This version of the game is arguably the definitive way to play it, bringing a lot of extra content aside from the base game, including its six expansions and a plethora of options from its Creation Club for those of you who like to customize Dogmeat and your gear to your liking. Picking it up is probably going to keep you busy for many extended sessions of play, and you’re likely going to be reaching for a charger without even realizing the hours have gone by once you get some momentum in its massive open world.

However, we’re going to remind you about the rather messy launch state that this version of the game had on other platforms. While things may have been ironed out in time for the Switch 2 version’s release, it does deserve to be mentioned nonetheless. But, in the spirit of optimism, let’s hope that the Switch 2 version does better than its counterparts and brings its players the experience they deserve. That’s a strong possibility if the trailer is anything to go by.

As an updated bundle, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition includes all previously released content, including single-player expansions like Automatron, Far Harbor and Nuka-World. The settlement-building aspects are also enhanced courtesy of DLC like Wasteland Workshop, Vault-Tec Workshop and Contraptions Workshop. Want to capture a Deathclaw and make it fight your settlers? Here’s your chance.

There are also more than 150 Creation Club items included, from different breeds for Dogmeat to Power Armor colors. If it follows the same process as other platforms, then the Anniversary Edition should be a paid upgrade for current owners.

The problem is that it effectively broke Fallout 4 when it originally launched last November. Not only did it result in several issues across the board for current owners (especially on PC), but you couldn’t opt out of installing the update. You can read all about it here, though Bethesda has released updates ever since to mitigate some of the damage.

Though initially planned for November, it’s now releasing at a later time (most likely with December’s patch). For now, the current patch will help with fixing crashes while improving performance in the Creations menu on all consoles. Softlocking when entering/exiting the menu and the infinite loading that could occur when loading a save file with Creations will also be addressed.

But that’s not all. As a mea culpa of sorts, Bethesda is also providing the “first of several” free Creations. Out later this week, it adds a new quest where players venture down a manhole, solve puzzles and obtain the new unique Varmint Rifle.

While this sounds all well and good, fans aren’t happy about another update potentially breaking their mods, especially after the headache caused by the Anniversary Edition. “The modding community is the backbone of your games that keeps them relevant after all these years, and instead of paying respects to those who dedicate hours out of passion to their projects, you mock them,” commented one user on the post.

Another echoed a popular sentiment: “Just set up a separate public branch so we can choose whenever if we want to use the previous update or not, so we don’t have to worry about an update breaking mod compatibility. All it takes is a few minutes on your end via the Steamworks developer portal to set up a public branch containing the older version.”

Bethesda hasn’t indicated whether it will be doing this or not in the future, but stay tuned for further updates. In the meantime, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition is available for PlayStation, Xbox and PC with a Switch 2 version out in 2026.

Among the currently 6,025 user reviews, about 33 percent gave it their approval, but why the sudden negativity? That would be due to the Anniversary Update, released to commemorate the title’s tenth anniversary. Of course, it also provided an excuse for Bethesda to re-release it, this time as the Anniversary Edition.

However, even those who didn’t upgrade were forced to download the update, which resulted in numerous performance issues, including crashes, broken textures, broken mods, and more. The fact that the separately available Creations Bundle has its own share of issues while lacking anything compelling doesn’t really help either.

As one review notes, “Fallout 4 was once a sandbox for creativity. Now it’s a treadmill for monetization. Bethesda’s latest update cycle feels less like support and more like sabotage – breaking mods, forcing updates, and re-selling the same game with a fresh coat of monetized paint.” Another said, “If you’re trying to sell your paid mods of varying quality, maybe don’t then break your paid mods store.”

It’s all the more annoying since Fallout 4 is the only contemporary offering in the series (at least on the single-player front). Bethesda’s Todd Howard revealed that the studio is working on “even more,” but a rumored Fallout 3 remaster is allegedly still a way off. And if Howard’s statement from 2022 still holds, the same applies to the next mainline Fallout.

