With all the news coming out about the latest installment in Bethesda’s Fallout series, Fallout 76, I decided to pick up my copy of Fallout 4, dusted off the rust and got started with a new play through.

For those that don’t know what the Fallout series is, its a post-apocalypse RPG set in an alternate world in which a Great War between Communist China and the United States of America. In 2077 the two countries traded nuclear bombardments causing the post-apocalyptic America that the game is renown for. In many of the installments you play a Vault Dweller, a descendant of one of the lucky few to seek shelter in the bomb shelters called Vaults, and you venture into the unknown civilisation that has grown in the centuries afterwards following. Fallout 4 is the second installment made by Bethesda since they acquired the IP in 2004.

Now that I’ve covered my bases there lets move on. When I first got the game I found that I would have a lot of fun for the first 8 or 9 hours of playing but after that progress would slow new locations, weapons, and characters would start getting samey till the point that I never got further than maybe a dozen quests into the main story line.

On this recent play through though I made two choices that made the game so much more enjoyable, first I decided that I’ll start using mods. Now PC users at this point would probably be saying “Duh, why wouldn’t you be.”, but for people like me who are mainly console users this was our first chance and boy does it make a difference. Mods like “Everyone’s Best Friend” by Valdacil which makes your dog companion always available to follow you no matter who else you have with you, or probably my personal favourite the “M2019 PKD Detective Special” by DOOMBASED which adds the iconic gun used my Harrison Ford’s character Deckard in the 1982 film Blade Runner. Honestly with just these two mods alone it added hours of game play to the game and there are so many more that I’ve added since.

The second thing did was decide to do a survival play through and it has added a whole new level of complexity to the game. It removes fast travel, lowers your carry weight quite a bit, you take and deal increase damage, you have to monitor your thirst, hunger, and tiredness, and you can become ill to name just a few things it adds. With all these new mechanics I’m having to plan before going trips from my settlements, I have to rethink my usual run and gun style fighting, and I can’t carry ha;f my house around with me anymore.

These two things have honestly made the game feel completely new and different than before and if Fallout 76 is anything like this, as it appears it might be, then I can’t wait for it to come out in November.