“We don’t want to put too many limits on what the player is or isn’t allowed to do,” Hines said during the Extended Xbox Games Showcase, referring to the player’s ability to steal just about anything that isn’t nailed to the ground in Starfield. “We love it when players say, ‘I wonder what happens if…’ and then they try it.”

However, discussions about player freedom in Starfield during the showcase eventually escalated, and more details about various aspects such as how crime is handled in the game, and the player’s capability of committing crime came up.

Players will also have plenty of choices when it comes to building their starships in Starfield. According to Hines, players could spend thousands of hours engaging in the new ship-building mechanics. However, he also imagines players talking about their distinct experiences in Starfield, with one player potentially having stolen their starship rather than having built it themselves.

“Oh yeah, I just ran in and stole a ship and shot all of the crew members and took off,” said Hines. “Like… you can do that? You can do anything. I think that is a special part of a Bethesda Game Studios game.”

Starfield has been in development at Bethesda for a few years now. While the game doesn’t yet have a solid release date, it is set to release some time in the next 12 months. Here are 10 things we learned about Starfield from all of the announcements over the weekend.

It seems like speedrunners are not yet done with the older games by Bethesda though. First reported by Exputer, yesterday a speedrunner called “Karsto” uploaded their speedrun of the 2006 open world RPG The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, setting a world record of finishing the game in 2 minutes and 33 seconds.

This comes shortly after speedrunner “Dezmone” uploaded their run of 2 minutes and 34 seconds, which was set on New Years Eve.

It is impressive given the fact that the game is pretty large in size and takes well over 40-60 hours to complete from start to finish. Both of the runs by Karsto and Dezmone have been uploaded on Youtube. Both can be viewed down below.

Now, I totally understand the fact that Fallout 76 is four times bigger than Fallout 4, and this must have surely been a factor while optimizing the game code for consoles. But the compromise that players have received against the massive world size is simply not acceptable. First off all, the performance across both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X targets 30fps, just like Fallout 4. However, rarely did we come across a lengthy stretch of gameplay that the engine managed to hold to that target. The frame rate drops on the PS4 Pro are absolutely atrocious. Frequent slowdowns and lag really hurt our overall experience with Fallout 76. The Xbox One X does a bit better in this regard but it to suffers from performance drops, although they are not as harsh as it’s on Sony’s console. Overall, on the performance side of things, it’s a rather disappointing state of affairs. A game in which enemy can attack you rather quickly, performance drop is crucial whenever combat is going on. We are not happy with either console’s performance but we can find some solace in the fact that Xbox One X manages to perform much better than the PS4 Pro.

Next up is the pop-in issue. Now, let me get this out of the way. Pop-ins in open world games isn’t really a major issue and for a game as big as Fallout 76, I could try to be a bit lenient towards them. Unfortunately, the pop-in issue is an extremely severe case in Fallout 76…you can actually see a nearby lake load up as you traverse through a forest. Foliage pop-in was almost a consistent occurrence in our limited playthrough of the game. This issue hits the PS4 Pro hardest to the point where even road surface markings have pop-ins! I have played through a lot of open world games in recent years and no engine has handled pop-in issues this badly as the Creation engine. It can be an immersion breaker for players and am hopeful Bethesda will fix this in a future patch.

Next up are the loading times. Almost every major open world game these days don’t make the player to wait as the game loads to render an indoor building or environment. Such practice in game design is more or less extinct. However, Fallout 76 is still using this, adding load screens before you enter an indoor location, thereby totally distracting the player from the experience. It would have been a different matter if this loading screen lasted for a few seconds but they last for several seconds, which simply put is unacceptable.

Animations haven’t really been the strongest suite of the Creation engine and to be honest I wasn’t really expecting much out of Fallout 76 in this regard. Animations for the most part are clunky and glitchy. Some of them have now flow and feel like they are missing frames. I am not sure how much of these animation issues were related to a possible server issue, but regardless, don’t expect any major improvements in the animations departments. In an era where we have open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 doing wonders with Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, it’s almost sad to see that a major studio struggle with its technology for what is potentially a very good game.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are certainly several aspects that the developers have improved in the engine. The world is obviously much bigger, there are more places to interact and the overall art style is a big improvement from Fallout 76. Atmospheric lighting is handled really well and it’s a sight to behold when the player character traverses through a lush area. The overall color palette selection is also much better than Fallout 4, making the colors really pop out when the game manages to run at 30fps. There is an exceptional variety in enemy design and there is definitely an improvement in enemy AI compared to Fallout 4. They are much smarter and aggressive encouraging the player to use strategic elements instead of mindlessly shooting. So, yes, there are definitely some positives for the Creation engine but the issues mentioned previously are simply too big to ignore at this point. Given that this Fallout 76 is a service-based game, we are more than hopeful that those problems will be ironed out.

