New England, Old Game
More shocking and horrifying than the in-game nuclear apocalypse is the realisation that Fallout 4 is now ten years old. Indeed, a full decade has passed since the last single-player Fallout instalment. Indeed, the series has had an MMO and a hit TV series since then, so while the franchise may be more famous and relevant than ever, it has yet to enjoy a new title. So what does this Anniversary Edition offer?
Similar to the Anniversary package for Skyrim, this compilation adds in a selection of optional community-made content, presumably promising long-term support for the game. Immediately, this will mean little for PC players for whom modding is as natural as breathing with Bethesda titles, but as an option for console players, this is a decent bonus.
That said, accessing the Creation Club led to an immediate hard crash, not exactly a promising beginning for a rerelease of an old game. While the promise of new quests and locations is enticing, the offering this package launches with is less than inspiring, with more skins than exciting reasons to ship up to Boston again. It’s strange that this didn’t just release to tie in with the free next-gen update last year, as an anniversary celebration; this feels like a real afterthought. Compared to the Skyrim package, it seems positively anaemic.
Radioactive Waste
On the plus side, Fallout 4 is still a very enjoyable game. While series fans will always bicker, be it New Vegas versus 3 and 4, or whether the series should have ever gone first-person, you can still have a great time here. The world is incredibly fun to explore, and while the main plot is quite wonky (robots stole your baby! Or something,) the characters you meet on the way are a really fun bunch. Who doesn’t love Nick Valentine, mechanical private eye? The inclusion of all season pass content here is welcome, though the likelihood of veterans not having played Nuka World and Far Harbour in the decade since the game launched is quite slim. Still, as a package for new players, this is still a worthwhile endeavour, despite an unfriendly launch price.
It will be worth seeing how the game runs on the promised Switch 2 release, as the first handheld Fallout game (Shelter app notwithstanding) is the most interesting aspect of this meagre rerelease. As it stands, without noticeable improvements or fixes to the game, underwhelming community content and a confusing, overpriced upgrade path, this compilation is neither new nor clear. New, clear? Nuclear? Is this anything?
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