I remember the reveal of Fallout 4 like it was yesterday, with the hype of a countdown timer expiring on June 3rd, 2015. It was a new title from Bethesda Game Studios, finally announcing it nearly four years after the blockbuster success of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Not only that, but the emergency broadcast styling and “Please Stand By” could only mean one thing: A new Fallout, the first in a little over four years. Players could finally traipse into the Wasteland once more and witness the brilliance of Bethesda, nay, director Todd Howard’s next big work.
An in-game trailer aired, showcasing the new Commonwealth setting. The contrast between the pre- and post-apocalypse, complete with a new dog companion navigating their surroundings. The massive Vault 111 door opens up, revealing the outside world for the first time. A naval ship dry-docked at a town, a city street at night with a gumshoe-looking character that would become one of the more well-regarded Fallout companions, the expanse of the world, Power Armor, Deathclaws, Vertibirds, Ghouls – it was all here and then some. Fallout was back.
However, as some fans celebrated the return of their favorite tropes and the new setting, combing the trailer for details, others were a bit mixed, particularly with the visuals. Fallout 4 didn’t look terrible, but considering The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt dropped less than a month prior, expectations were significantly higher. Also, this was Bethesda – a company whose magnum opus, Skyrim, spurred comparisons between nearly every other open-world title for years. Many viewed The Witcher 3 as the title that finally surpassed it in many ways. Now, Fallout 4 was revealed, and these were the visuals one could expect?
It was early days, and while some were annoyed at the visual quality, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the gameplay. E3 2015 occurred on June 14th, and Bethesda hosted its first-ever showcase. About 34 minutes were dedicated to director Todd Howard taking to the stage and revealed extensive gameplay for Fallout 4.
The new character creation system, the opening sequence where players would experience pre-nuclear life (and set their S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats), and the mad sprint to Vault 111 when the bombs dropped – it was a magical thing to witness. From there, we receive glimpses at the post-nuclear Commonwealth and some of its main sights, a quick look at combat and V.A.T.S. and, of course, meeting Dogmeat for the first time.
But that’s not all – Bethesda announced a wearable Pip-Boy included with its $119.99 collector’s edition. Such was the hype that it immediately sold out. It required slotting one’s phone into and running an app to mimic the look and feel of a Pip-Boy, as opposed to operating as an independent device of RobCo prowess, but still! Howard would then announce Fallout Shelter, a mobile title where players managed their own Vault, for release on the same day and then some more Fallout 4 gameplay focused on building.
Yes, building – you could now create your own settlement, complete with turrets for self-defense. Other NPCs could even live there and contribute to your community. There was still more to behold, from weapon crafting and Power Armor customization to gunplay and various enemies, including a showdown against a Deathclaw while wearing Power Armor. Before the showcase ended, Howard revealed that the Vault 111 numbers resolved into something else – 11-10-15 or November 10th 2015, the release date. Yes, Fallout 4 would launch in the same year, just six months after its announcement.
As some of us indulged in Fallout Shelter, obsessing over those Lunch Boxes (with more purchasable via microtransactions), the hype for Fallout 4 was palpable. It finally launched to positive critical reviews, with Metascores of 84 on PC, 87 on PS4 and 88 on Xbox One.
The combat, presentation, exploration and “thought-provoking” narrative earned it praise, to say nothing of all the awards and nominations (including winning Game of the Year at the 19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards). The sales were equally impressive, with 12 million units shipped in the first 24 hours, with 1.2 million copies sold on Steam. Undoubtedly, it was another success for Bethesda.
As fans binged the title, immersing themselves in the Commonwealth, venturing to the Museum of Witchcraft and meeting a terrifying surprise, exploring the Dunwich Borers and the ghostly secrets that lay within, learning about HalluciGen and their experiments, building settlements and the region as a whole. It faced the usual slate of issues with performance and glitches, more so on PS4 and Xbox One than on PC. However, as more players spent time with the game, the complaints steadily piled up.
The main quest was considered short. The controls on PC weren’t the best for keyboard and mouse users, likely because they were optimized for consoles first and foremost. The simplified dialogue system made for awkward interactions and was considered a poor substitute for simply providing exact responses. On top of this, players felt that many of the dialogue choices resulted in the same conclusion.
The infamous “Yes, No (Yes), Sarcastic Yes,” and “Question, Then Yes” memes, which reflected certain exchanges that could occur throughout the main quest, also didn’t help perceptions surrounding the same. Believe it or not, some even had issues with the voiced protagonist, believing it ruined the immersion (which probably explains their removal in Starfield). Nevertheless, the backlash against the dialogue system was significant enough that even Todd Howard acknowledged that it didn’t “work as well” and it was “less successful than other things in the game.”
The criticism didn’t stop there, however. Some consider the settlement building to be pointless in the grand scheme of things. Others wanted Preston Garvey, who led the Minutemen faction before quickly relinquishing control to the player, to stop telling them a new settlement needs their help. Some felt the role-playing options were non-existent, with no reputation or good/evil systems.
Despite releasing in 2015, there were still no native FoV sliders – PC players had to access and modify the .ini file to adjust it. Long loading times, dull faction quests, a lackluster story (where you were once again looking for a family member) and endings, quest design as a whole – the list went on. Some critics echoed these complaints; others noted the lack of any significant deviation from Bethesda’s traditional Fallout formula.