Now jumping to everyone’s favorite section of this feature, the console comparisons and differences. First, there is an obvious difference in resolution with the Xbox One X taking the lead over the PS4 Pro with better image quality. Second, we have already established that the PS4 Pro suffers from severe frame rate drops and pop-in issues compared to the Xbox One X, which by the way also suffers from the same issues but to a lesser degree. But what else is there? The other difference is the way the engine handles ambient occlusion for both consoles. Both consoles use a different solution, however for some reason the solution looks a bit inferior on the PS4 Pro. Furthermore, the Xbox One X also takes the lead with better draw distance, shadow quality and reflection, although I must add that the differences in these departments are subtle but there is are differences nonetheless.

I will be honest, I was pretty skeptical of Fallout 76’s gameplay. However, Bethesda has truly surprised me in this regard. But from a technical perspective it’s a disappointment, at least on consoles. Granted, the Xbox One X is clearly the better console platform, it too suffers from many issues that it’s hard for me to recommend either version due to their inconsistent performance.

There are certainly some big improvements in post processing effects and the way the Creation engine handles its lighting tech but I strongly believe that Bethesda Game Studios should re-evaluate their engine’s framework. I won’t exaggerate my feelings by stating that they should scrap their framework all together, but some portions of that engine really need to be coded from the ground up so that at the very least the true vision of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield can be realized.

As they say, War…War never changes… 

I guess, we can now say: Game engine…Game engine never changes…

Bethesda’s Fallout 76, a shared world title set roughly 20 years after the world-changing nuclear war, is finally available. Along with unprecedented freedom to explore the world with no time limits, players also receive access to the Atomic Shop. This is used to purchase Atoms, the in-game currency, for real money.

The current rate of Atoms in the Atomic Shop is as follows. Keep in mind that Atoms can also be earned in-game by completing daily and weekly challenges. Cosmetics in the store cannot be purchased directly with real money:

• 500 Atoms – $4.99/£3.99
• 1000 Atoms (+100) – $9.99/£7.99
• 2000 Atoms (+ 400) – $19.99/£15.99
• 4000 Atoms (+ 1000) – $40.00/£31.99

What about the cost of items that can be purchased with Atoms? Your choices range from glasses (760 Atoms) to dresses (the Fringed Dress costs 900 Atoms) and even a Vampire skin (800 Atoms). If you want to paint your Pipboy, those begin at 200 Atoms. Want to paint your Power Armour? That can cost up to 1800 Atoms.

It’s also possible to purchase styles, tattoos, poses for Photo Mode, Icons, laminate flooring, and much more with Atoms. You can expect Bethesda to add more items to the store as time goes by. They also recently announced plans for post-launch updates, which include faction-based PvP, new Vaults opening, and improvements to the C.A.M.P. building system.

What are your thoughts on the current price of Atoms and cosmetics in the meantime though? Let us know in the comments.

Bethesda’s Fallout 76 is out tomorrow, but things won’t end there. Given its online nature, Bethesda Games Studios has remained committed to post-launch support. In a recent tweet, the developer thanked other Bethesda studios for their help on the title. However, it also dropped some information about “Launch and Beyond”.

According to Bethesda, it has an “incredible list of updates” that it’s begun working on. This includes improvements to the building mechanics with C.A.M.P., new quests and events, the ability to respec characters, new Vaults opening, and a faction-based PvP system. With regards to specific requests, it’s pretty much touch and go at this point.

Fallout 76 releases on November 14th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Impressions of the beta have been mixed, especially with regards to performance. The PC version has also been seeing its fair share of issues, from the Bethesda Launcher deleting files to its inability to let players uninstall the beta. We’ll see what launch day has in store though.

A letter on launch and beyond. #Fallout76https://t.co/ewapHx4JGJ pic.twitter.com/eShBaQ8fGl

— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) November 12, 2018

Fallout 4, the latest entry in Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG series received many updates to polish things up since release (Bethesda does have a rather dubious distinction for bring out halfway broken games at release time.)

