I'm finally leaving Vault 111 in Fallout 4 on PS5. As the Wasteland comes into focus and I look out over the dilapidated remains of Sanctuary Hills – which was my picture perfect home just shy of 30 minutes ago – a myriad of notifications begin to pop up consecutively on my screen. One after another, they add fresh quests to my Pip-Boy before I've even had a chance to take in the irradiated vista. This is far from the first time I've experienced the opening of Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG, but this is the first time I'm seeing the majority of these objectives. After falling in love with the Fallout TV show, I, like many others, felt compelled to return to the 2015 adventure. With a copy on PS4, I could have just dived in right away, but I decided to wait for the next-gen update to drop last week.
Initially, when I saw these notifications, I was glad I did hold out. But as time went on, a question began to creep into my mind: Was this really worth the wait? Well, I've come to the conclusion that the answer to that is, overall, not really. I could have gotten my fill of rads and vaults on PS4 right off of the back of the TV show's release when the mood initially struck me, and it wouldn't have made that much difference. Sure, I have some extra items, a few new quests, and the Commonwealth has had a fresh coat of paint that makes it look crisper and smoother than before on console. But as it turns out, there's one thing that outweighs all of the new additions for me. Something I didn't even consider that has so far proven to be the best thing about Fallout 4's next-gen update: the trophies. I'm actually rediscovering the story with a renewed sense of purpose, and that includes earning the achievements all over again.
Reunions
While all of the extra little bells and whistles are appreciated, I ultimately wanted to return to Fallout 4 to relive the story and recapture the sense of adventure it offers up. As a last minute vault dweller who gets swept up in unexpected and frankly bleak circumstances, I've always enjoyed how the RPG quickly establishes your motivation and then throws you right in. I do admittedly much prefer the freedom New Vegas and Fallout 3 provide in terms of your character – I'm not forced into being a parent with a spouse as I am in Fallout 4 – but it's very easy to fall into the role-play when you're met with tragedy early on. Plus, it's still left up to you to decide what direction your journey takes for the most part.
In certain respects, I also wanted to put my own spin on TV show protagonist Lucy's fish-out-of-water experience after she leaves the vault. It's not exactly the same, but just as I head out in search of my son in the Commonwealth, she braves the dangers of the Wasteland to find her father. Sure, I may not be hunting a decapitated head, but there is a ghoul I can get to know in the form of Hancock from Goodneighbor (who's thankfully a little more friendly right off the bat), a Brotherhood of Steel questline, and plenty of nasty creatures to conquer as I try to live out a story of my own.
Sempa Invicta
The prevalence of the Brotherhood of Steel in the show actually shaped one of the biggest reasons I wanted to revisit Fallout 4. Since I'd only ever completed the questline that sees you join the Brotherhood once, my memory of it was foggy at best. Thanks to Maximus in the show, and the iconic Power Armor which you get your hands on right at the start of the game, seeking out Paladin Danse at the Cambridge Police Station became my first major goal. Of course, I got caught up in some other objectives in Sanctuary, as is the way with Bethesda's RPGs, and could only progress with the Brotherhood to an extent before I was forced to do the main story to unlock more quests.
But thanks to the serotonin hit I continue to get everytime I earn a trophy, I was more than willing to repeat as many quests and objectives as possible in the opening hours to secure the achievements on PS5. There are definitely certain parts of the game I don't enjoy as much and historically avoid if I find myself replaying Fallout 4 – dealing with feral ghoul-infested areas or venturing to the horrible Glowing Sea are some examples off the top of my head – but the trophies give me all the motivation I need.
Fallout 4's next-gen update may not have quite married up with the buzz surrounding the show when it first released, and it doesn't change anything too drastically, but I've still been enjoying my time rediscovering all it has to offer up. If anything, it's given me a solid excuse to give certain questlines like the Brotherhood of Steel more attention. And while I could have scratched my itch a lot sooner, the trophies on PS5 have made it worth the wait.
12 years later, I ruined my Fallout: New Vegas replay before I even started it.
