An in-game trailer aired, showcasing the new Commonwealth setting. The contrast between the pre- and post-apocalypse, complete with a new dog companion navigating their surroundings. The massive Vault 111 door opens up, revealing the outside world for the first time. A naval ship dry-docked at a town, a city street at night with a gumshoe-looking character that would become one of the more well-regarded Fallout companions, the expanse of the world, Power Armor, Deathclaws, Vertibirds, Ghouls – it was all here and then some. Fallout was back.

However, as some fans celebrated the return of their favorite tropes and the new setting, combing the trailer for details, others were a bit mixed, particularly with the visuals. Fallout 4 didn’t look terrible, but considering The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt dropped less than a month prior, expectations were significantly higher. Also, this was Bethesda – a company whose magnum opus, Skyrim, spurred comparisons between nearly every other open-world title for years. Many viewed The Witcher 3 as the title that finally surpassed it in many ways. Now, Fallout 4 was revealed, and these were the visuals one could expect?

It was early days, and while some were annoyed at the visual quality, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the gameplay. E3 2015 occurred on June 14th, and Bethesda hosted its first-ever showcase. About 34 minutes were dedicated to director Todd Howard taking to the stage and revealed extensive gameplay for Fallout 4.

The new character creation system, the opening sequence where players would experience pre-nuclear life (and set their S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats), and the mad sprint to Vault 111 when the bombs dropped – it was a magical thing to witness. From there, we receive glimpses at the post-nuclear Commonwealth and some of its main sights, a quick look at combat and V.A.T.S. and, of course, meeting Dogmeat for the first time.

But that’s not all – Bethesda announced a wearable Pip-Boy included with its $119.99 collector’s edition. Such was the hype that it immediately sold out. It required slotting one’s phone into and running an app to mimic the look and feel of a Pip-Boy, as opposed to operating as an independent device of RobCo prowess, but still! Howard would then announce Fallout Shelter, a mobile title where players managed their own Vault, for release on the same day and then some more Fallout 4 gameplay focused on building.

Yes, building – you could now create your own settlement, complete with turrets for self-defense. Other NPCs could even live there and contribute to your community. There was still more to behold, from weapon crafting and Power Armor customization to gunplay and various enemies, including a showdown against a Deathclaw while wearing Power Armor. Before the showcase ended, Howard revealed that the Vault 111 numbers resolved into something else – 11-10-15 or November 10th 2015, the release date. Yes, Fallout 4 would launch in the same year, just six months after its announcement.

As some of us indulged in Fallout Shelter, obsessing over those Lunch Boxes (with more purchasable via microtransactions), the hype for Fallout 4 was palpable. It finally launched to positive critical reviews, with Metascores of 84 on PC, 87 on PS4 and 88 on Xbox One.

The combat, presentation, exploration and “thought-provoking” narrative earned it praise, to say nothing of all the awards and nominations (including winning Game of the Year at the 19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards). The sales were equally impressive, with 12 million units shipped in the first 24 hours, with 1.2 million copies sold on Steam. Undoubtedly, it was another success for Bethesda.

As fans binged the title, immersing themselves in the Commonwealth, venturing to the Museum of Witchcraft and meeting a terrifying surprise, exploring the Dunwich Borers and the ghostly secrets that lay within, learning about HalluciGen and their experiments, building settlements and the region as a whole. It faced the usual slate of issues with performance and glitches, more so on PS4 and Xbox One than on PC. However, as more players spent time with the game, the complaints steadily piled up.

The main quest was considered short. The controls on PC weren’t the best for keyboard and mouse users, likely because they were optimized for consoles first and foremost. The simplified dialogue system made for awkward interactions and was considered a poor substitute for simply providing exact responses. On top of this, players felt that many of the dialogue choices resulted in the same conclusion.

The infamous “Yes, No (Yes), Sarcastic Yes,” and “Question, Then Yes” memes, which reflected certain exchanges that could occur throughout the main quest, also didn’t help perceptions surrounding the same. Believe it or not, some even had issues with the voiced protagonist, believing it ruined the immersion (which probably explains their removal in Starfield). Nevertheless, the backlash against the dialogue system was significant enough that even Todd Howard acknowledged that it didn’t “work as well” and it was “less successful than other things in the game.”