Today, however, the PC version of Fallout 4 is getting a new update, 1.5.4. Update 1.5.4 will bring with it minor performance improvements–this is always good as relatively unoptimized CPU-intensive areas in Fallout 4 can incur serious hits to performance (trust us, we’ve tried this with a 980 Ti.) Performance is particularly bad in Far Harbor, interesting as consoles suffered there performance-wise, too.

The Contraptions Workshop DLC for Fallout 4 was released earlier this week, allowing players to make all kinds of Rube Goldberg contraptions, though you really could spend that time building much more complex contraptions in Minecraft.

Have a look at the complete changelog for Fallout 4’s 1.5.4 update below:

Fallout 4 1.5.4 Update

NEW FEATURES

Increased space for Mod text on Mod details page for improved readability
Load Order menu now displays text about each Mod when highlighted
Most Popular filter now toggles between Daily, Weekly and All Time (defaults to Daily)
Reporting categories added when reporting a mod
Load Order menu displays options to Disable or Delete All Mods
Count of ratings now appears on Mod details page

FIXES

General stability and performance improvements
Fixed issue with weapons and armor losing mods and Legendary status when removed from armor and weapon racks (Contraptions)
Improved stability when reinitializing with certain mods loaded
Mod menu will check available space before starting mod downloads
Fixed issue with certain mods not downloading properly
Fixed issue with certain mods not appearing properly in the Load Order menu

KNOWN ISSUES

The Add Ons menu is erroneously displaying Vault Tec Workshop and Nuka-World as Available. We are working with Valve to resolve.

What isn’t so hot is Far Harbor’s lackadaisical performance on PS4, with nearly unplayable sub-30 FPS framerates. Thankfully, Bethesda has gotten around to addressing Far Harbor’s woes with a new patch promising performance optimizations. Here’s what you’ll need to do to get Far Harbor’s performance patch up and running on your PS4:

1. Make sure that Fallout 4 isn’t currently running. Go to the PS4 dashboard and highlight Fallout 4, select Options, then Close Application.
2. Click on Related Items under the Fallout 4 icon in the dashboard.
3. Select My Add-Ons.
4. Click on the Download Arrow next Far Harbor and select it.
5. Far Harbor should now be Added to Downloads.
6. Wait for the updated version of Far Harbor to finish downloading and installing before you start Fallout 4.

If this doesn’t work, Bethesda suggests deleting Fallout 4 and all related add-ons before reinstalling. What do you think about Fallout 4’s Far Harbour DLC? What platform are you playing it on? Let us know!

This section of the guide lists all the side quests, Institute quests, Brotherhood of Steel quests, Railroad quests, the Minuteman quests along with miscellaneous quests. Please note that we have tried our best to include each and every quest in this guide although there a few missing.

Fallout 4 is now available for the PS4, Xbox One and PC. For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.

Side Quests:

Benign Intervention:

The Big Dig:

Confidence Man:

Curtain Call:

Detective Case Files:

• The Disappearing Act
• The Gilded Grasshopper
• Long Time Coming

Diamond City Blues:

The Devil’s Due:

Emergent Behavior:

Here There be Monsters:

Human Error:

Kid in a Fridge:

Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution:

Long Road Ahead:

The Secret of Cabot House Quests

• Special Delivery
• Emogene Takes a Lover
• The Secret of Cabot House

The Silver Shroud

Vault 81 and Hole in the Wall

Pull the Plug

The Institute Quests:

Essential

Synth Retention

The Battle of Bunker Hill

Mankind Redefined

Mass Fusion

Pinned

Powering Up

End of the Line

Airship Down

Nuclear Family

Non-essential

Building a Better Crop

Plugging a Leak

A House Divided

Pest Control (Radiant)

Hypothesis (Radiant)

Appropriation (Radiant)

Reclamation (Radiant)

Political Leanings (Radiant)

Brotherhood of Steel Quests:

Essential

Reveille

Fire Support

Call to Arms

Semper Invicta

Shadow of Steel

Tour of Duty

Show No Mercy

From Within

Outside the Wire

Liberty Reprimed

Blind Betrayal

Tactical Thinking

Spoils of War

Ad Victoriam

A New Dawn

Non-essential

The Lost Patrol

Duty or Dishonor

A Loose End

Getting Technical

Blood Bank

Reactor Coolant

Cleansing the Commonwealth (Radiant)

Quartermastery (Radiant)

Leading by Example (Radiant)

Learning Curve (Radiant)

Feeding the Troops (Radiant)

The Railroad Quests

Essential

Road to Freedom

Tradecraft

Underground Undercover

Operation Ticonderoga

Precipice of War

Rockets’ Red Glare

Burning Cover

Non-essential

Boston After Dark

Memory Interrupted

Butcher’s Bill 1 (Radiant)

