Fallout 4

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 9559 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,044 out of 9559
  2. Mixed: 1,929 out of 9559
  3. Negative: 3,586 out of 9559
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  1. Shelledfade
    Nov 14, 2015
    7
    I have played fallout 1, 2 , 3, and new vegas. I've played this game for 39 hours so far on survival difficulty. It's a solid 7 in my opinion. The settlements seem very fun at first, but then you realize that they don't get attacked if you have a good defensive score, so then what exactly is the point? I'm not really sure to be honest. I built stores but they don't seem to be making me anyI have played fallout 1, 2 , 3, and new vegas. I've played this game for 39 hours so far on survival difficulty. It's a solid 7 in my opinion. The settlements seem very fun at first, but then you realize that they don't get attacked if you have a good defensive score, so then what exactly is the point? I'm not really sure to be honest. I built stores but they don't seem to be making me any money, so I'm a bit confused on what the point of settlements are at all. They don't give you money, and they don't get attacked. After you get bored of building; which admittedly was fun for a while, the whole settlement mechanic just seems pointless. Also Building on slopes is a downright painful.

    The game was definitely designed around the power armor and its a major improvement compared to other fallout games, but once you start finding or buying a lot of fusion cores which power the armor, it seems like you're in a constant state of overpowered mode. My companion is even able to use a 2nd power armor suit that I found, without a fusion core lol. I pulled the core and told them to go inside it and they have no problem running around and fighting in it when it has no fusion core. Nice one bethesda.

    There isn't really any "survival" aspect to "survival". Unlike hardcore mode in fallout new vegas, you don't have any food/health or sleep needs. In my opinion Bethesda dropped the ball on that. That was a great improvement that new vegas added to the series and I really don't know why that isn't in fallout 4. I expect mods to fix a lot of the issues with food/water/sleep needs and the settlement issues.

    Shooting has been vastly improved from the previous fallout games which is a major bonus, and I think a lot of people are saying that this isn't an RPG anymore because you don't need v.a.t.s to play this game now. You have way more options when it comes to perks and building a character compared to previous fallout games, and your character is actually voiced which I found an improvement over the previous fallout games as well. I haven't gone to deep into the story yet but so far side-quests have been highly entertaining. The way they made ghouls crawl from random places in the environment is also a major improvement.

    The graphics aren't as bad as people are saying. Yes, textures can be low-res at times but I expect beth may do a high-res pack as they did for skyrim. If not, mods will solve those problems over time.

    I really don't understand all this hate. This game IS a vast improvement over new vegas and fallout 3. The only thing it didn't get right was the actual survival aspect of the food/water/sleep needs which isn't THAT big of a deal. The only thing they really messed up on here are settlements. They don't get attacked which is just boring and they aren't making me money so I don't understand what purpose they have, you don't have any escort caravan type missions either when you make supply lines between the settlements so I really don't understand why something like that isn't there either. I would have gave the game an 8 but these settlements just don't make sense to me so I gave it a 7.

    It's a solid game. It has some problems and issues that may get resolved with mods or with patches from bethesda. It doesn't deserve this level of hate though that I've been seeing.    … Expand
  2. CoromWTF
    Dec 1, 2015
    7
    The problem with fallout is not that it is a terrible game, far from it; but it is also not a perfect game. It seems to be plagued with minor graphical glitches, mechanical inconsistencies, and a overall lack of basic features everywhere.

    In a game about shooting, you would think a glitch that prevents you from pulling the trigger or being able to reload would be something the QA team    The problem with fallout is not that it is a terrible game, far from it; but it is also not a perfect game. It seems to be plagued with minor graphical glitches, mechanical inconsistencies, and a overall lack of basic features everywhere.

    In a game about shooting, you would think a glitch that prevents you from pulling the trigger or being able to reload would be something the QA team would have caught and ironed out long ago. The sad part is, Bethesda probably knew about every glitch and error, but chose to release it anyways, knowing full well that they would still make a killing from this game's release. I could probably end it like that, "Fallout 4: good enough to not hurt our sales". And that's truly what this feels like, a calculated game from upper management where the errors were left to the modding community to fix. If they could get away with not putting it into the game, they didn't. Why waste resources when you know other will do a better job and for free.

    It's very difficult to explain why, for example, a player cannot see their own weapon holstered, like they could in fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc. etc. etc. Yes, the weapons are configurable and so you can literally start with a gun the size of a pistol and mod the thing into a full sized sniper rifle, which would look ridiculous if it was holstered on the leg, but you can't tell me they couldn't figure out some algorithm where the engine looks at what mods are on a given weapon to determine the size and placement when not in your hand? Modders will figure that out ASAP as soon as they are given the tools. And this isn't just a minor oversight, something where you can just configure a .ini file to show holstered weapons, it flat outs doesn't exist! Bethesda didn't even bother to make the sheathing animations for characters!

    It is ridiculous, for example, that on the character select screen there is no 'randomize' feature for the character creation! Indeed it will ALLWAYS default to white male. A few years ago, this would have been acceptable as the 'normal' for this industry, but in this day and age with this level of technology? Really? Can't do it? I can't make the girl the war vet? Ok, what about inconsistencies, such as if I step on a landmine and immediately reload my save, the trap is now gone. What about basic game settings, such as a gamma slider in the options menu so I can adjust the darkness, so that I can actually see something at night? That seems like a somewhat major oversight, the ability to change the darkness/brightness settings in the game! Maybe it's some setting in the .ini file, a number I can adjust? NOPE, DOESN'T EXIST! I had to download a retexture mod to overhaul the entire engine to make everything visible to me, because even at max brightness/contrast settings on my screen it was still too dark!

