Fallout 4

Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC actually delivers what we as Bethesda fans would expect from a Bethesda DLC. Far Harbor adds an entirely new location with a whole lot of new locations, interesting and better-written quests, and characters to explore. So far, this is the best DLC we have seen for Fallout 4.

The DLC starts you with a missing person case in the Commonwealth. Ellie of the Valentine Detective Agency informs you that a family has lost their daughter and are asking for help. Once you arrive at the family’s home and after searching for a while, you realize that the daughter has gone to Far Harbor, hoping to find if she’s a synth (if you remember those from the main game). When you eventually find her, she informs you on a much bigger problem going on the island between the colony of synths and the religious Children of Atom. As if it were the main storyline, you can choose what faction to support and truly find out what the hell is going on there. As I said earlier, the writing and dialogue are much improved and easier to follow. If I were you, I’d bring Nick Valentine with you on this journey because you’ll hear exclusive dialogue from him, and well, it just logically makes sense. He’s your detective partner in the game. Depending on which faction(s) you join up with, (one of the factions is similar to the Minutemen, it can still work with them regardless if you choose to join up with the synths or the Children of Atom) there are a good amount of side quests to do. Most of them are okay, and some of them are the general sidequests you’d expect. (retrieve x, return it to y) However, there was one side quest that I particularly enjoyed. It involves you going to a robot-filled vault to solve a crime scene. The interactions between the robots were just great. Mistakenly, I did not have Valentine with me at the time. Always have him with you in this DLC! (well, maybe not if you’re going with the Children of Atom, but definitely have him if you support the synths)

Being in a new location means that there are many new places to explore, my favorite part of Bethesda games. Gladly, Bethesda does not disappoint here. I spent a good two to three hours just exploring the island and I did not get bored or tired once; I just wanted to keep exploring. It’s also worth mentioning that there are settlements you can build on the island if you are into that part of the game. While exploring on this island, there are also many new creatures to kill and as well as new ways to kill them with new weapons. The only two new weapons I encountered were the Radium Rifle, an AK type weapon that shoots radiation bullets, and the Harpoon gun, which doesn’t really need any explanation. There are also new pieces of armor that fit the sea lifestyle of the island, giving you abilities to counter some of the island’s worse. As with everything that Bethesda makes, this is definitely my favorite part of the DLC.

On Xbox One and PC it seems, this new expansion runs fine, with maybe a few framerate hiccups on Xbox One. From what I’ve heard, however, the PS4 version is not great. At release, it seems that the PS4 had intense framerate issues due to the fog that is present on literally the entire island. As a result, Bethesda had to release a patch that removed the fog entirely. While it seems that it fixed the framerate issue entirely, having the fog removed kinda destroys the whole feel and aesthetic of the island. If you can, I’d suggest that you play this expansion on Xbox or PC, especially since you can download mods on either. The PS4 has yet to get modding on its version (and it sounds like they won’t for quite awhile)

Fallout 4’s Far Harbor is an excellent DLC and definitely improves on most of the negatives in the base game. The DLC offers a more interesting story with much better writing and dialogue than before. As with every Bethesda expansion, the DLC offers an entirely new location with many new and interesting places to explore. Performance wise, the game has some framerate issues but is better performed on either Xbox One or PC. Let’s hope that Bethesda continues to deliver even greater expansions in the future.