As much as I might want to call this a mediocre game, my 250 hours (which I would've guess was 50) spent playing it would insist I think otherwise. And I don't know that I truly DO think otherwise- I feel as though it is by obligation to the gaming community that I dislike anything bethesda's done past Morrowind. But truthfully, I kind of love this game. For me, it's got the right amount of dopamine hits, the minimum amount of thoughtfulness, the minimum amount of difficulty that I can put this game on at any point and just play. And while, sure, there's something to be said about a game that's kind of designed to be played with your brain turned off, I think there is also room a defense of that game. Not a strong defense, but there's definitely a place for them. The game has a very strong loop, entertaining and diverse companions and characters, fantastic music, and does upkeep the world built by the first fallouts decently. I don't have a fantastic way to end the review. The game's an accessible dopamine fest with strong roots and I think its flaws are self explanatory. Enjoy

When I finished this game, I thought, "That's it?" This phrase summarized my experience with this game.

Exploring is still fun, especially in downtown Boston. Some of the settings in this game, like the Prydwyn or the radioactive sea, are stunning and a joy to go through.

However, the gameplay loop of getting a quest, going to a place, and killing everything in sight gets boring extremely quickly. It gets boring after the third or fourth quest. It made me avoid doing quests because I already knew what I needed to do. A few side quests strayed away from this loop, which I appreciated and wish there were more of.

While the gunplay is certainly a step up from its predecessors (not much to go but up from there), it still gets boring after a while. There are the same 3-4 enemy types in the whole game, and there's no real change in difficulty outside of an increased health bar. I also constantly ran out of ammo in the early to mid-game, as enemies were complete bullet sponges, and ammo was scarce.

I also see people criticize the lack of "RPG" elements, like the shallow dialogue tree. I honestly don't have much of a problem with this since I think Bethesda tried to make the playable character more of its character. Although I wish they had fully gone this route instead of half-assing it.

I still haven't played the DLC, so maybe that'll change things, but I doubt it will.

Core gameplay loop can be addictive as hell, but the game is mediocre overall. Vibes aren’t nearly as good as other older BGS games. Revisiting it for the first time since 2015 I was kind of shocked at how much you feel the absence of a lot of the things they normally do right, like iconic towns. It is easy to look past those things in the moment sometimes, especially when enemies are being turned into ketchup and the XP sound effect is constantly pinging in you ear, but as soon as you put it down, damn is it forgettable.

Fallout 4, Review,
Spoiler Free,

I finished the main story for this game many years ago now and have just recently picked it up again and I pretty much still feel the same way about this game that I did all those years ago.

Fallout 4 is another ambitious western RPG from Bethesda who have always done a great job of immersing me in their worlds. This is my only real experience with any game in this series and I think it is a really fun RPG. The world is interesting, I like pretty much all the characters and the main story while a little corny at times can be a great way of engaging you with the many different factions. My first playthrough I was with the Railroad which lead me to quite the satisfying ending and I am excited to try playing as the Brotherhood of Steel in this current playthrough.

I also think the upgrade system is very addictive with every decision feeling meaningful in some way and can help tailor your play style. I believe that this is the first Fallout game to add base building and while it is a little janky I have had a lot of fun finding materials to build out my settlement to represent some kind of Wasteland empire. That mechanic in of itself has enough hours to sustain a whole game.

In terms of negatives, I do think the Bethesda jank can be a little annoying here. I have had plenty of crashes and the fact that the expansions almost break the game is very frustrating. The fact that a lot of this is also focused on action game play and Bethesda didn't do a good job with combat at all is also annoying. This would be my least favourite combat in any Bethesda game because its so unsatisfying.

Overall, Fallout 4 is a pretty great game that I do recommend to you, the game definitely has its quirks but I think it comes out the other end as another quality release from Bethesda.