    The most glaring of problems in this game seem to be the overall LACK of features, simple fixes and small changes that should have been in this game at launch. Witcher 3 showed us that massive worlds can exist with little to no loading screens and Call of Duty plays smooth with weapon cycling and doesn't leave the player foundling air, waiting for a gun to spawn before being able to return fire. If the old engine can handle it, make a new engine! If this game had come out 4 years ago, would have been groundbreaking! As a AAA game today? It's sad.

    Fallout 4 is still a good game and you can read other reviews for all of the positive parts. I would still pay full price for it, but I this should be a warning to Bethesda. The next time, they will not be so lucky.    … Expand
  3. robomartion
    Oct 25, 2019
    7
    Lacks the atmosphere of Fallout 3 and the main mission gets in the way, but improved game mechanics, graphics and some interesting side missions make it at least worth playing.
  4. MaoJin93
    Sep 1, 2016
    7
    Let's get the bad things out of the way first:

    1. I really like the idea of having a voiced protagonist but unfortunately the dialogue system has stripped away the role-playing aspect of the game. Your options are pretty much limited to being a good guy. Take a look at DA: Inquisition and give us different voices to choose from next time Bethesda. 2. The overall story is a bit    Let's get the bad things out of the way first:

    1. I really like the idea of having a voiced protagonist but unfortunately the dialogue system has stripped away the role-playing aspect of the game. Your options are pretty much limited to being a good guy. Take a look at DA: Inquisition and give us different voices to choose from next time Bethesda.

    2. The overall story is a bit uninteresting and you didn't get enough time during the intro to really grow to care about your family or the world. (the intro movie is actually excellent, but the rest is just "meh")

    3. Performance can still get pretty crappy even on my machine (Sapphire 390X 8GB Tri-X OC + FX9590 @ 5 GHz + 16 GB RAM) [partially due to mods]

    As for the good things:

    1. Weapon customization - probably the best improvement over Fallout 3 given how much it lets you personalize your weapons. But it needs more base weapons along with some decals/colors/whatever that you can add. (modders to the rescue fortunately)

    2.
    a) The companions are convincing and really well voice-acted and you grow to like many of them for their own personalities.

    b) I love the way you've recorded so many names for Codsworth to call you. More of this in future games, for at least all main NPCs!

    c) The "romance" plots are a marked improvement over Skyrim but they're still very shallow compared to e.g. Bioware games.

    3. Everything else is pretty great. Love the atmosphere with immersive weather events like radiation storms, building settlements, etc. It's nice to see Bethesda bring in more of the immersion features that are so popular in mods.

    These are my main thoughts that come to mind at the moment. I still have a long way to go and yet to even finish the main quest but at this moment I think the game will be worth your money. It feels like it has quite a lot of replay value. Will see if I update this review later.    … Expand
  5. Glitshy
    Jun 17, 2016
    7
    After having sunk more than 200 hours in the game I have to re-do my review. I originally gave it a 9/10, as the gunplay was great, the graphics were good enough to not be a problem, the dialogue felt organic and the exploring was much fun. And all of these points still stand. But why the 7/10 then? Well, for a open world exploring game/ sandbox it's still a 9/10, but for a RPG it's just aAfter having sunk more than 200 hours in the game I have to re-do my review. I originally gave it a 9/10, as the gunplay was great, the graphics were good enough to not be a problem, the dialogue felt organic and the exploring was much fun. And all of these points still stand. But why the 7/10 then? Well, for a open world exploring game/ sandbox it's still a 9/10, but for a RPG it's just a 4/10. Why? Well, I would pin it down to two words: dialogue and decisions
    Wait, didn't I just said the dialogue was organic in the sense of good? Well, the dialogue is acutally now halfway entertaining to watch/listen, the cinematic camera does a really good job at that, compared to FO3's and NV's static system with a silent protagonist. The problem though is the actual content of the dialogue, including the limitation of only 4 options of what to say. Because in the content of what your character can say lies point 2: The decisions. Can you be a nice guy? Yes. Can you be a sarcastic nice guy? Yes. Can you be a greedy sarcastic nice guy? Yes. Can you be evil or anything else? No. No options for beeing "evil", no alternative solutions for quests (for example, maybe not just kill these raiders but tell them to go somewhere else?), using your SPECIAL stats or perks to find solutions like these? Nope, a few half-baked "speech checks" which are percentage based, so you can reaload the game tilli t works, and all they give is more caps (hence the "greedy sarcastic guy" thing). But that's basically it in the sense of roleplaying. You can't be very much someone else then whot he game wants you to be. Also there are way too many essential (unkillable) NPCs which also reduces my possible decisions.
    Oh, and let me make a comparison to NV: In NV, there was the Brootherhood of Stell in a bunker. Someone may later give you the quest to take them out or make peace with them (you can decide). But you can simply kill them all and blow up the bunker or become their ally without the quest. In FO4, there is also the Brootherhood of Steel. They have an airship. You can kill everyone on the airship, yes, but you can't bring it down. You need to get to the quest which demands you to. And you also can't be allied with them/irgnore them unlike you help them (or you side with the MInute Men, but then again you aree not allowed to destryo the airship), then you have to destroy all the other factions though. See the problem? Fallout 4 is a good exploration game and a piss poor RPG.    … Expand
  6. himynameiswill
    Dec 2, 2015
    7
    The first Fallout I played was 3 and I enjoyed it a lot. New Vegas was even better. Fallout 4 has gone in a new direction and in many ways has taken steps back.

