Two Very Different Ways to Play Fallout 4

As temperatures continues to drop, there’s little reason to leave your computer! Instead, cuddle up with Worth Reading, our guide to the best games writing.

Hey, You Should Read These

• “Playing Fallout 4 without ever leaving Sanctuary” by Christopher Livingston
• “I Just Said Yes to All the Drugs in Fallout 4” by Emanuel Maiberg

As Patricia Hernandez outlined this week, Fallout 4 is a far different Fallout than the original entries. For some, that translates to fewer role-playing experiences than in the past—like, say, potentially ending the final battle in Fallout: New Vegas with a speech option—but it’s cool to see how people are coming up with their own ways of bucking trends in the wasteland. In one instance, it’s someone addicted to drugs. In another, it’s never leave the opening area.

An excerpt from Livingston’s piece:

Every now and then I’ll start playing a game, in this case Fallout 4, one that potentially offers dozens of hours of stories, quests, adventure, and excitement. And I’ll say, essentially: “Nah. What else you got?” That’s why when I climbed out of Vault 111 and arrived in Sanctuary, the first settlement area in the game, I decided to simply stay there. No exploring, no wandering, just staying put. I’ve now been there for roughly ten hours.

And an excerpt from Maiberg’s story:

Bill, despite clearly looking like a shady drug addict, is able to talk people into getting what he wants thanks to his maxed-out level of charisma, a character stat in the game that helps you influence other people. It was easy to convince Trudy to pay up. Wolfgang paid me my caps, which I paid back to him immediately for all the Jet he was carrying. Once I took a hit of that, it was also easy to mow down everyone at the Drumlin Diner with a minigun I found in town earlier. Wolfgang, Simone, Trudy, and Patrick. I killed them all, took whatever positions of value they had, sold those at the nearest town, and bought more chems. Bill is a real bastard that way.

If You Click It, It Will Play

Oh, And This Other Stuff

• Annie Zaleski interviewed ex-Nintendo game counselors about their experiences running the hotlines for the company back in the 80s and 90s.
• Mark Hill argued games need to ditch nostalgia as a crutch, though it’s fair to say video games are hardly alone in mining our youth for a quick buck.
• Douglas Heaven investigated the trash left behind by Second Life players.
• Michael Thomsen reviewed Bloodborne after watching more than 200 hours of Twitch and YouTube videos of other people playing Bloodborne. I love it.
• Wesley Yin-Poole wondered if it’s time to move on from Halo, thanks to Destiny. (Destiny has a crap story, 343 hasn’t done much with Halo, either.)
• Aevee Bee looked where Destiny does have thoughtful storytelling: weapons and armor. I’ve mostly ignored those descriptors, but maybe that’ll change.

You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.