More than 10 years following its release, Fallout 4 still holds its own

🎮 For decades, Fallout was the messy, lovable, bug-ridden child of the RPG world. It was a franchise defined by its atmosphere and its equally incredible technical failures. But in April 2024, that changed. The release of the Amazon Prime TV adaptation dropped a bomb of popularity that revitalized a dormant IP and turned 10-year-old games into chart-topping bestsellers overnight.

Within weeks of the show’s premiere, Fallout 4 (released in 2015) shot back up to the #1 spot on sales charts across Europe. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be a Vault Dweller. Riding the high of the TV show, the studio released a “Next-Gen Update” for Fallout 4 intended to polish the game for modern consoles. Instead, it was met with fierce backlash from the community. The update broke years’ worth of essential player-made mods, introduced new bugs to a stable game, and delayed the highly anticipated fan expansion Fallout: London. For the newly inducted, however, it was simply fun.

So, what’s the plot? Players joining in after binging the show would be pleased to find more of the same — plus the added benefit of making your own choices without being frustrated at characters on TV. The game itself is set in the 2280s within a post-apocalyptic Boston. You’re the sole survivor from one of the vaults, and you just got out of cryo sleep. Your spouse is dead, and your son is kidnapped — your job? To find him.

With a slew of friendly companions and not-so-friendly foes along the way, you traverse the open-world wasteland, roam freely if you wish, or quest and level up. Along the way, you can pick up loot, which you can then use to craft new gear and weapons, with plenty of modification options. Which is to say: There’s a lot to do in Fallout, even if that’s just running around the map with the character’s canine companion Dogmeat.

The verdict: To put it simply, Fallout is fun. The game has survived the buggy launches, the lore disputes, and shifting industry trends. It proves that a strong world-building foundation can survive almost anything — even its own developers.

💯 Rating: 85/100.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: Unlimited.

🔁 Replay value: 9/10.

👾 Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation.

💵 Price: On Game Pass; frequently under USD 10.