Apparently so. The whole reason for this edition is to introduce Fallout 4 to the Nintendo Switch 2 – it won’t actually launch for the platform until next year, but I digress. For those who have yet to experience one of the most controversial entries in the franchise (before Fallout 76 came around, of course), it’s not the worst deal. The base game with all add-ons and expansions alongside more than 150 Creations from the Creation Store? Pretty solid package overall, but enough to warrant spending $59.99 on PC, Xbox or PlayStation after all these years? I would say not (and I spent full price on the base game and expansion pass back in the day – yes, go ahead. Point and laugh).

Here’s where things get confusing. If you already own Fallout 4 but not the DLC, you can purchase the Anniversary Upgrade for $39.99 and receive all of that content alongside the Creations Bundle, which contains the aforementioned 150+ Creations. If you own Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition, then the Creations Bundle will cost $19.99. Got it? Good.

So what’s the problem? Well, even if you didn’t care for the Anniversary Edition and were content to continue playing Fallout 4 with your current set of mods, there’s a mandatory update to download. To no one’s surprise, this breaks your mods. It would be one thing if this were a new update with new content – at least you could somewhat justify having to update mods to work with the new version number. But no, this update simply changes the Creations menu and makes it so that the hit chance for VATS is the same across all platforms. Oh, and if you were having fun with the Penetrator perk targeting enemies through walls, that’s been fixed.

The problem is that the update is causing severe issues, from crashes and performance problems to outright breaking the textures. Even if you aren’t someone with hundreds of mods and extensive edits to tailor the experience to your liking, it’s just a bad look, especially for a game that’s this old and on its tenth anniversary, no less. You would think that Bethesda would learn its lesson from the Next-Gen Update, which launched with its own issues while also breaking mods, but you would be wrong.

Even more hilarious is that the Creations Bundle, the actual content that’s meant to justify the Anniversary Edition’s existence, doesn’t work properly. Currently rated “Mostly Negative” on Steam, with only 23 percent of the 341 reviews approving this debacle, it also results in numerous crashes. Many who purchased the bundle can see it in their list of add-ons, but they can’t install it. Others get a never-ending initialisation process before the game crashes. That’s not even accounting for a fresh range of new bugs, particularly for those first-time players, which is who this edition was geared towards in the first place.

The worst part about all this? The actual content in the Creations Bundle isn’t even all that appealing, unless you really want Dogmeat to look like a different breed or for your Power Armor and Pip-Boy to have different colors. You know, stuff that free mods are capable of.

Bethesda has at least recognized the reason for players not being able to access the Creations Bundle after purchasing it, and is working on a fix. There’s no ETA currently, but fingers crossed that it’s fixed by the time this is live.

It’s just so exasperating to be a fan of Bethesda, regardless of how small. Say what you will about Starfield and how excellent or disappointing it was, but its post-launch support in 2025 has been absolutely nonexistent, and that was after dropping the drek that was Shattered Space last year. When the Fallout TV show premiered last year, it had the chance to appeal to millions of potential new players with the Next-Gen Update, which had already seen delays. Lo and behold, it launched and caused issues for everyone, resulting in a horrible first impression.

I could go on about the issues with Fallout 76, which has thankfully seen improvements through the years courtesy of its dedicated development team. And while game development is a long and arduous process, seeing Bethesda re-release Fallout 4 while admitting that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still a long way off, over seven years since its first announcement, is truly something. And to emphasise once again, Fallout 4 is a ten-year-old game that was already outclassed by so much else back in 2015. What are we even doing here?

You could argue that this new edition is just a bit of marketing to pull in anyone interested in the Fallout TV show’s second season. And that’s fair play, even if a brand new Fallout game or the long-rumored Fallout 3 remaster would have been better. The problem is that even if you’re not the target audience, you’re dragged into this vortex of nonsense, either because Bethesda doesn’t have the resources to test things properly or couldn’t be bothered to do so. Either looks bad, considering how much experience it should have with its own engine by now, especially when this update does little else besides updating a paid mods menu and some VATS mechanics.

In a way, it’s ironic. The modders who helped keep Fallout 4 alive all this time with their Creations are the ones who are disregarded, time and time again, with these updates. And as much as Bethesda wants to encourage them to get paid for their work through the Creation Store, it’s all pointless if those buying the Creations Bundle can’t even use it. Or if it makes their experience technically worse. Again, you would think all this is obvious by now, but apparently not.