    Firstly, the gunplay is the best it's been. Nothing spectacular, but it is fun. The graphics are out of date, yes, but personally I feel this whole outrage regarding the graphical fidelity has been blown out of proportion, as    The first Fallout I played was 3 and I enjoyed it a lot. New Vegas was even better. Fallout 4 has gone in a new direction and in many ways has taken steps back.

    Firstly, the gunplay is the best it's been. Nothing spectacular, but it is fun.
    The graphics are out of date, yes, but personally I feel this whole outrage regarding the graphical fidelity has been blown out of proportion, as it doesn't look too bad.
    The story, quests and characters have got a lot better from Fallout 3, a major reason why people didn't like Fallout 3 has been resolved.

    What I have an issue with is how far Bethesda have taken this towards a simple action shooter from and action RPG. With the exclusion of skill points, the game lacks build diversity. Many traits are simply boring passives.

    In all, the game is good. I really enjoy it, but I was let down. Would recommend when it comes down in price a little bit.    … Expand
  7. DeanNovelli
    Nov 11, 2015
    7
    Some of these reviewers has never touched Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, otherwise they would quickly notice that in Fallout 4, many essentual features that helped define them as a rpg, well they're missing.

    - Karma: You remember looking for red items or even trying to avoid stealing from certain factions in Fallout 3 or New Vegas, whatever you decided to do it would have an impact on    Some of these reviewers has never touched Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, otherwise they would quickly notice that in Fallout 4, many essentual features that helped define them as a rpg, well they're missing.

    - Karma: You remember looking for red items or even trying to avoid stealing from certain factions in Fallout 3 or New Vegas, whatever you decided to do it would have an impact on your reputation.

    - Reputation: it is like taking the vault out of Fallout, you just don't do it. Reputation was one of the things that made the series what it is today and i blindly expected it to be there. Instead of just blasting everything around you without worry like now in Fallout 4. If you desired to stay friendly or the opposite in Fallout3/New Vegas, you often selected your targets more carefully.

    Durability/repairs: i had a discussion on this subject and most people were happy that they no longer had to carry 3 of each item around in order to repair which i can relate to. However they seem to have forgotten that there was alternative methods to repair, like using repair kits that tends to be rare in the beginning or vendors(even more with mods). I still do not see this as a valid reason to strip down something that has always added depth and realism, unless you were expecting to play a modern First Person Shooter.

    Dialogue: In the previous games as i recall Fallout 3 and New Vegas, you could see how much of each special were needed in to progress further in that part of the dialogue, if you had less than that you could simply not pick it or sometimes they would give you a different answer than if you had the special requirements.

    If you prefer the action elements over rpg then this is probably the best game you will touch for a very long time, however i know most of the old timers play it solely for the rpg and for that i have to give it a 7 until i see some or all of the missing features added.    … Expand
  8. greentoast
    May 2, 2017
    7
    Fallout 4 is first and foremost an open world action first person shooter which yes, has some rpg elements.

    It's not the shooting which is done bad, in fact it's quite good. But if I wanted a good first person shooter, there is no shortage on the marketplace for good ones, Halo , Destiny etc. I never imagined a franchise known to be an rpg and which is labelled as an rpg which(I'm    Fallout 4 is first and foremost an open world action first person shooter which yes, has some rpg elements.

    It's not the shooting which is done bad, in fact it's quite good. But if I wanted a good first person shooter, there is no shortage on the marketplace for good ones, Halo , Destiny etc. I never imagined a franchise known to be an rpg and which is labelled as an rpg which(I'm reading from the back of the cover)"Every choice is yours".

    The storyline is mediocre at best, and horrendously awful at first. I think the opening sequence serves as a good microcosm of the roleplaying found in the rest of the game, you are railroaded through a boring sequence , you are given dialogue choices which all lead to the same choice. LITERALLY, THEY ALL DO, I RELOADED IT FOUR TIMES! THEY DON'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE IT!

    Then you go to Diamond City where you are confronted by Piper and you are FORCED TO TALK WITH HER AND NOT SIDE WITH DIAMOND CITY SECURITY AFTER SHE TRIES TO CHEAT ENTRY ! Maybe Bethesda could of let the player push Piper away from the intercom and snitch to the security about her plottings, but no , in typical neo-bethesda fashion you are just a walking spectator camera.

    I could go all day and go to town about how horrible this game is in terms of being a roleplaying game, But I won't. It's a generic typical game which had atypical potential.    … Expand
  9. PrincessRose
    Nov 14, 2021
    7
    Fallout 4 is a fun game with the exploring and settlement building. Though the game has numerous annoying bugs and glitches and the game occasionally crashes for me.

    I spent my first 13 levels mostly just building. The game play is good but the story is nothing much and it's lacking depth of dialogue and choices. It would be nice to have a game that has both good game play and RPG    Fallout 4 is a fun game with the exploring and settlement building. Though the game has numerous annoying bugs and glitches and the game occasionally crashes for me.

    I spent my first 13 levels mostly just building.

