Fallout 4 Review

Fallout 4 is an open world first person shooter (or third) RPG game in a post nuclear apocalyptic wasteland in which your goal is to find your kidnapped son. That is a lot to digest, let's go through it again: In order to find your son, you will shoot a lot of things from a first/third person perspective while role-playing your way through a land ravaged by nuclear war, and with no physical barriers to stop you from moving around the virtual world as you please.

Power Armor.

Fat Man mini-nuke explosion.

You will be shooting, a lot, during this game. Shooting itself is nothing new, but the VATS System is a signature of the game. This system allows you to target and cripple specific areas of the body in a limited slow motion way. Cripple your enemies legs and he will not run after you. In order for you to achieve this insane amount of damage, access to a wide array of weapons and gear is provided, like the Fallout signatures Fat Man and Power Armor. A "bazuca" that shoots mini nuclear warheads and a full body armored suit that will make you an almost invincible soldier, respectively. On top of that you will have access to a wide list of modifications for every single piece of gear, even rare legendary effects that only the strongest of enemies will carry. Found a pistol but wanted a sniper rifle? No problem, just add a scope! Don't have the appropriate bullet type? Why not just change the barrel of your gun then. Adaptation is key to survival! Speaking of survival, all this "surviving" will quickly make you an experienced wanderer and with your new acquired knowledge comes new powers.

Intimidated raider.

The progression system is simple but effective, each new level gives a point that you can use to further customize your character build. Sneaky type? Melee oriented? Guns blazing all the way? Or maybe you rather talk your way out of a pinch? Vault-Tec got you covered! This is where you will strengthen your role and character. Unfortunately there are just a couple of perks that are more than status bonuses and open new mechanics, like placing live grenades into peoples pants or using charisma to intimidate creatures to surrender. Most gameplay changes will come from unlocking a pre-requisite in order to build a weapon, gear or structural modification.

Assigning NPC's to settlement farming.

Which brings us to our next point, the Settlement System. You will be able to scavenge resources from the wasteland for their materials, mostly junk/trash items, but weapons and gear can also be scavenged with the appropriate perk. With such materials you will build a gigantic array of structures where you can have NPC's (non-playable character) come, live and work for you. Basically you can build your own town/HQ/base/city/village/castle/you name it! It is only limited by your imagination and how much your computer can handle. You will have to provide your slav.... citizens with food, water and protection. Because with all those goodies laying around, you are sure to get some unwanted visitors looking for a violent appropriation of goods.

Wasteland trading.

And to chain everything together in a tight loop, we have the currency system. Every weapon, armor, junk or material has a value measured in CAPS (the currency of the wasteland). With money you can buy more ammo, better gear or even materials to improve settlements and gear. One way or another you will be using that money for your survival, and surviving the wasteland most likely means surviving its dangers, which means getting more experience. The more experience you get, the higher your level, more loot you drop, more money you make and so on. The world might have ended, but the grind... The grind never changes.

One great aspect  that really makes this world feel real are the companion NPC's. Each companion that travels with you have unique lines and interaction possibilities that still surprise us every time! Check a spoiler free sample of it here. All this happening in a gigantic world, full of danger, adventure, opportunities, unexpected plot twists and some bugs. But to shave those bugs off (and we don't mean the radioactive kind of bugs) you will have a vast, and we mean a vast option of fan made modifications that you can browse, download and install straight from the game launcher. The potential is infinite, the only limit is time to enjoy it all.

Final Score: 10 out of 10.