If you haven’t heard from me much over the past two weeks, sorry. I’m usually good at getting back to people who text me, Facebook message me, or send me carrier pigeons. Recently, though, I’ve been a secluded mess. My head has been elsewhere, and it’s been hard for me to study or leave my room. Let me make something clear though: this isn’t the fault of my depression, nor is it the stress of finals that are rapidly approaching. This is a whole other monster: Fallout 4.
Bethesda Softworks released the highly-anticipated Fallout 4 on November 10, and I have done little that wasn’t essential to my health or grades other than play the game. Titles in the Fallout series put players in a world where, after a nuclear attack launched on Oct. 23, 2077, the world is little other than a nuclear wasteland. Taking place in real-world locations (Fallout 4 is set in the greater Boston metropolitan area, while Fallout 3 took place in Washington, D.C.), the games have a terrifying aspect of realism. Street signs and landmarks identify areas that exist today, but are almost unrecognizable due to the titular fallout.
While the realistic aspect of the series is a huge draw, the immersive storylines, nearly endless side-missions, and huge open map are what have sucked me in. I would tell you how much time I’ve spent playing Fallout 4 (which the game informs you every time you load a game), but the amount of time is, frankly, embarrassing. The most I’ll say is, since my roommate got the game less than two weeks ago, we have collectively sunk more than two days into exploring “The Commonwealth” and trying to take down “The Institute,” Fallout 4’s antagonist faction. This, while a statement to my inability to properly prioritize my time, is also a testament to Bethesda’s ability to create a truly fantastic game. The last video game that they released of this scale was 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, sold over 20 million copies within a year of its release. I will, since there is no way for you to know exactly how long it took for me to spend this much time playing Skyrim, divulge my total playtime for this game: 19 days, 16 hours, 47 minutes. Yes, I have spent almost three weeks of my life playing as a fictional character with the soul of a dragon, which I could have spent (a) studying, (b) practicing an instrument, (c) doing literally anything more productive than spending almost 20 days playing as a fictional human being who, throughout the entire game, never actually says a single word.
Playing Fallout 4, though, there’s something different. Maybe it’s the fact that every word the player character speaks is fully voice-acted. Maybe it’s the ability to romance every companion (save two robots and a dog), regardless of gender. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve visited many of the locations in the game. Or, maybe it’s that this game comes almost four years to the day since Skyrim’s release, and Bethesda have learned what works and what doesn’t. No matter what it is, I know that there is something Fallout 4 has that Skyrim never did. And that something is probably going to make me put the 19 hours, 16 hours, and 47 minutes to shame. Please excuse me while I go liberate the Commonwealth from the Institute.