    The game play is good but the story is nothing much and it's lacking depth of dialogue and choices.
    It would be nice to have a game that has both good game play and RPG story, but it seems like games are leaning heavily towards one and are not able to be outstanding in both.
    Fallout 4 is RPG light with not much of a story and is not as good in that aspect as NV was.
    But still is a lot of fun.    … Expand
  10. isidore12
    Sep 3, 2021
    7
    I am not surprised by the average users' reviews. The game lack of depth compare to Fallout 3. Bethesda has been trying to create a cash machine out of the game. Half of the add-ons are just a rip-off (should have been included in the base game).

    The game is very linear in the story, and very unbalanced. Once you get a power armor and good gun, you will finish the game very quickly.    I am not surprised by the average users' reviews. The game lack of depth compare to Fallout 3. Bethesda has been trying to create a cash machine out of the game. Half of the add-ons are just a rip-off (should have been included in the base game).

    The game is very linear in the story, and very unbalanced. Once you get a power armor and good gun, you will finish the game very quickly.

    Shame, Fallout series have such a great potential.    … Expand
  11. Aereid
    Nov 10, 2015
    7
    Bad PC port, Keybindings are atrocious and not everyone in the world uses Qwerty Keyboards. And you can not change them, will probably update review later have not advanced the game that much only 2 hours in.
  12. mutterfujjer
    Jan 6, 2016
    7
    I'm new to Fallout series. I'm aware most die hard fans hate the dumbed-down dialogue lack of options, but that didn't hurt me as much, since I've never played any other Fallout. That being said:

    Positives: - Hard at first. Requires you to think before spending points in the SPECIAL thing. Once you define and stick with your build, the game becomes super easy. But that feels like it    I'm new to Fallout series. I'm aware most die hard fans hate the dumbed-down dialogue lack of options, but that didn't hurt me as much, since I've never played any other Fallout. That being said:

    Positives:
    - Hard at first. Requires you to think before spending points in the SPECIAL thing. Once you define and stick with your build, the game becomes super easy. But that feels like it was thanks to your choices. The game could easily be harder if I didn't stick with a build (I went stealthy/sniper);
    - Playing stealth is fun. The AI is not the worst I've seen, and sniping stuff with the right perks is rewarding;
    - Interesting side quests. More fun than the actual main story. It is not as interesting as The Witcher 3, but it still has funny dialogues;
    - Great atmosphere, SUPERB soundtrack. The music is the best in this year. And the post apocalyptic world is really immersive;
    - Crazy amount of content to explore. I didn't clocked it, but I've played it for more then 80 hours for sure.

    Negatives:
    - Settlements are completely useless and boring. I'm glad I've ignored it completely, because it wouldn't make any difference in the end anyway; If i want to build things I will play Sin City or something. At least give me some reward for investing time on it. This is the major fail in this game.
    - The graphics are terrible. Old gen stuff. When you're at close range all you see is blurry textures. God it's PSOne quality textures. And when you're out in open world prepare your fps to drop to the single numbers. Seriously, it almost froze my PC (and I'm with a 980 GTX Ti here).
    - Even thought some quests are fun, the game becomes really repetitive after some time. By the end of the game I was urging for it to end already, I couldn't take it anymore. You just kill stuff or do some dumb item bringing here and there;
    - The replay value is zero. I never thought I would say this about a Fallout game, after so many people recommended it for all the branches I could fork the storyline in. But I've lost all interest for this game after I finished it once, since I've heard all the endings are pretty much the same.

    All in all I'd say the game is OK. It's far from what all the masterpiece people told me it would be. But it provided good fun while it lasted. At least it had a lot of content to explore.    … Expand
  13. R3cKi
    Nov 23, 2015
    7
    playtime 4days with lvl 58 on survival.
    love the crafting and new fog and light effects.
    also the skill system is a lot better. but still a lot of missing comfort functions (inventory/settlement management) and technical problems and loading times are frustrating. bugs, glitches that sometimes block a complete quest. settlement crafting is fun but very imprecise and buggy.    playtime 4days with lvl 58 on survival.
    love the crafting and new fog and light effects.
    also the skill system is a lot better.

    but still a lot of missing comfort functions (inventory/settlement management)
    and technical problems and loading times are frustrating.
    bugs, glitches that sometimes block a complete quest.

    settlement crafting is fun but very imprecise and buggy.