Butcher’s Bill 2 (Radiant)

Mercer Safehouse (Quest) (Radiant)

Jackpot (Radiant)

Concierge (Radiant)

Weathervane (Radiant)

Randolph Safehouse (Radiant)

Variable Removal (Radiant)

To the Matresses (Radiant)

Lost Soul (Radiant)

A Clean Equation (Radiant)

High Ground (Radiant)

The Minutemen Quests

Essential

When Freedom Calls

Sanctuary (Quest)

The Sight

Taking Independence

Old Guns

Inside Job

Form Ranks

Defend the Castle

With Our Powers Combined

Recruitment

The First Step

Ownership

Defend a Settlement (Radiant)

Defend Artillery at a Settlement (Radiant)

Stop the Raiding (Radiant)

Kidnapped Trader (Radiant)

Water, Food, or Power (Radiant)

Suspected Synth (Radiant)

Miscellaneous Quests

Atom Cats Garage: Atom Cats (Quest)

Bunker Hill: Fallen Hero

Bunker Hill: Meg’s Tour

Bunker Hill: Prep School

Bunker Hill: Traffic Jam

Cambridge Polymer Labs: Cambridge Polymer Labs (Quest)

Charles View Amphitheater: A Pillar of the Community

Chestnut Hillock Reservoir: Edwin’s Terminal

Combat Zone: Combat Zone (Quest)

Diamond City: Botany Class
Diamond City: Brother Against Brother
Diamond City: Diamond City’s Most Wanted
Diamond City: End Game
Diamond City: Fly Fishing
Diamond City: Holidays
Diamond City: Out in Left Field
Diamond City: New Hair, New Face
Diamond City: Nuka Cola Needs
Diamond City: Painting the Town
Diamond City: Pool Cleaning
Diamond City: Wedding Day
Diamond City: World Series Win

Drumlin Diner: Order Up

Dunwich Borers: Dunwich Borers (Quest)

Egret Tours Marina: Phyllis Daily
Finch Farm: Out of the Fire

Fens Street Sewer: Dear Detective

General Atomics Factory: Quality Assurance

General Atomics Galleria: Galleria

Goodneighbor: Art Appreciation

Goodneighbor: The Cleaner

Goodneighbor: Familiar Faces

Goodneighbor: Hazardous Material

Goodneighbor: MacCready for Action

Goodneighbor: Tough Times

Goodneighbor: Trouble Brewin’

Graygarden: Supervisor Brown

Graygarden: Supervisor Green

Greenetech Genetics: K1-98

HalluciGen, Inc.: HalluciGen Exploration

Jamaica Plain: Treasure of Jamaica Plain

Longneck Lukowski Cannery: Mystery Meat

Longneck Lukowski Cannery: Trader Rylee

Pickman Gallery: Pickman’s Gift

The Prydwen: Blood Bank

The Prydwen: Getting Technical

The Prydwen: Reactor Coolant

Rocky Cave: Virgil’s Cure

Rook Family House: Barney Rook

Skylanes Flight 1981: Random Encounter: Ness

the Slog: Arlen Glass

the Slog: Holly

the Slog: Marlene’s Holotape

the Slog: Wiseman

Vault 75: Vault 75 (Quest)

Vault 81: Austin: Vault 81 Tour

Vault 81: Bobby DeLuca: Dependency

Vault 81: Calvin: Maintenance Man

Vault 81: Doctor Penske: Fertilizer Woman

Vault 81: Erin: Here Kitty, Kitty

Vault 81: Katy: Short Stories

Warwick Homestead: Bill Sutton (Quest)

Wicked Shipping Fleet Lockup: Wicked Shipments

Fallout 4 is almost here and that’s got an entire world of gamers plenty excited. There are any number of people who will likely be calling into school or work (we know a few people who have already tried to get permission) so they can spend eight hours straight playing the game. It turns out that Bethesda’s Pete Hines understands the desire to do this and is trying to help keep those people out of trouble.

On Twitter yesterday, Hines offered up a template for a sick note that could be used to turn into your boss, or teacher or any other authority figure who might not believe you’re actually sick. Obviously, this is a joke but it does go to show just how dialed into the gaming public Hines and the rest of the Bethesda team is when it comes to their games. Of course, it shouldn’t come as any surprise there’s quite a bit of excitement around the game.

