Fallout 4 Next-Gen Review – A Stunning Upgrade But Does It Fulfill Fan Expectations?

Introduction to Fallout 4’s Remastered Version

Fallout as a franchise is in a tremendously weird place right now. It’s more popular than it’s ever been, thanks to an instant-hit TV adaptation driving interest back to the franchise. Still, it hasn’t had a new game release in almost an entire console generation’s worth of time, and Bethesda’s next new title is sometime in the distant future, so far away that it almost doesn’t even feel like it’s happening.

And even considering Fallout 76‘s launch in 2018 and Fallout 4‘s in 2015, the last game in the series widely regarded as worthy of its name was back in 2010, two complete console cycles ago. So, when the best Bethesda can do to capitalize on this surge in player interest is the previously-announced remastering of Fallout 4, well, that had better be a damn good port. So, is this release set to reinvigorate this aging franchise?

Major Updates and Features in the New Port

I will start by explicitly talking about the port, which is probably what you’re here for if you’ve already played Fallout 4 on the console. To Bethesda’s rare credit regarding cross-generational ports, this update is entirely free to all current owners. Finally, it brings the game up to a steady 60 frames per second (the console versions were previously locked to 30 frames even with the “Pro” console updates, as the base Xbox One and PlayStation 4 couldn’t even hit a consistent 30). It also includes a graphics-focused option that remains locked at 30 frames and several small Creation Club quest lines.

If you aren’t familiar with how Creation Club and mods worked on consoles, players could only use game mods that did not add any additional assets to the game on PlayStation consoles. Still, Bethesda’s Creation Club mitigated this issue by allowing mod creators to submit their work to official storefronts with a price tag. Paid mods were not a good idea at the time, and still aren’t, but having some of this now be accessible to all players is a decent olive branch. That being said, none of the new content is worth returning to the game if you have already completed everything the first time, as they’re just small bites of non-canon worldbuilding that give new equipment for rewards.

Gameplay and Mechanics: What’s Changed?

I happened to miss Fallout 4‘s original release and don’t have access to a good gaming PC or an Xbox Series X. The PlayStation 5 version can still be an enjoyable experience, even though you’re not getting access to the vast majority of mods. This is easily the best the game has ever looked, and though the additional bug fixes are far from comprehensive, this is the most functional it’s ever been.

It’s just a bit of a shame that it’s still Fallout 4.

If you’re new here, Fallout 4 casts the player’s created character in the role of the Sole Survivor, having been cryogenically frozen in a Boston-area nuclear fallout shelter called a “Vault.” At some point in the 200 years between the war that destroyed the world and the beginning of the game proper, their spouse is pulled out of their own pod and murdered, and their son Shaun is kidnapped. The Survivor then embarks on a journey across the Commonwealth Wasteland, following the traces left behind to track down their son.

Narrative and Role-playing Elements

This is a highly similar setup to Bethesda’s previous mainline Fallout title, and the Boston Metro area is visually indistinct from the Capital Wasteland from said last game, but that’s most of what the two have in common beyond series staples like technology and factions. Really, Fallout 4, most of the time, manages to feel like what Fallout 3 could have been with a better combat system, and it features the most satisfying first-person combat in the series.

The free upgrade is a commendable move by Bethesda, showcasing a rare consumer-friendly approach in today’s gaming industry.

The issue is that everything besides the combat feels like a significant step down compared to Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas and the game’s themes and writing suffer the most heavily from this. Where New Vegas was trying to bring the true role-playing spirit of the original titles into a modern genre, Fallout 4 dramatically simplifies the role-playing aspect of the game to the point where dialogue trees are unpredictable to navigate.

Previous games listed the player’s entire potential answers whenever they were asked a question and even offered unique options depending on the player’s Intelligence score or proficiency in specific skills. Fallout 4 changed this to a more Mass Effect-like dialogue wheel that gives a vague idea of your response’s tone, but just like in Mass Effect, this system does not always clearly communicate what you’re going to say.

