looking to save. Right now its base price is $19.99 on Steam for the base game, which for my hundreds of hours of playtime is certainly worth it, and only $39.99 for the GOTY version with all the DLC.

Duration: 2

I have put countless hours into this game across multiple consoles over the years since its release. The stories are so iconic and the world so fun to explore that I can get lost for hours on end just exploring the open world and still find stuff I never experienced before, from easter eggs to how to approach mission objectives. The endless possibilities in character design and massive perk options really give you free rein to explore different builds and play the game completely differently than you had before, and it feels like a brand new game every time. 

The amount of things to do in this game is staggering. The countless quests and side quests are the obvious focus of the story, but some people spend hundreds of hours just designing their settlements. There are a wide variety of endings that can be achieved by siding with the different factions, which all have wildly different storylines that really enable you to replay countless times and experience entirely new ways for the story to go. 

Total Score: 10/10

Fallout 4 is one of my favorite games of all time. While I think some earlier versions of Fallout have better stories, I still think overall this is the best Fallout game ever made. The world that they built to explore is so full of detail and unique areas to discover; you can wander around for hundreds of hours and completely ignore the main story. The modern combat is a huge upgrade to earlier titles, and is the most satisfying I have seen in any RPG. While rumours swirl about the next Fallout title and remakes in the works, this still holds up as a premier game to play in the meantime.

While we wait to see if the rumors are true that Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are getting remakes, which is your favorite game in the series? If you haven’t tried Fallout or Fallout 2 yet, you might want to check out this article first.