Bethesdaâs open-world RPG Fallout 4 arrived on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on November 10, 2015. Given that itâs nearing ten years old and is vast enough to easily take up well over a hundred hours of your time, itâs entirely possible that you may have fallen off this title too soon.
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If curiosity, a desire to start tending to that backlog of yours, or the upcoming Fallout TV show has you in the mood to dip back into Falloutâs last single-player entry, this guide is for you. You can currently play Fallout 4 on Xbox Series consoles and PS5 via backwards compatibility, and PC in addition to the old platforms it was released on. Iâll go over whether itâs worth it to resume an old save or youâre better off just starting from scratch, with considerations for both approaches.
| Fallout 4 | is also on Game Pass!
Maybe youâve lost that old Fallout 4 disc of yours to the wastelands. Not to worry: You can play Fallout 4 (and all other mainline Fallout games) with a Game Pass subscription on Xbox or PC.
Okay, itâs time to get out of that vault of yours and hit the nuked wastelands of Massachusetts once again.
How long is Fallout 4?
Fallout 4 is as long as you want it to be, babe.According to Howlongtobeat.com, the Game of the Year version, which includes all of the expanded content, will run you 33.5 hours for just the main quest, 111 hours for the main story and side content, and 211 hours to finish everything Fallout 4 has to offer. Thatâs, um, a lot of stuff to play through.
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If you have just the base game, then thereâs a little less content, totalling 160 hours for a completionist run, and 81.5 if you want to dip into side quests in addition to doing a complete run of the main story.
Resume or Restart?
Fallout 4 is an enormous gameâespecially if you have the expansions. So if youâre returning to it after a few years, odds are your memory of what you were doing might be pretty hazy. Fortunately, Fallout 4 makes it fairly easy to figure out whether or not you want to pick up where you left off, or nuke your progress and start fresh.
Did you invest a ton of time into settlement building? Do you have a mini-arsenal of cool weapons and power suits? Did you polish off a few faction quests already and want to continue your characterâs personal story? Were you really invested in the main quest but never finished it?
As you start to answer yes to more questions like this, it should become apparent what youâll lose by hitting New when firing up Fallout 4 for the first time in a while.
That said, starting yet another new save in a Bethesda game is something many folks enjoy, and Fallout 4âs opening is pretty fun.
Whether youâre starting fresh or resuming a years-old save file, here are some things to consider.
Restarting from a new game: Know the kind of game you want to play
As Iâve already stated numerous times: Fallout 4 is a huge game. And if youâre here to soak in the vibes with the premiere of the upcoming (and pretty cool-looking!) Fallout show, maybe youâre not in the mood for 100-percenting this goliath of a game. And letâs be honest, thatâll take up a good chunk of your year. But hey, maybe thatâs exactly what you want?
If you want to just roam the wastelandsâŠ
The opening of Fallout 4 is a touch linear. Youâll go through the scripted sequence that leads you up to the bombs that devastate Massachusetts; then youâll wake up, fight your way out of the vault, go to the nearby gas station to collect Dogmeat (youâre a monster if you leave that poor boy all alone). Then, if you want, you can head over to Concord to meet up with Preston Garvey (take the power armor with you if you decide to travel with him back to Sanctuary).
What are the best stats to start out with?
If youâre hit with choice paralysis when forced to allocate points to your base stats, youâre not alone. In general, I prefer to favor Perception, Intelligence, and Charisma if Iâm planning to roleplay a lot. I try not to let any stat fall below 2, but your mileage may vary. I recommend this Character Build guide from Humbugger the Bumhugger on Steam for various archetypes.
If you plan on just roaming and questing, mostly ignoring the main story, I do recommend putting up with Preston until you can start working on your own settlement. You donât have to engage in settlement building too much to benefit from it. Just having a place to store weapons and power armor, and to rest up, can make the game far more manageable.
From there, your time is your own.