    dialogs and decisions are a clear step back compared to F3 or vegas.    … Expand
  14. XxSoULxMaNxX
    Dec 23, 2015
    7
    I had hoped for a game more captivating than Fallout New Vegas, which I enjoyed much more than Fallout 3. Did not happen. There were some great / redeeming aspects, however, with the help of a large amount of mods. Yet, the game's lack of character building (via the new streamlined perk system that does not force any tough choices that define the type of character you will be, includingI had hoped for a game more captivating than Fallout New Vegas, which I enjoyed much more than Fallout 3. Did not happen. There were some great / redeeming aspects, however, with the help of a large amount of mods. Yet, the game's lack of character building (via the new streamlined perk system that does not force any tough choices that define the type of character you will be, including the weapons you will use), meaningful dialogue options, interesting quests (that go beyond going somewhere and killing everyone), complex characters, romance-able companions, environments and current-generation textures held it back. Ultimately, it worth playing but...… Expand
  15. LordHagen
    Nov 10, 2015
    7
    Graphics is nice but... oh my god... how... how you can sleep dear Bethesda after that?... why? Why you killed Dialogue system?? WHYYY?! People will not forgive you >:-(
  16. sscott0829tw
    Nov 10, 2015
    7
    Fallout4 is an outstanding Sandbox game,the story and its characters is very decent.The game world is not only beautiful but filled with contents.I especially loved the weapon customization system,I can make some very badass weapons.The building system is good but I don't think is very necessary,cause this is not a multiplayer game,it is boring to build houses and decoration without otherFallout4 is an outstanding Sandbox game,the story and its characters is very decent.The game world is not only beautiful but filled with contents.I especially loved the weapon customization system,I can make some very badass weapons.The building system is good but I don't think is very necessary,cause this is not a multiplayer game,it is boring to build houses and decoration without other players playing with you.Dialogue and conversations are awesome and well designed,your decision really matters.But the graphics are not that good for next gen,perhaps is because Bethesda took too many times to make the game.There are some glitches too,but not many.Overall I do think Fallout 4 is a great game,but failed to reach a higher level.… Expand
  17. LostSandwich
    Dec 8, 2015
    7
    While it is a far from perfect game, full of bugs and poor gameplay and story elements, it is still a good game worthy of the Fallout name.

    The Performance: This is where Fallout 4 falls flat on it's face. The visuals are very mediocre yet still the game has massive FPS drops and other performance issues. Bethesda really needs to get a better engine to develop their games on. If you do    While it is a far from perfect game, full of bugs and poor gameplay and story elements, it is still a good game worthy of the Fallout name.

    The Performance:
    This is where Fallout 4 falls flat on it's face. The visuals are very mediocre yet still the game has massive FPS drops and other performance issues. Bethesda really needs to get a better engine to develop their games on. If you do not have a decent PC i recommend waiting for patches (Whether official or unofficial) to help steady the performance for this game (As of the release of this Review there has already been a patch from Bethesda that has somewhat helped performance).

    The Story:
    The story is nothing amazing but is generally a descent story with some cool twists. The ending, on the other hand, is very poor, with almost no player choice. (SPOILERS)While you can choose which faction to go with and whether or not to blow up the institute it really boils down to 1. Save the Institute 2. Blow up the Institute. And with either choice you get the same ending cut scene(End of Spoilers).

    The World:
    The world in Fallout is a pretty big world, not much bigger from previous Fallout games but it is packed with things to do and random events all over the world, it feels very alive. Settlements is a pretty cool side activity though depending on the type of player you are it will get boring fast and the UI for it is pretty bad. There are tons of side quests and a lot of which have pretty interesting plots some of which even more interesting than the main campaign.

    The Gameplay:
    The shooting in this game has been massively improved from New Vegas, it is easily one of if not the best improvements from the previous Fallout. While it can't stand up to entirely FPS focused games, it is massively improved and now provides some intense and fun action.

    Overall:
    While the performance could have been better, and the glitches fewer. The story could have been more interesting and the world could have been bigger this is still a good game worthy of your time and money.    … Expand
  18. TimeSnake
    Aug 23, 2016
    7
    Good game overall, but is unfortunate enough of carrying the famous title of the Fallout series. Had this game come out on its own independent of any game series, it would have done pretty well, but the Fallout series had a good reputation which made this game look much worse in comparison. The game is pretty fun to play with an open-world and enjoyable characters(even though they are moreGood game overall, but is unfortunate enough of carrying the famous title of the Fallout series. Had this game come out on its own independent of any game series, it would have done pretty well, but the Fallout series had a good reputation which made this game look much worse in comparison. The game is pretty fun to play with an open-world and enjoyable characters(even though they are more like robots than humans), the game is not quite as immersive and epic feeling as the previous Fallout games, but it is still enjoyable to play in your free time if you like FPS Open-World games. Story is lackluster to be honest, but gameplay is pretty solid in my opinion, don't pick it up if you're expecting a good story. Mods make this game much better, and can increase your enjoyment while playing by a lot, so keep that in mind if you are planning on downloading mods.… Expand
  19. Blackfalcon501
    Nov 28, 2015
    7
    Fallout 4; it's a well done game with a large attention to detail, nice visuals, great gun play and a soundtrack to match thanks to Inon Zur. BUT the game is seriously struggling in the RPG element sacrificing much of this element in exchange for a somewhat linear pathway of the "worried parent" which seems to be the forced path with the poor cutdown of dialogue choices and the overallFallout 4; it's a well done game with a large attention to detail, nice visuals, great gun play and a soundtrack to match thanks to Inon Zur. BUT the game is seriously struggling in the RPG element sacrificing much of this element in exchange for a somewhat linear pathway of the "worried parent" which seems to be the forced path with the poor cutdown of dialogue choices and the overall lack of choices to create your own character.

    Overall it's a great game but a bad RPG in my opinion 7/10    … Expand
  20. Schlapatzjenc
    Nov 22, 2015
    7
    I feel like this game deserves an honest opinion from someone who actually spent some time on it. To address some of the issues people have pointed out:

    1# Comparing this game to Fallout 1 or 2 is utterly pointless. It works differently, as did New Vegas and 3. It's not your classical point'n'click adventure type RPG and you can't divert all your focus into how well the script is made.    I feel like this game deserves an honest opinion from someone who actually spent some time on it. To address some of the issues people have pointed out:

    1# Comparing this game to Fallout 1 or 2 is utterly pointless. It works differently, as did New Vegas and 3. It's not your classical point'n'click adventure type RPG and you can't divert all your focus into how well the script is made. There are other important factors that REALLY take a ton of time to take care of. It's not the same type of the game, and as much as I love F2, I would like to stress that most people perceive the game as better because of nostalgia/lack of certain mechanical expectations. It could very well receive a similar amount of criticism on various aspects.