I would say it’s stuff like this that really makes me doubt any future Bethesda projects, and encourages me to stay away. But honestly, with the years-long gap between releases, issues like this will just be swept under the rug when it comes time to build hype. The Elder Scrolls 6 could get no new footage and maybe an official title, and that would be enough to suffice for the next few years. I would be surprised if anyone even remembers these issues by then.

Hearing Todd Howard reveal that the team is working on even more for the Fallout franchise should have been the main reason to celebrate Fallout Day. Despite his desire not to announce anything too far in advance – which is hilarious when you look at Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 – it could have been the perfect occasion to tease something, anything for the future. Maybe even tease that the Fallout 3 remaster is real. Instead, we’re back to Fallout 4, yet again, and reminded once more of why you should never get excited for anything Fallout-related.

Oh well. At least Season 2 of the show should be good and crash far less.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

If you own the game and decided to splurge on the Creations Bundle, which includes over 150 items from the Creation Store, then there’s bad news there as well. One user reports their inability to install it. “In the add-ons menu, it lists the Creations Bundle as ‘available’ with no way to actually use it.”

Another user notes that upon buying the Bundle and launching the game, “something” downloads before it, unfortunately, remains stuck on initializing. As this Reddit post succinctly notes, “Fallout 4: Anniversary Update breaks game and adds nothing more than a UI update so that you can pay for mods.” No wonder it’s rated “Mostly Negative” on Steam with a whopping 24 percent approval.

Bethesda hasn’t issued any statement yet on fixes, but given how the Next-Gen Update caused a similar amount of ruckus, expect patches soon. If it’s any consolation, at least director Todd Howard confirmed the team is working on “even more” in the franchise.

In a message that had been pre-recorded, Howard acknowledged that the company is currently working on something for the Fallout universe. However, he also noted that more details about it will only be revealed once Bethesda is ready to do so.

“Even though I am recording this — it’s not live — and I’m probably watching myself right now from my desk and I’m reading your chat and these… that thing you want and this other thing you want… Hey, we read it all. Just know we are working on even more. We are looking forward to the day when we can share that with everybody,” said Howard in his message.

Fallout Day 2025 was live streamed this week, and it featured a couple of key announcements by Bethesda. Among these was the fact that Fallout 76 will finally be getting upgrades that make use of the more powerful hardware available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Along with this, the company also confirmed that the title will be getting its free Burning Springs update – which adds a host of new content to the game alongside an entirely new area to explore – on December 2.

The Burning Springs update for Fallout 76 will also bring with it the debut of Amazon Prime Fallout’s character The Ghoul, who will offer players new missions for the bounty hunting activity, which in turn can be taken up either solo or as a group. The update will also bring with it an entirely new set of story missions, as well as an arena where players can take on different kinds of enemies for the amusement of the Rust King.

The event also saw the announcement of Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2. While most of the platforms will be getting it on November 10, the Switch 2 release is slated to happen some time in 2026.

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition will include the base game, along with all of the expansions and DLC that have been released for it so far. Along with this, it will also include more than 150 Creations that have been made by other players of the game. These can range from minor things, like changing the breed of companion Dogmeat, to more gameplay-oriented Creations, like tweaks to the core gameplay and even entirely new quests.

Rumours from earlier this year have indicated that Bethesda is working on a host of different Fallout projects that haven’t yet been announced. However, the report from July has indicated that none of these projects had been far along enough in development to be playable anytime soon. Another rumour has indicated that one of these projects might be Fallout 5.

The Anniversary Edition includes the base game with all add-ons and expansions. However, it also packs more than 150 Creations, from different breeds for Dogmeat (including a husky, dalmatian and golden retriever), new power armor, and Pip-Boy paint jobs to “gameplay tweaks and quest expansions.” It also brings new weapons, though the full list of Creations has yet to be revealed.

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks, and check out our review of the PS5 version. For a different kind of experience in Fallout 4 (at least on PC), there’s also Fallout: London, which brings an entirely new world with numerous new factions, locations, voicelines, and more. It recently received a free update that added even more content – head here for more details.