Main quest, side quests, or a little bit of both
The joy of Fallout 4 is that you can really just take it at your own pace. Even if you are mainlining the central quest, itâs worth it to stretch your legs a bit, take on some other side quests, level up, and find new gear.
Fallout 4 has four faction quests: The Brotherhood of Steel (starts with the âReveilleâ quest), the Railroad (starts with âRoad to Freedomâ), The Minutemen (starts with âWhen Freedom Callsâ), and The Institute (starts with the âSynth Retentionâ quest). For the Institute quests, youâll need to play up to the main story quest titled âInstitutionalized.â
With the exception of The Minutemen, the other factions can turn against you depending on how far into each factionâs questline you go. The following quests will result in hostilities:
Mass Fusion: Institute quest: Follows âMankind â Redefinedâ and turns Brotherhood of Steel against you.
End of the Line: Institute quest: Follows âPowering Upâ and turns the Railroad against you.
Tactical Thinking: Brotherhood quest: Follows âBlind Betrayalâ and turns the Railroad against you.
Spoils of War: Brotherhood quest: Follows âTactical Thinkingâ and turns the Institute against you.
Precipice of War: Railroad quest: Follows Operation Ticonderoga and turns the Brotherhood against you.
Resuming an old save: Check your Perks, active quests, and inventory
Letâs say youâre not in the mood for a brand new character. Resuming a years-old save can be bewildering, so here are some practices to try and piece together where you were.
See what settlements you have and return there to manage your inventory
If youâve been out of touch with Fallout 4 for some time, odds are you donât remember much of whatâs on your character. Head to a settlement such as Sanctuary to sort through and stash any unwanted inventory items. Then check your Perks to get a sense of your characterâs strengths and weaknesses. Stock up on restoratives and ammo that matches your desired weaponry and get ready to head out.
Figure out which quests are active
There are tons of quests in Fallout 4. But with four faction quests and a main quest, you can start to wrap your head around where to pick up from. Check your Pip-Boy for the following quests to get a sense of where you are.
Main story quests are as follows:
Out of Time
Jewel of the Commonwealth
Unlikely Valentine
Getting a Clue
Reunions
Dangerous Minds
The Glowing Sea
Hunter/Hunted
The Molecular Level
Institutionalized
Following these quests, the story splits up based on which faction youâve aligned yourself with:
Brotherhood of Steel (following âShow No Mercyâ):
From Within
Outside the Wire
Liberty Reprimed
Blind Betrayal
Tactical Thinking
Spoils of War
Ad Victoriam
The Nuclear Option
A New Dawn
The Railroad:
Road to Freedom
Tradecraft
Underground Undercover
Operation Ticonderoga
Precipice of War
Rocketsâ Red Glare
Burning Cover
The Nuclear Option
The Minutemen:
When Freedom Calls
Sanctuary
The First Step
The Sgith
Taking Independence
Old Guns
Inside Job
Form Ranks
Defend the Castle
The Nuclear Option
With Our Powers Combined
Can you really clear Fallout 4 from your backlog?
Fallout 4 is massive, but there technically is a finite number of quests you can do, discounting the procedurally generated âroaming questsâ like the constant need to defend settlements. Of course with settlement building, you can sort of play Fallout 4 indefinitely. And if youâre on PC, mods can take you ever further down a rabbit hole of endless open world gameplay.
But if youâre looking for some satisfaction in crossing Fallout 4 off that backlog of yours, consider just doing the main quest. Or getting your fill of some of the faction quests. Set a goal for yourself to reach a certain level (thereâs no level cap, but technically the game sort of breaks when you cross level 65,535). Or just play until you have had enough of this game to consider it âdone.â
Fallout 4 offers some great wasteland-roaming vibes, pretty decent first-person gunplay, and more than a couple of interesting stories here and there. If youâve fallen off it for a few years, however, itâs worth jumping in to see a little more of the devastated Commonwealth and possibly find a neat gun or two.