    2# Combat is more dynamic, which is a good thing. No, it's not Call of Duty, unless you pay no attention to what type of enemy you're facing (different resistances) and don't use V.A.T.S. at all. New Vegas was exactly the same. The animations given to Ghouls, or Deathclaws actually make the game feel more immersive, aside from being fast-paced.

    3# Difficulty system is done poorly, the enemies simply becoming bullet sponges at higher levels. Fortunately, there already are mods to address that.

    4# Main quest indeed is boring and predictable. I felt literally no drive towards doing it and I still don't 80 hours in. That being said, certain sidequests (mostly tied with exploration) are really interesting. Naturally there are some "fetches" or "exterminations" that seem bland, but at the same time, all you have to do is dig deeper to find something really good. I feel like most people here didn't.

    5# THE GAME IS PRETTY. I don't know if you are comparing it to Mirror's Edge 2, or Crysis 7, but there really isn't much room to complain. It's much prettier than all Fallouts before it and does live up to expectations. The only thing I found annoying was discrepancy between resolutions of textures on certain surfaces. But hey, that will either be patched or modded very very soon.
    Contrary to a popular belief, animations are actually made well enough, some surprisingly good (certain enemies), some disappointing (lip sync). They average out on just about what you'd expect from another Fallout, looking at F3 and NV. Models are flawless.
    Don't like the color palette? Download re-shading mod, like I did. 2 minutes and the engine gave me exactly what I wanted.

    6# Performance isn't horrible. The game on my PC runs better with high settings than NV. Certainly could be improved, certain areas are prone to stutter for no apparent reason. Are the graphics justified? Arguably yes. Please consider the amount of assets placed in each location.
    And frankly, if you can't meet box-requirements, you have no right to be complaining about FPS issues. Some 'reviewers' here are.

    7# Developers' choice of timing on introducing certain things (Power Armor, Minutemen) is horrid. It does not break the game, but makes you feel like you missed a few episodes of your show. Deserves reprimand.

    8# UI is just as usable, as it was in previous titles. Frankly the only annoying part to me is how slow the scrolling is. Dialogue wheel... it's worse than box was. Not much worse, just worse. It doesn't make talking a pain, it doesn't make your milk go bad. It's an understandable choice considering chaotic writing of dialogues (otherwise it would be sometimes impossible to tell which answer is sarcastic and which outright negative) but that shouldn't be a case in the first place.
    Building mode is made well, though could use some things like TUTORIAL or being able to run and open doors while in it. If you're not an idiot, you'll get it in a couple of minutes. Still, could use polishing.

    9# Bugs. A lot of bugs. From A.I., through sound, up to some quests. Personally haven't encountered anything game-breaking, but most are outright annoying. The game clearly did not receive enough testing before release, but I'm willing to forgive Bethesda, as they are known for releasing massive batches of bugfixes every so often.

    To put it as simply, as I can...

    Is the game a piece of fecal matter, deserving 1/10?
    No and you'd have to be high to give it that. Anything below 5 is a result of finger cramp and missing the right mark. I strongly believe 6-7 is fair at this point, before changes are made.

    Will you have fun with this game?
    Yes, you will, unless you are a game-fascist. All it needs is a little bit of brains behind it and patience for devs to release patch. I was disappointed at first, I am having fun after giving it some time.

    Do I work for Bethesda?
    I'd wish.

    Should I pay [original retail price] for it?
    I'd wait until it drops to New Vegas initial level. You won't feel like you overpaid and the game should be much more polished by then.    … Expand
  21. Rilke21
    Jan 24, 2016
    7
    58 hours in, and quite a few of them were decent. I held off on this latest installment because of the terrible reviews. I don't regret the purchase, but I won't be playing more any time soon.

    The writing, characters and dialogue are not nearly as bad as the reviews suggest. (That said, the "upgrade" to the combat isn't nearly as impressive, either.) The game started slowly, managed    58 hours in, and quite a few of them were decent. I held off on this latest installment because of the terrible reviews. I don't regret the purchase, but I won't be playing more any time soon.

    The writing, characters and dialogue are not nearly as bad as the reviews suggest. (That said, the "upgrade" to the combat isn't nearly as impressive, either.)

    The game started slowly, managed to draw me in...but then spit me back out again. Ultimately, the "final stage" quest decisions left me feeling empty. None of the faction endings made any sense to me. Let's just say that I was craving some alternative solutions...