The criticism didn’t stop there, however. Some consider the settlement building to be pointless in the grand scheme of things. Others wanted Preston Garvey, who led the Minutemen faction before quickly relinquishing control to the player, to stop telling them a new settlement needs their help. Some felt the role-playing options were non-existent, with no reputation or good/evil systems.

Despite releasing in 2015, there were still no native FoV sliders – PC players had to access and modify the .ini file to adjust it. Long loading times, dull faction quests, a lackluster story (where you were once again looking for a family member) and endings, quest design as a whole – the list went on. Some critics echoed these complaints; others noted the lack of any significant deviation from Bethesda’s traditional Fallout formula.

However, there was praise for other things, from Power Armor feeling weighty and powerful to the improved gunplay. Some lamented that Fallout 4 felt like a looter shooter, while others embraced it and the improved VATS (though melee combat still didn’t feel the best).

Plenty of comparisons were made to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its writing for the characters and quests, not to mention the gorgeous visuals (though it also launched with its fair share of issues). With Fallout 4, there seemed like less willingness to forgive Bethesda in any number of departments, not the least of which includes its continued reliance on the Creation Engine.

Despite all this, Fallout 4 did have some fans – even the positive Steam user reviews outweighed the negative at launch. However, the sentiment among long-time fans, is that even if it was a good game, Fallout 4 was a mediocre Fallout game (combined with proclaiming its depth to be a “mile wide and an inch deep”).

While it continued to support the title, fixing bugs and other issues, official mod support wasn’t available yet. It arrived in April 2016 for PC, followed by Xbox One in May and November for PS4. That wasn’t the decision that drew the most ire, though.

When Bethesda first announced the Season Pass before the game’s launch for $29.99. Those who purchased it would “get you all of the Fallout 4 DLC we ever do for just $30,” proclaiming that the DLC would be worth “at least $40.” It also promised that if more DLC were produced, Season Pass holders would get it all. However, in February 2016, Bethesda announced it was expanding its plan, raising the price of the Season Pass to $49.99 from March 1st. Fans who purchased it were set and would receive additional content as planned.

However, those who chose to wait and see the Season Pass’s offerings had to buy into it immediately or pay more later. It also didn’t help that only three DLC packs – Automatron, Wasteland Workshop and Far Harbor – had been revealed. The other content was still relatively unknown. Good thing Bethesda timed this decision to just a few weeks before Automatron.

When it finally dropped, the DLC offered some minor story content and the option to build robots and have them as companions. Not the worst set of options, but it’s far from the riveting DLC that fans expected. Wasteland Workshop, which arrived in April, faced even more stringent criticism.

Despite being billed as providing traps to capture Raiders and even Deathclaws to have them battle in arenas, some felt that such features should have been free or that modders would add them in and probably do a better job. The fact that the arenas were inconsequential didn’t help, and neither did the DLC prove to make a compelling argument for the Season Pass with so much focus on settlement building.

Far Harbor, the first story expansion, finally arrived in May and was thankfully well received. Its story-telling was like night and day, with real impactful choices, interesting characterization, and a unique location. You would think that your choices determining the main story’s outcome would have been something implemented in the base game, but better late than never.

Unfortunately, Bethesda would follow up with two more settlement-focused DLC – Contraptions Workshop and Vault-Tec Workshop. You would think that creating complex factory lines or having a vacant Vault to set up a settlement would be cool, but these DLC proved otherwise. They also reinforced that these should have either been in the base game or added for free. Nuka-World rounded off the Season Pass when it launched in August, providing another story-focused expansion.

The main characters consisted mainly of raider factions vying for power in the titular theme park and weren’t nearly as appealing as Far Harbor’s NPCs, nor did the areas feel inspired. You could lead a raider gang and assault your settlements in the Commonwealth to be “evil”, but, again, it barely affected the overarching storyline or state of the world.

So there you have it – a generally well-received launch, followed by introspection and backlash from some fans on Fallout 4’s shortcomings and book-ended by a lackluster Season Pass (which is still rated Mostly Negative on Steam to this day). The end, right? Well, no, because Bethesda hadn’t quite had enough.

In August 2017, Bethesda released the Creation Club, a platform for paid mods. It allowed players to purchase Credits with real money and use these to acquire said mods, which included such additions as weapons, Pip-Boy redesigns, a Power Armor set that paid homage to Oblivion’s infamous horse armor DLC and other such inconsequential additions. Given how vehemently the player base revolted against paid mods for Skyrim, it was viewed as a renewed effort from Bethesda to monetize the hard work of modders.