Careful character-building was also a crucial part of previous games, as it was not possible to max out every aspect of your character due to the games having a level cap, so your character’s statistical differences from those of other players would naturally lead to different game experiences. Suppose you built your character mainly for violence and didn’t invest in social abilities. In that case, you’ll have a much harder time getting things to happen your way in nonviolent situations, which can lead to quests playing out differently.

Evaluating the Creation Club Content

Fallout 4 does away with the level cap and has the player build their character on the fly, as SPECIAL stats are now enhanced by easily upgraded perks. On the one hand, this means that the player never reaches a point where they aren’t gaining some kind of reward for their actions. Still, on the other hand, this means that there are no real consequences to the choices players make, and given enough time, every Survivor will be able to do anything.

The game also made controversial changes to the series’ signature Power Armor, with the recent Amazon show reaffirming those changes. Where Power Armor was previously an equipable item that just required a perk to use, it now is more akin to a “mobile suit” that players enter and exit and slowly consumes unique “fusion cores” as players use it. The customizability of Power Armor in Fallout 4, as with almost every usable item in the game, is appreciated, but this leans even further towards making every Survivor ultimately feel the same since you don’t need to do anything special to use it and an early story beat requires you to take advantage of it.

While the remastered Fallout 4 shines in technical performance, it can’t mask the shallowness that pervades its expansive narrative.

Speaking of customization, the system is broad but ultimately flawed. The idea was clearly to give all of the random junk items that litter the Wasteland an actual purpose, as each of them can be broken down into individual components. Those components are used to customize equipment and build new facilities for the game’s settlements. It’s a decent and well-intentioned concept, but equipment customization will meet diminishing returns long before players are totally done with the game, and the settlement system is a discussion of its own.

Settlements are specific locations that the player can help repopulate with wasteland dwellers and network together to gather resources. On paper, this is an excellent way for the player to directly affect the Wasteland beyond just the main story. It is a mechanic demonstrating that civilization is returning to the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout.

Unfortunately, in practice, the system is so bloated and requires so much babysitting from the player to keep settlers in a myriad of locations happy and safe that I don’t know a single person who followed through on keeping their settlements pleased for the duration of the game. The more settlements you discover and populate, the more potential there is for you to be interrupted at any moment by a radiant quest requiring you to travel somewhere and defend it from raiders or monsters quickly, and these can quite literally come one right after another. Rather than making things easy on the player, it only gets more frustrating the more you engage with it.

Despite enhancements, the fundamental flaws in storytelling and gameplay mechanics from the original game continue to hinder the series’ potential greatness.

Finally, Fallout 4‘s story has long been the subject of mockery from the fanbase, as its themes of humanity and attempts at moral ambiguity are shallow compared to those of the first two titles and New Vegas. Shaun’s fate is a solid plot twist that ends up resolving far too quickly and is followed by a generic, extended faction battle that drags on longer than it needs to. The resolutions are mostly bleak compared to the hopeful tone of most of the game. (On a personal note, because this is the best chance I’m going to have to mention this, I’ve also been frustrated for almost a whole decade now that Nick Valentine, the most plot-relevant companion, is not romanceable, even though there are other non-humans that are. Romance doesn’t go particularly far in this game, but it left me feeling like I had to settle for someone other than the only person I was particularly attached to.)

Fallout 4 definitely excels at one major thing that the rest of the Bethesda-era games do: dropping the players into a massive expanse full of stuff to find and environmental narratives to discover. The way the factions play off each other can still be interesting to experience. While the Commonwealth looks very similar to the Capital Wasteland, it’s still packing a ton of surprises. No amount of frustration I’ve expressed here stopped me from eagerly spending almost a hundred hours and counting exploring its world.

Final Thoughts on Fallout 4’s Remaster

Fallout 4‘s current-generation port is not the most exciting thing Bethesda could have done to capitalize on this white-hot franchise, and I can think of a dozen other things that I would have been happier with. But at the same time, if it’s your first Fallout, it can still be an excellent introduction to the series, and it feels the best to play out of any of them, with competent and highly customizable combat options and potentially infinite character power. If you’re looking for a more profound, more immersive role-playing experience, people have done a lot to make New Vegas playable on modern hardware. But if you’re looking for fun first, this is still a solid step into the wild Wasteland.