Hines has been trying to put out fires for the last few weeks as different pieces of the story began leaking online. There have been screenshots and the like hitting the web as well. Hines has actually come under a bit of fire after he started thanking people for taking down videos that show leaked content. Offering up the ability to get out of work or school is certainly going to endear him to those people who have no interest in spending time away from the console this week. Fallout 4 is releasing tomorrow, November 10, 2015 and if you haven’t pulled the trigger on a purchase, you should check out our review to see if you should.

Set in the former megalopolis of Boston, Massachusetts’ wasteland has more to offer within the first hour of game play than most titles accomplish in their entirety. As expected, Boston’s wasteland is a deathtrap ready to be explored. Permeated with nooks and crannies, this is a game that deserves to have every square inch explored. But to venture out into this vast land you’d better be well stocked up on purified water and Rad Away because it’s going to take you a long, long time.

For the first time in a Fallout game, we get to explore the actual world before the war — if ever briefly. Beginning in a small suburb of Boston in an even smaller, brightly lit, popping and colorful neighborhood — completely different from the dull, lifeless palette of a wasteland everyone is used to experiencing. — where you choose your character’s features and gender. After a few fleeting moments in a worry free, middle class land, the real story begins and the sandbox wasteland is yours to explore.

"Set in the former megalopolis of Boston, Massachusetts’ wasteland has more to offer within the first hour of game play than most titles accomplish in their entirety."

From the moment I entered the afterlife of what was once the bustling city of Boston, not only was it a moment of pure excitement, but also completely and overwhelmingly intimidating — in all the best ways. And that’s Fallout 4 in a nutshell: a world created with you in mind. See a house off in the distance and want to explore it? Go ahead. Find a sewer teeming with enemies to be taken down? Load up your shotgun and have at them. There is no right or wrong way to go about Fallout 4. Everything is left up to you. And it feels so liberating. Of course there are the standard objectives that must be sought after and completed to advance the story.

This dark, crumbled future of tomorrow is beautifully rendered around Boston and heavily focuses on its downtown districts. A complete and beautiful upgrade from past entries in every way imaginable, Fallout is a wonderful looking game for being an enormous sandbox. Where Fallout 3 suffered graphically as a blurry mess — even for its time — Fallout 4 is spellbinding. Certain cities are now dynamic, decorating for holidays and events brings in a very lively ambience. Lighting and land textures work well. Where pixilated, rough edges once surrounded cities and characters are now smoothed out and give off a very natural feel. It’s a true step up for a current generation game.

Factions make a return to Fallout 4 with secrets aplenty. Loyalty amongst groups and completing missions gets you entry into certain factions. Each faction is after their own goal and unlike New Vegas, they are not warmongering and always looking to take over the wasteland while spying on your every move. They all want something better than what Boston has to offer.

"A complete and beautiful upgrade from past entries in every way imaginable, Fallout is a wonderful looking game for being an enormous sandbox."

Fallout’s perk system returns with a new, more comprehensive chart jam-packed with all sorts of new and classic abilities. Perk points are handed out upon leveling up and can be spent on any unlocked ability. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes help expand the chart to unlock more Perks. This chart is enormous and multilayered as perks are now able to level up themselves.

V.A.T.S. or Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System returns to Fallout 4 and works as smooth as ever. But be careful, time does not freeze while in V.A.T.S. like it did in Fallout 3, it only slows down. So getting attacked while in V.A.T.S. is now a thing. And it’s sometimes nerve-racking, especially in sticky situations. The new Execute Critical move placed inside V.A.T.S. allows for instant critical hits to occur pre rendered at the press of a button for major damage.

Expanded upon from Fallout 3 is the buddy system… or as Bethesda likes to call it a “companion.” Companions have also been expanded on. It is now possible to command companions: where they go, if they attack, if they hold back, search people or objects. They also add that subconscious amount of liveliness by giving small expansions toward the story as a whole. Each companion is also multifaceted and each different than the other. But be careful. Certain choices I made for my character determined whether they liked me or not; this can lead to disobeyed orders onward. I wasn’t always comfortable with my companions eyes of judgement reining down on me, so I went solo from time to time.

"Fallout’s perk system returns with a new, more comprehensive chart jam-packed with all sorts of new and classic abilities… This chart is enormous and multilayered as perks are now able to level up themselves."

Long gone is the Karma system. “Good” and “bad” choices still exist in dialog, however, it doesn’t equate onto a scale like in past versions. So being as good or as bad as I wanted to be was a relief and I didn’t feel pressure to always commit to one side.