Bethesda’s Pete Hines would dispute that these were paid mods, telling Tek Syndicate at PAX West, “One of the reasons this is not paid mods when they (referring to modders) are working for us it’s a job. They’re not getting paid only if the stuff sells, they’re getting paid like an external contractor all along the way, so the risk is removed for them.”

You can decide for yourself whether that reasoning is sound, but modders could still go about creating free mods if they wanted. Furthermore, existing mods couldn’t suddenly be converted into paid mods, which is one potentially abusable loophole that Bethesda accounted for.

Over time, Fallout 4 would slink into the background, maintaining a respectably solid player base. Mod support also continued unhindered, even with the Creation Club’s existence. Sure, it would get a poorly received VR version that no one likes to talk about and saw some review bombing when Fallout 76 launched, with everyone rightfully angry at its state, but that happened with several Bethesda games. For the most part, it seemed many saw how much worse things could be with Fallout 76 and took solace in what Fallout 4 had to offer.

With the positive response to Amazon’s Fallout TV show, several new players are starting to discover Fallout 4 for the first time. Those who spent dozens, even hundreds of hours on the game also returned with a new appreciation for what it does. Regardless of the things that leave long-time fans divided to this day, there’s no denying it’s a Fallout game. Good or bad, underwhelming or underrated – that perception lies with the players and how they approach the wasteland.

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.

Yagata Forest – Ghost of Tsushima

According to legends, the spirits of fallen samurai reside in the trees of Yagata Forest, apparently whispering among themselves. Jin will eventually investigate the legend and encounter hanging bodies before fighting off bandits. The bandits are revealed to be leveraging the legend and causing trouble for anyone who stumbled into the forest. But even with that aside, it’s the quiet, foreboding atmosphere that contributes to the spookiness more than anything else.

Sephiroth – Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2

Kingdom Hearts players had a taste of Sephiroth’s power in the first game when fighting him in the Final Mix version of the game. Surprise, surprise, he’s even more difficult in Kingdom Hearts 2. On top of multiple health bars, he moves incredibly fast and can kill Sora with the first combo alone. He can also throw homing orbs, draw Sora into a fire wall and unleash Heartless Angel which, if successful, drops Sora to 1 HP. Sephiroth’s attack speed and damage also increase as he loses health, making for even more fun times.

Karma System

When Fallout 4 removed the Karma system, it undercut quite a bit of consequence from one’s actions. Instead of just re-introducing the same system from Fallout 3, Starfield should have more nuanced consequences. Rather than hostile factions hating you outright, their overall behavior and actions should change based on your reputation. For example, if you have a reputation for hunting down space pirates, then a pirate faction could be hostile, wary, trying to use you to wipe out competitors, and so on depending on your overall morals.

Hazardous Material

Any quest that takes you to a place called “HalluciGen, Inc.” sounds fishy. Sure enough, after receiving the quest from Fred Allen in Hotel Rexford, you’ll walk into the building to recover a HalluciGen gas canister only to discover Gunner soldiers fighting among each other and seemingly gone mad. Some investigation will reveal that HalluciGen gas is a bioweapon that drives people crazy and the Gunners – among other victims – were used as test subjects.

Speech Checks

You’ve probably heard this term a fair number of times. A speech check essentially relies on your Charisma stat and Speech skill in Fallout 3. They let you manipulate NPCs to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do with the accompanying speech challenge indicating your percentage of success. Not only does Fallout 4 do away with the Speech skill, leaving everything up to Charisma, but its speech checks never felt particularly interesting or impactful. Most times, it felt too easy to completely flip someone’s point of view or increase your reward. Far Harbor did make speech checks better and introduced cooler decisions but that doesn’t excuse the base game for not even including percentage of success for different choices based on your Charisma.

The game pulls the rug out from under your feet, as it turns out that the length of rope was actually a venomous snake, and it had been lying there for thousands of years, pretending to be rope, just hoping that someone would notice it and fall for its wily tricks. “Ha ha!” the game snaps happily. “Gotcha!”

Well played, game. Well played. Here are fifteen times we underestimated innocent looking things in games, only to be completely blindsided by their true, evil colours.