    This isn't the Fallout 4 I was hoping for. It could have been excellent, but seems to fall flat. Worth playing, but keep your expectations in line.    … Expand
  22. scotyrpg
    Nov 14, 2015
    7
    Whilst I like this game and I can appreciate where it was trying to go unfortunately for me nothing was executed fantastically. Fallout 4 manages to bring on board everything that was good about the franchise but cram some unneeded mechanics that just seem to draw the game out for a longer length of time. Things like repairing now have to be done at a station rather then on the fly andWhilst I like this game and I can appreciate where it was trying to go unfortunately for me nothing was executed fantastically. Fallout 4 manages to bring on board everything that was good about the franchise but cram some unneeded mechanics that just seem to draw the game out for a longer length of time. Things like repairing now have to be done at a station rather then on the fly and whilst it was a simple as combining two pieces of equipment together last time it is now much more tedious and complicated. Other mechanics such as the new crafting system seem forced and feel like they were copied and pasted from another survival game. The chat system has been modified to feel more like something Bioware would make and whilst it works I never got the feeling that I knew what I was going to say before selecting an option. Immersion has been ripped from the game with full protagonist voice acting which adds to my list of unwanted features to the game. Don't get me wrong the voice acting is good but in a franchise which has the main goal of putting you as the protagonist this just pulls us back from the experience. Colour has filled the wasteland like never before but whilst we have nicer graphics the areas are generic and forgettable at best with mere copies of Fallout 3's environment. The addition of having to run a town is annoying with its population constantly poking you to find materials in order to make their lives better. I always enjoyed the idea of picking up my things in Fallout 3 and finding a small settlement to camp in whilst I try to level up or hunt for a specific item however with the mayor like system it has you pinned down to the same town from time and time again so whenever I explored the wasteland I would always have to pop back and use my valuable resources instead of modifying my equipment I would have to waste it on beds and other useless scenic props. The companions have never felt more alive with them responding to practically anything that is happening however the game only limits you to having one. I hate this as now I have to pick between companions that could have been a great combination. In the end Fallout 4 definitely does not live up to its predecessors and feels like a step back from the franchise that was moving so well. The game is good and I would happily sink many hours into it however I would rather go back to Fallout 3 and New Vegas as I will probably sink many more into them.… Expand
  23. Mendoras
    Nov 11, 2015
    7
    The game is fun.

    BUT: The graphic was known, especially in comparison with a Witcher 3 it is extremely dowdy and dreary, but graphics are not everything. Much worse are the problems on PC. Who goes to a terminal of more than 110 FPS stuck to 90%. On my 144 Hz GSync monitor only remains for me to hrottle by hand to 85 Hz, because otherwise he would just always trying to reach    The game is fun.

    BUT:

    The graphic was known, especially in comparison with a Witcher 3 it is extremely dowdy and dreary, but graphics are not everything.

    Much worse are the problems on PC.

    Who goes to a terminal of more than 110 FPS stuck to 90%. On my 144 Hz GSync monitor only remains for me to hrottle by hand to 85 Hz, because otherwise he would just always trying to reach the 144 Hz. If I keep the FO4 FPS Lock, it runs only on ~ 10 FPS.

    The control has been even worsened compared to FO3 and Skyrim. How can such a system release on the PC is a mystery to me. Alone the "Quick Bar" is bad, the whole navigation just as cruel as in FO3.
    When building, it is a single seizure and there was just 0.0 thinking how possibly could better transpose on the PC.

    Who can come to terms with who can also buy the game and will probably have fun, but you should be absolutely aware of it.

    Before the developers do improve here MASSIVELY I can not fully recommend, as sorry as I am..    … Expand
  24. Zajcew
    Nov 17, 2015
    7
    Pros:
    - Huge open world full with things to do, areas to explore, quests to finish, monsters to kill and loot to be obtained.
    - Customization: player character, weapons, armor, power armor, even settlements are are fully customizable. The interface you use to do it is not the best, but the sheer amount of things you can customize will make your head spin. - Combat: Slow mo in VATS never    Pros:
    - Huge open world full with things to do, areas to explore, quests to finish, monsters to kill and loot to be obtained.
    - Customization: player character, weapons, armor, power armor, even settlements are are fully customizable. The interface you use to do it is not the best, but the sheer amount of things you can customize will make your head spin.
    - Combat: Slow mo in VATS never gets old. How ever when not using VATS F4 feel like a proper FPS. Super fun in both modes.

    Cons:
    - Graphics and animations. This game looks like it's at least five years old. Especially NPC characters during conversations look off. Their animations are stiff, facial animations are non-existant and lip-sync is most of the time wrong too.
    - Voice acting: Most NPCs deliver their lines in a monotone, flat voice completely devoid of any emotion.
    - Bugs. Not the buggiest game I ever played, but it's still pretty bad.
    - Performance. While the game runs at 50-60 fps most of time, sometimes, for no apparent reason it drops to less then 20 for a bit. This doesn't happen often, but enough to be annoying.
    - Inventory management: Way to much time is spent sifting through your bag, making sure your not encumbered, looking for crafting components etc.

    Overall it's a good game (I'm over 50 hrs in to it atm), however the various problems and bugs keeps from reaching it's true potential. This is not the GOTY candidate everyone was expecting, but it sure as hell is still fun to play.

    7/10    … Expand
  25. Havoc44
    Nov 17, 2015
    7
    I like the exploration of the game and all the little things you could find in the world. Also the game has some interesting characters. The companions are great and helpful. Enemies are good too. They use cover effectively and have good ai.

    Issues: I found the story not engaging. I felt no real motivation to get back the guy from the vault. Compare to other games, like Witcher 3    I like the exploration of the game and all the little things you could find in the world. Also the game has some interesting characters. The companions are great and helpful. Enemies are good too. They use cover effectively and have good ai.

    Issues:
    I found the story not engaging. I felt no real motivation to get back the guy from the vault. Compare to other games, like Witcher 3 for example where I was engaged and very interested to find Ciri and learn more about her. And Witcher 3 was my first Witcher game as Fall Out 4 is my first introduction into the series. The building system is nice yet incomplete. (feels tack on) The graphics are good, not great. Combat was a mix bag for me.

