Once More Into The Post-Apocalypse

Ten years ago, Fallout 4 launched. It remains the most recent mainline entry in the Fallout series. Since then, it has had an Xbox Series X|S update and now receives an Anniversary Edition. In essence, it has done a Skyrim; re-release after re-release with no sign of a new entry. 

So is this third release of Fallout 4 enough? Or is the term ‘flogging a dead horse’ applicable here?

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic RPG with that traditional Bethesda flair set in and around the Boston Commonwealth. Taking place in the year 2287, you play as the “Sole Survivor”, who wakes up in Vault 111 after being cryogenically frozen. They briefly woke up at one point only to see their spouse shot in the head and their son, Shaun, kidnapped. So they now arrive in this deadly post-apocalypse on a mission to find out what happened to Shaun.

Still A Fantastic Open-World To Explore

For what it’s worth, I love Fallout 4, and it may be my favourite in the franchise. No part more so than the opening couple of hours, where we see a world before the bombs dropped, before being rushed into a Vault and not really questioning why or what the hell is happening. We, as the player, know that these Vaults were in fact used for a variety of highly unethical experiments. The cryogenic freezing in Vault 111 was simply a test to see how humans would cope being frozen; there was never any intention to wake up the residents, just to monitor how long they would survive before dying. But the Sole Survivor doesn’t know that and crucially, doesn’t question it.

After leaving the Vault, we get the trademark Bethesda first view of the world we’ll spend hundreds of hours exploring, and it is a far cry from how it looked when we entered the Vault. After this, the world of Fallout 4 is yours to play as you wish; explore, build, or indeed level the place even more than it already is.

Of course, Fallout 4 still has its quirks, even ten years later. One of the late game dungeons had me dealing with an enemy that had died inside a wastebasket but due to the collision engine having a moment, the enemy ended up breakdancing all over the dungeon still wedged into the bin. To borrow from the series’ most iconic line: Fallout. Fallout never changes.

That’s the base game, but this is the review for Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, and that comes with a lot of extras. There are the six pieces of DLC that released in the 12 months following the initial release: Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Far Harbor, Contraptions Workshop, Vault-Tec Workshop and Nuka World. These offer varying levels of content, from the more story-based Far Harbor and Nuka World, to the little-more-than-additional-items-to-create rest of them.

Far Harbor and Nuka World both deliver self-contained stories in new locations. They remain highlights of the post-release additions for Fallout 4.

The Creation Club Conundrum

But now there is also the Creations Bundle in Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, that gathers over 150 Creation Club items into one DLC package. These come from both Bethesda and third-party modders, but unlike the more traditional DLC packs, installing these can be frustrating.

It isn’t enough to download the DLC from the Xbox Store. In order to download the actual content you need to go into the Creations menu and download them from there. With over 150 to download, there is a quick option to download all purchased ones, so at least you don’t need to scroll through icon after icon trying to find what you have purchased. I will say this about the Creations menu: it isn’t the best in terms of UI, bombarding you with images that sometimes barely relate to what they are actually offering.

Many of the new Creations will just appear in your crafting menus when you are at a settlement. For the new gear and items, you could peruse the descriptions in the Creations menu, or you could save some time and search online for the locations to visit that will trigger the quests. Thankfully, unlike previous times when returning to a huge open-world like this, you are not bombarded with pop-ups detailing all the new quests you have unlocked that seems to go on for ages.

And then there is the content in this bundle itself. Again, it feels like just an extra-large DLC pack full of items to build in your bases. Some stuff, like the new weapons and some of the newly added buildings have a short quest associated with them. But in terms of a new quest line or area of the Commonwealth to explore, it feels missing from this bundle. But, if you like designing new power armour, changing the colour of your Pip-Boy, or finding unique weapons then you’re in luck here.

There are plenty of other items to be found in the Creations store as well. But if you want something a bit more substantial, you’ll need to pay extra for it.

A Lacklustre Celebration Of Fallout 4

Fallout 4 remains a brilliant game, but for a ten-year anniversary, the Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition feels a bit lacking. When looking back to the Skyrim Anniversary Edition, the Creations added much more substantial content. Here we just get a load of colour swaps amid a few one-shot quests. 

If this is your first time delving into Fallout 4, you will have a blast with the Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition. But for the majority of other players this is aimed at, the new content doesn’t nearly celebrate the anniversary as much as hoped.

Important Links

Fallout 4 Finally Gets the Skyrim Treatment as Creations Arrive in New Anniversary Edition – https://www.thexboxhub.com/fallout-4-finally-gets-the-skyrim-treatment-as-creations-arrive-in-new-anniversary-edition/

Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/fallout-4-anniversary-edition/9PFRG44XZCFJ/0010