However, there was praise for other things, from Power Armor feeling weighty and powerful to the improved gunplay. Some lamented that Fallout 4 felt like a looter shooter, while others embraced it and the improved VATS (though melee combat still didn’t feel the best).
Plenty of comparisons were made to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its writing for the characters and quests, not to mention the gorgeous visuals (though it also launched with its fair share of issues). With Fallout 4, there seemed like less willingness to forgive Bethesda in any number of departments, not the least of which includes its continued reliance on the Creation Engine.
Despite all this, Fallout 4 did have some fans – even the positive Steam user reviews outweighed the negative at launch. However, the sentiment among long-time fans, is that even if it was a good game, Fallout 4 was a mediocre Fallout game (combined with proclaiming its depth to be a “mile wide and an inch deep”).
While it continued to support the title, fixing bugs and other issues, official mod support wasn’t available yet. It arrived in April 2016 for PC, followed by Xbox One in May and November for PS4. That wasn’t the decision that drew the most ire, though.
When Bethesda first announced the Season Pass before the game’s launch for $29.99. Those who purchased it would “get you all of the Fallout 4 DLC we ever do for just $30,” proclaiming that the DLC would be worth “at least $40.” It also promised that if more DLC were produced, Season Pass holders would get it all. However, in February 2016, Bethesda announced it was expanding its plan, raising the price of the Season Pass to $49.99 from March 1st. Fans who purchased it were set and would receive additional content as planned.
However, those who chose to wait and see the Season Pass’s offerings had to buy into it immediately or pay more later. It also didn’t help that only three DLC packs – Automatron, Wasteland Workshop and Far Harbor – had been revealed. The other content was still relatively unknown. Good thing Bethesda timed this decision to just a few weeks before Automatron.
When it finally dropped, the DLC offered some minor story content and the option to build robots and have them as companions. Not the worst set of options, but it’s far from the riveting DLC that fans expected. Wasteland Workshop, which arrived in April, faced even more stringent criticism.
Despite being billed as providing traps to capture Raiders and even Deathclaws to have them battle in arenas, some felt that such features should have been free or that modders would add them in and probably do a better job. The fact that the arenas were inconsequential didn’t help, and neither did the DLC prove to make a compelling argument for the Season Pass with so much focus on settlement building.
Far Harbor, the first story expansion, finally arrived in May and was thankfully well received. Its story-telling was like night and day, with real impactful choices, interesting characterization, and a unique location. You would think that your choices determining the main story’s outcome would have been something implemented in the base game, but better late than never.
Unfortunately, Bethesda would follow up with two more settlement-focused DLC – Contraptions Workshop and Vault-Tec Workshop. You would think that creating complex factory lines or having a vacant Vault to set up a settlement would be cool, but these DLC proved otherwise. They also reinforced that these should have either been in the base game or added for free. Nuka-World rounded off the Season Pass when it launched in August, providing another story-focused expansion.
The main characters consisted mainly of raider factions vying for power in the titular theme park and weren’t nearly as appealing as Far Harbor’s NPCs, nor did the areas feel inspired. You could lead a raider gang and assault your settlements in the Commonwealth to be “evil”, but, again, it barely affected the overarching storyline or state of the world.
So there you have it – a generally well-received launch, followed by introspection and backlash from some fans on Fallout 4’s shortcomings and book-ended by a lackluster Season Pass (which is still rated Mostly Negative on Steam to this day). The end, right? Well, no, because Bethesda hadn’t quite had enough.
In August 2017, Bethesda released the Creation Club, a platform for paid mods. It allowed players to purchase Credits with real money and use these to acquire said mods, which included such additions as weapons, Pip-Boy redesigns, a Power Armor set that paid homage to Oblivion’s infamous horse armor DLC and other such inconsequential additions. Given how vehemently the player base revolted against paid mods for Skyrim, it was viewed as a renewed effort from Bethesda to monetize the hard work of modders.
Bethesda’s Pete Hines would dispute that these were paid mods, telling Tek Syndicate at PAX West, “One of the reasons this is not paid mods when they (referring to modders) are working for us it’s a job. They’re not getting paid only if the stuff sells, they’re getting paid like an external contractor all along the way, so the risk is removed for them.”
You can decide for yourself whether that reasoning is sound, but modders could still go about creating free mods if they wanted. Furthermore, existing mods couldn’t suddenly be converted into paid mods, which is one potentially abusable loophole that Bethesda accounted for.
Over time, Fallout 4 would slink into the background, maintaining a respectably solid player base. Mod support also continued unhindered, even with the Creation Club’s existence. Sure, it would get a poorly received VR version that no one likes to talk about and saw some review bombing when Fallout 76 launched, with everyone rightfully angry at its state, but that happened with several Bethesda games. For the most part, it seemed many saw how much worse things could be with Fallout 76 and took solace in what Fallout 4 had to offer.
With the positive response to Amazon’s Fallout TV show, several new players are starting to discover Fallout 4 for the first time. Those who spent dozens, even hundreds of hours on the game also returned with a new appreciation for what it does. Regardless of the things that leave long-time fans divided to this day, there’s no denying it’s a Fallout game. Good or bad, underwhelming or underrated – that perception lies with the players and how they approach the wasteland.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.