    Overall, I am having more fun exploring and with a few side quests then the main story. A good game for sure, though for me not a great game.    … Expand
  26. klille
    Nov 14, 2015
    7
    coming in to it i expected a light version of fallout 3 with a building gimmick tacked on, even then i was slightly disappointment. some of the improvements seem to be that the gunplay is smoother and the graphics are improved (note, still not on par with modern standards, but that was to be expected). however, it seems to suffer in other several other ways, such as dialogue, quests,coming in to it i expected a light version of fallout 3 with a building gimmick tacked on, even then i was slightly disappointment. some of the improvements seem to be that the gunplay is smoother and the graphics are improved (note, still not on par with modern standards, but that was to be expected). however, it seems to suffer in other several other ways, such as dialogue, quests, roleplaying elements, pacing, and simply on how "grand" the entire thing feels. in the end it just simply feels bland compared to the other fallout games.

    one of the biggest direct gripes i got with the game is the new dialogue system, it's gimped (compared to the possibility of much more options with some NPC's and much fewer with others as needed), confusing (sometimes the choices are misleading towards what you are actually going to say) most of the time necessary (i do not want the option of saying "yes" in four different ways) and the sarcastic option which bugs me to no end. what do you mean "sarcastic" i have no way of knowing how the dialogue is going to continue if i have no idea what you are going to say, i only know you're going to say it in a sarcastic tone. this is nothing but a cop out, both for the player that doesn't have to make a real choice and for the developers that can put whatever they want in there.

    overall, it's less of a fallout game and more of yet another open world post apocalyptic fps. mediocre on all accounts.    … Expand
  27. davinhi00
    Nov 11, 2015
    7
    The game itself i thought would be trash. I played and I'm kinda hooked into it. Yes, it's got a lot less "cells" with loading screen doors, but there's still a large amount of them. It's a bit bland, and needs some mods to freshen things up, because, without them, this game isn't too great. Although I'm loving the game so far, it's got its flaws like: "Welp I gotta save x, but let'sThe game itself i thought would be trash. I played and I'm kinda hooked into it. Yes, it's got a lot less "cells" with loading screen doors, but there's still a large amount of them. It's a bit bland, and needs some mods to freshen things up, because, without them, this game isn't too great. Although I'm loving the game so far, it's got its flaws like: "Welp I gotta save x, but let's do a bunch of y"… Expand
  28. Speech
    Nov 11, 2015
    7
    A pretty good game. It has its share of issues, but so did Skyrim. For me, the biggest issue is the use of combat instead of non-combat roleplay. I had a similar problem with Skyrim, where every quest involves fighting your way through a horde. Though Fallout 4 disguises the hordes well, they're still hordes. Morrowind and Oblivion were much better at story, because it's the thing theyA pretty good game. It has its share of issues, but so did Skyrim. For me, the biggest issue is the use of combat instead of non-combat roleplay. I had a similar problem with Skyrim, where every quest involves fighting your way through a horde. Though Fallout 4 disguises the hordes well, they're still hordes. Morrowind and Oblivion were much better at story, because it's the thing they could do best. As Bethesda becomes better at developing combat systems, they forget to develop on their story telling.

    It's a good game. But it's one of the few Bethesda games that will never be a 'classic'.    … Expand
  29. Pitonas
    Nov 27, 2015
    7
    Good think about fallout is that it's fallout and after waiting for eight years I was counting days before it's release. Now when I finished it I am very much disappointed. It does improve over fallout 3 but is lacking atmosphere of Fallout. Like fallout and fallout2 had. Removing dialogues is a big mistake, I am happy that it's voiced but YES,NO,SARCASTIC is just... Story line is shortGood think about fallout is that it's fallout and after waiting for eight years I was counting days before it's release. Now when I finished it I am very much disappointed. It does improve over fallout 3 but is lacking atmosphere of Fallout. Like fallout and fallout2 had. Removing dialogues is a big mistake, I am happy that it's voiced but YES,NO,SARCASTIC is just... Story line is short and ending is incredibly disappointing. Especially that linearity in last missions. All an all it's 8 but would be 6 be it some other game and not Fallout franchise.… Expand
  30. twobadcrew
    Oct 29, 2020
    7
    Addicting base building and weapon customization however, just a bland story and a world filled with bland characters. This game is more a framework of a game made to be polished by mods, and it still runs on the same buggy engine with un-patched bugs from previous games.
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Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Best PC Game of 2015
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 4, 2016
    80
    After terrible first couple of hours Fallout 4 pulled itself together and ultimately was almost as fun as The Witcher 3. There’s a huge chasm between these two games in terms of technology (F4 looks like a X360 game), but their open worlds are equally good and Bethesda did a better job with crafting. [01/2016, p.42]
  2. PCWorld
    Jan 19, 2016
    70
    This isn’t the step forward I expected, though. Here we are, the first Bethesda game on a new hardware generation, and I can’t help feeling like we’ve regressed—like Fallout 4 really is Oblivion-with-guns. A decade later, it certainly makes many of the same mistakes.
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  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Jan 4, 2016
    92
    It’s easy to get carried away by Fallout 4’s massive open world. While the gunplay is much improved and the quests fun, I found the UI lacking on the PC. The inventory and build menus are really tedious to use. [Dec 2015]
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