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN PREY

Even the simple act of walking around a seemingly dull environment in Arkane Studios’ Prey is a horrifying prospect. The central hook of the Mimics, the main enemies you come up against most often throughout the game, is that they can take the shape of literally anything in the world. Every step you take is fraught with tension, every object you pick up or look at can be potentially deadly. That chair you see there? That boring little pen lying on the table? That plant standing in the corner? Everything in Prey is out to get you.

After months of anticipation, Fallout 4: Far Harbor is finally out. The third DLC for Bethesda’s Fallout 4 is far bigger in scope than either Automatron or Wasteland Workshop– it is as a matter of fact, the single largest bit of post launch content that Bethesda have ever worked on. And given just how extensive Bethesda’s expansions have been in the past, that really is saying something.

With something as big and large as this, it is very easy and entirely possible for a player to find themselves lost, at a loss as to where to go and what to do. That’s where we come in- this walkthrough for Fallout 4: Far Harbor will take you through the full single player campaign for the DLC. However, keep in mind that this walkthrough has spoilers, so if you’d rather go into the DLC blind, this is not for you.

Main Quests And Missions:

• Far From Home
• Walk In The Park
• Where You Belong
• Visions In The Fog
• Best Left Forgotten
• The Way Life Should Be
• Reformation / Cleansing The Land
• Close To Home

Side Missions And Quests:

• Living on the Edge
• Hull Breach
• Safe Passage
• The Changing Tide
• The Hold Out
• Turn Back the Fog

We will update this guide as we find more information on side quests.

And that’s where we come in- this guide for Fallout 4: Far Harbor, covers everything from how you can access the DLC, find unique and rare weapons, rare armor, recipes, new perks and abilities, buy hounds, find recipes, workshop locations, Islander’s Almanac Magazines, new map locations, find the biggest secret loot room and the Bowling Ball launcher. And lastly we also take a look at at how you can unlock some of the trophies and achievements within the game.

ACCESSING FAR HARBOR

Of course, before you can conquer Far Harbor, you need to access it- and Bethesda make it generally easy. The new area can be accessed relatively early in the game, though there are still some early game story quests that you need to have completed before you can get to Far Harbor. Essentially, this is what you need to do:

Before doing any of this, make sure you purchase and download Far Harbor– naturally, you cannot access the expansion without having purchased and installed it.

1. Go to Diamond City- once you get there, you will see signs all over the city pointing to Nick Valentine’s Detective Agency
2. Once you get there, you find out that Valentine has been kidnapped, initiating the Missing Valentine quest. Complete the quest, to get the next one in the line- Get A Clue.
3. Complete Get A Clue, then pull up your Pip Boy. Select “Valentine’s Detective Agency Radio.” This immediately unlocks the “Far From Home” quest.
4. Follow “Far From Home” to reach the new Far Harbor area.

UNIQUE AND RARE WEAPONS

There are multiple new, pretty awesome weapons that Far Harbor adds to the mix- weapons that, in general, are among the best ones available in the new expansion. This section of the guide provides a full list of all of these new Unique and Rare weapons, while also including a video showcase for each of them.

The Fish Catcher: A devastating close range melee weapon.

Radical Conversion: Ignores 30% of the enemy’s damage and energy resistance

UNIQUE ARMOR

Defender’s Harpoon Gun: Another weapon that ignores 30% of the enemy’s damage and energy resistance

Hitman’s Institute Rifle: +10% damage while aiming

December’s Child: Lighter, with faster reload, faster fire rate, and 5.56 ammo usage

The Harvester: A devastating melee weapon that may stagger enemies

Bloodletter: A melee weapon that makes targets bleed for an addition 25 HP of damage

Butcher’s Hook: Refills your AP on a critical hit

Admiral’s Friend: Does double damage to enemies at full health

The Striker: 50% chance to cripple the target’s leg

Kiloton Radium Rifle: Bullets explode on impact

Atom’s Judgement: +100 radiation damage

Old Reliable: Shoots and additional projectile

UNIQUE ARMOR

Similar to high grade unique weapons that have been added to the game in Far Harbor, there is also some new, unique armor added to the game, too. This section of the guide covers that armor. Unless otherwise noted, all armor sets end up cumulatively granting a whole range of buffs and bonuses during combat or exploration- with different pieces in an armor set providing different benefits. These exact benefits can be learned by watching the provided videos.

