Fallout 4

The six add-ons, the 150-plus Creations and the base game sit in different packages, while the free updates have already changed the copy you own. Here is what is free, what is paid, and where the settlements fit.

What the free updates already gave you

One free update delivered native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions, and it also brought quest content rather than only a new shell. Nine Creation Club items became free at the same time, among them Enclave Remnants with the Echoes of the Past quest, the Tesla Cannon, Hellfire Power Armor, the X-02 Power Armor, the Heavy Incinerator, the Halloween Workshop and its own quest, and the Makeshift Weapon Pack. A follow-up patch then handed console players a frame rate target of 30, 40 or 60, with 60 as the default, alongside a choice between prioritising visuals or performance, both changed from the main menu.

A later update added the in-game Creations menu, and five Bethesda-themed Creation Club items became free at the same time: Morgan's Space Suit, the Doom Classic Marine Armor, the Doom BFG, the Quake Thunderbolt and the Fantasy Hero Set. Free Creations began arriving alongside the paid ones, starting with Tale of the Beast Hunter and The Varmint Rifle.

That is the shape of it: the base game you can buy today comes with the Creations menu and whatever is currently free in it, and the paid part of the system is the catalogue on top. Owning any copy of Fallout 4 means you already have the menu and can already claim those free items.

Which edition to buy

Beyond the base game there are four ways to buy the same material. The Season Pass covers the six official add-ons. The Game of the Year Edition bundles the base game with those six add-ons. The Anniversary Edition bundles the base game, the same six add-ons and more than 150 Creation Club items. The Creations Bundle listing is the route for someone who already owns the Game of the Year Edition and wants only the Creation Club material.

The line to draw is between the two things on offer. If you own the standard edition, the Anniversary Edition Upgrade is the purchase that brings the six expansions and the 150-plus items; if you own the Game of the Year Edition and want only the Creation Club material, the Creations Bundle covers that on its own. That is the difference between paying twice for the same expansions and paying once.

The six add-ons are Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Far Harbor, Contraptions Workshop, Vault-Tec Workshop and Nuka-World. The Anniversary Edition arrived for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and it is available on Nintendo Switch 2 as well.

Settlements are the game's second job

You rebuild the wasteland as well as crossing it. The building layer runs from individual parts — armour, weapons, food and structures among them — up to whole settlements managed across the Commonwealth, and the same tools serve as hidden sanctuaries, roadside stops for the locals or workshops for upgrading your gear.

It is a supply problem rather than a decoration menu. Materials come out of the world, so what you can build depends on where you have scavenged, and the parts you can place are tied to the perks you took. That is the reason to plan a character before you start: a build aimed at the crafting side plays a different game from one aimed at pure combat, and the settlement layer is where the difference shows up.

Combat offers a second choice in the same spirit. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System slows time so you can take a fight apart target by target; the alternative is taking the fight into your own hands with real-time gunplay. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and the perks are the shared ground under both, since the same character sheet is what makes either approach work.

Factions sit on top of all of it. The Commonwealth holds hundreds of locations, characters and quests, and joining factions, forging alliances or going it alone are all open to you.

Should you play it

Yes, if you want an open-world shooter-RPG where the wasteland is something you rebuild rather than only cross. Which add-ons are worth having depends on what you want from a Fallout 4 run: Far Harbor, Automatron and Nuka-World are the ones with their own places and their own stories, and the workshop packs are the ones that widen the building side, so the Season Pass and the edition bundles both make sense depending on which half you are short of.

If you already own the base game, install it before you spend anything else, because the free updates are already in your copy. One thing is worth knowing before you enable a large collection: creations take storage on console and the ceiling varies by platform, so check what yours allows before you build a big load order.