Fallout 4

Most trips involve finding useful supplies, fighting or avoiding threats, talking to people and deciding what to keep. Guns are important, but this is also a role-playing game: your SPECIAL attributes and perks shape what your character is good at. The Pip-Boy on your arm holds maps, quests and inventory. V.A.T.S. helps you plan targeted attacks during combat. At a settlement, the Workshop lets you turn collected materials into structures and useful objects. Crafting and settlement building can become a big part of a playthrough, but you can still concentrate on the story if you prefer. The gallery shows Dogmeat, the Vault 111 entrance and the sort of places and fights you encounter outside.

Bethesda Game Studios released Fallout 4 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 10, 2015. Later add-ons, next-generation updates and Anniversary packages contain extra content or technical changes; they do not make this a different original game or change its first release year. Start with the base game if you want to learn the Commonwealth at your own pace. The key difference from a straight shooter is that exploring, conversations, character choices and collecting materials all matter between fights.