Recon Marine Armor Set

Captain’s Hat & Cap

Inquisitor’s Cowl: Wearer’s intelligence increases with Rads

Vim! Power Armor

Hunter’s Pelt Outfit and Hunter’s Hood

Rescue Diver Suit: Wearer gains ability to breathe underwater, and protection from radiation

PERKS

Perks are the fundamental mechanic for leveling up in Fallout 4– and Far Harbor throws some new ones into the mix, adding new bonuses, buffs, and abilities to help you on your way through the wasteland. The video below acts as a handy guide to these new Perks that have been added into the game with Far Harbor.

HOUNDS

You can, in fact, buy hounds in Fallout 4, thanks to Far Harbor. The video below shows you where to go and what to do- I just don’t know why you’d want to do any of it, but hey, no judgement.

RECIPES

Fallout 4: Far Harbor adds multiple new recipes into the game- these let you cut off parts from the wasteland creatures you encounter, and use them to feed yourself for some unique bonuses and buffs.

Strong Sludge Cocktail: 

Dirty Water X 1, Blight X 2, Condensed Fog X 1

Agile Sludgepak: 

Fertilizer X 2 , Stimpak X 1, Condensed Fog X 1, Dirty Water X 1

Fried Fog Crawler:

Raw Fog Crawler Meat X 1, Oil X 1

Gulper Slurry:

Purified Water X 1, Acid X 1, Crystal X 1, Gulper Innards X 3

Grilled Hermit Crab: 

Hermit Crab Meat X 1

Poached Angler: 

Angler Meat X 1

Durable Sludgepak: 

Fiberglass X 2, Stimpak X 2, Condensed Fog X 1, Dirty Water X 1

Resilient Sludge Cocktail: 

Condensed Fog X 1, Rax-X X 1, Bloodbug Meat X 1

WORKSHOPS

There are four new Workshops to find in Far Harbor:

Echo Lake Lumber: Complete the Rite of Passage quest, and during the Turn Back The Fog quest, refuse to return the land to Malcolm.

National Park Visitor’s Center: Complete the quest Rite of Passage quest, then talk with Mitch in The Last Plank bar. Starting the next quest will gain you access to this workshop.

Longfellow’s Cabin: You need to go to Arcadia during the Walk in the Park Quest to unlock this workshop. The workshop is directly north of Far Harbor.

Dalton’s Farm: You need to speak with Cassie in Far Harbor, and complete Blood Tide. The workshop is on the far northwestern shore of the island.

COLLECTIBLES

There are multiple different kinds of collectibles in Fallout 4: Far Harbor. This part of the guide helps you track the locations of all of them:

The Islander’s Almanac Magazines

New Map Locations

The Biggest Loot Room

The Bowling Ball Launcher

• Far Harbor->Beaver Creek Lanes ->The Manager’s Office which is located behind the bowling lanes.
• Mini Nuke Launcher Variant, Using Bowling Balls as Ammo, With 50% Chance to Cripple

ACHIEVEMENTS/TROPHIES

Far From Home
Complete The Quest ‘Far From Home’

Where You Belong
Complete the quest ‘Where You Belong’

The Way Life Should Be
Complete The quest ‘The Way Life Should Be’

Cleansing the Land
Complete the quest ‘Cleansing the Land’

Close to Home
Complete the quest ‘Close to Home’

The Islander’s Almanac
Collect all issues of “The Islander’s Almanac” magazine

Hooked
Defeat 30 Far Harbor creatures

New England Vacationer
Discover 20 Far Harbor Locations

Push Back The Fog
Unlock 3 Far Harbor Workshop Locations. Refer the guide above.

Just Add Saltwater
Cook One of the New Far Harbor Recipes. Refer the guide above.

Bethesda have claimed repeatedly that Far Harbor, the final bit of DLC that they are releasing as part of the first wave of post launch content for Fallout 4, will be the most extensive bit of post launch DLC that they have ever worked on, far more extensive than anything they ever did for Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, or Fallout 3.

Just how extensive? Well, according to WCCFTech, who contacted some people who have gotten the chance to go hands on with the DLC already ahead of its launch later this week, the main story will be about 20 hours long- while that is a pittance to just how long Bethesda games usually last, it is in fact far longer than their other expansions and DLC, and it is definitely longer than most other games that are put out on the market these days.

Fallout 4: Far Harbor will be out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 19.