Dialog in Fallout 4 is, as most things in this game, expanded upon heavily and also multilayered. With the playable character running around with a voice of his/her own (finally!), this has opened up vast dialog branches that feel as though they can go off in many different directions. Where Fallout 3 had an in-your-face “good,” “neutral,” or “bad” answer for everything, Fallout 4 is expansive rather than absolute with a few “good” and “bad” selections to choose from as well as a newly added “sarcastic” response. Dialog is so expansive that finding how to answer something became very fun. I often found myself going back from a Quicksave just to find out what other dialog branches I could discover.

Having a voice of his own, my character wasn’t just another character. He was the center of the entire story unfolding around him. He has a mind, he can think, act, decide, not care. It wouldn’t seem as though a voice to a character could change the mechanics of how I play, but that addition added a whole other layer of complexity: it allowed me to understand where he was coming from emotionally; to grasp his struggles and unwrap his mind from how he expressed himself.

Other NPCs throughout the wasteland also have their own voice and personalities similar to past games. Tons of different and unique people, crazy and exciting “legendary” enemies and creatures from all walks of life mixed well in the moody atmosphere.

"Modifying weapons, armors and Power Armors in Fallout 4 has become a lot more immersive and fun while more advanced upgrades require certain perks to be unlocked later on. "

Workshops are a new — and very welcomed — form of village simulator. Wastelanders try to build a new home for a more secure, future society. Of course they need our help to do so. Building beds, adding electricity, growing crops, sourcing water and much more become fun and rewarding challenges. Don’t feel too overwhelmed! To get crops to grow or defenses to run properly they must be assigned to a villager. Cleaning up abandoned towns and adding in essential elements is a snap. Building defenses for a secure perimeter that gets attacked from time to time is a nice and fresh way to build up a few different safe houses around Boston.

Modifying weapons, armors and Power Armors in Fallout 4 has become a lot more immersive and fun while more advanced upgrades require certain perks to be unlocked later on. What was implemented really well and utilized extensively this time around is, surprisingly, junk! Weapons, armor and village essentials often implement many varieties of junk. So be prepared to collect every piece out there this time around. With weapon and armor mods a sizable amount of weapons are at our disposal in this game. Not only are there nice selections to find, purchase or kill-to-get, but modding weapons to adjust to each player’s own specific play style is where the real fun is. Tweaking a scope or adding in an extra magazine lead to my obsessive need to find specific junk that lied about Boston just to be able to upgrade certain points on each weapon.

Weapon and armor “Condition” is no longer a major thing. Weapons and armors do not have health gauges and eventually break over time. With the exception of Power Armor to help regulate how often the player can stay in the nearly invincible suit, weapons and armors are always at maximum capacity and at their killiest! Is that a word?

"Fallout 4 is a tremendous success. It brings back the dead, lifeless, lonesome land we’ve longed for. It carries forward the excellent aspects of what makes Fallout a great series and leaves behind unnecessary fillers and distractions."

Remember the classic tunes of Fallout 3? Amazing performers singing their greatest hits of generations long past. Those who are familiar with Fallout 3’s soundtrack may be delighted to know that many songs return with a collection of “new” entries as well. And as always the music feels right at home. A collection of a mostly upbeat variety counteracts the dismally, lonely moments experienced while venturing out into that great unknown. Outside of those familiar and catchy melodies is another type of music when the radio is off. Ambient music themes help carry the heavy emotion and dark mood of a great landscape lost to devastating war. The ambient music works brilliantly in every situation. It commands attention and tell a story all its own: that of an epic and often too symbolic atmosphere teeming with urgency and despair.

Fallout 4 is a tremendous success. It brings back the dead, lifeless, lonesome land we’ve longed for. It carries forward the excellent aspects of what makes Fallout a great series and leaves behind unnecessary fillers and distractions. The dialog branches out into unexpected twists and turns and feels ahead of any other multiple choice game I’ve played to date. Boston is scorched with an onslaught of both good and overwhelming evil that forced me to want to play for hours on end with little to no breaks in between.

Fallout 4 engulfed me in a massive world overflowing with mystery and a true sense of discover that demanded to be explored. It delivered in every aspect imaginable with little to no technical hiccups. Quests were diverse, long  lasting and much more fun than they were in past Fallout entries. This hundreds-of-hours-long, epic struggle for survival of a stranger in a strange land isn’t worth the asking price. It’s worth so much more. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to sit back, crack open a bottle of Nuka Cola and enjoy more of the game. Pass me the Rad Away, please.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.