Fallout 4 Nuka-World

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios | Publisher: Bethesda Softworks | Release Date: 2016 | Genre: Action / RPG / First Person Shooter | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Although most of the Fallout 4 DLC has been underwhelming for players who are not that interested in the settlement-building aspect of the game, Bethesda set a high bar with Far Harbour. For the sixth and final expansion, players are invited to quench their thirst for adventure at Nuka-World, a pre-war amusement park themed around everyone’s favorite cola. However, the fact that players only receive the quest to visit Nuka-World once their character reaches level 30 should be a clue that it’s not just fun and games that await them. After receiving the broadcast, players can travel to the west of the Commonwealth and use the Nuka-World transit center to access the amusement park. A short monorail ride later, players will find themselves on a brand new map and the start of a new adventure.

Upon arrival at Nuka-World, players are thrown straight into a booby-trapped maze called The Gauntlet. Those fortunate enough to survive must face the leader of the raiders who have taken up residence in the park. Defeating this raider results in players being crowned the new Overboss and inheriting all his headaches. Being in charge of your own group of bloodthirsty raiders might sound like a dream come true for the more villainous Fallout players. Unfortunately, it turns out that being the Overboss mainly involves doing all the dirty work that the other raider gangs are too lazy or scared to do themselves. 

Nuka-World is actually home to three raider gangs with very different styles and ideologies. Their tenuous truce has been wavering due to the ineptitude of the previous Overboss, which is where players come in. Spurred on by Porter Gage, the new companion available for this DLC, players must help the raider gangs spread their influence and take over the different areas of the park. After a year of being cooped up in Nuka-Town, U.S.A, the hub area, the gangs are eager to move into other attractions, such as Kiddie Kingdom, Dry Rock Gulch, Safari Adventure, and the Galactic Zone. Of course, none of them will lift a finger to do so until players clear out these areas and assign them to one of the three raider groups. 

Players expecting more of the depth and interesting storylines that made Far Harbour so great might be in for a disappointment with Nuka-World. For this final DLC, the story once again takes a bit of a backseat, and the focus is very much on exploration and combat. There’s still some interesting lore to uncover, such as the factors that lead to the deterioration of the park and the obsession of Nuka-Cola’s inventor, John-Caleb Bradberton. However, players’ choices are pretty limited, and those who prefer playing as a virtuous character will have a tough time. Players who embrace their evil side and go all in with the raider life will find new perks and loot to make it worth their while. Unfortunately, those who want to continue walking the straight and narrow path are pretty much forced to assassinate the leaders of each gang and miss out on a lot of content. 

The three gangs operating out of Nuka-World are The Operators, who are in it purely for the money; the Pack, a group with a survival of the fittest mentality and The Disciples, who enjoy violence above all else. Players can perform quests for the leaders of each group, but these are of the radiant variety and randomly generated. Most of these quests send players back to the Commonwealth, where they must either kill someone or slap a shock collar on them and inform them that they are no property of one of the raider gangs. The quests inside Nuka-World mainly involve visiting each attraction and clearing them out for the raiders to move in. For example, Kiddie Kingdom is infested with feral ghouls, Dry Rock Gulch has a Bloodworm problem, and Safari Adventure is home to a new species of Deathclaws called Gatorclaws. One of our favorites is Galactic Zone, with its space theme and army of Nukatron robots, but the Safari Zone, with its Tarzan stand-in, Cito, is also very neat. Since the park is massive, there are also a few interesting places to find outside the attractions, such as the spooky Grandchester mansion, the Nuka-World scrapyard, and the Nuka-Cola bottling plant with its mutated mirelurks. We also ran into a group called the Hubologist lurking on the outskirts of the park who have their own weird UFO based religion. 

Although Nuka-World is not big on story content, it does provide players who love exploring plenty of things to do. Each zone is quite extensive, and many are home to new creatures like giant ants, bloodworms, cave crickets, and Nukalurks. There are also SCAV magazines to find to unlock new perks, new weapons like the Alien Blaster and Nuka-Nuka Launcher, and new flavors of Nuka-Cola to mix by finding the relevant recipes. These temporarily boost stats but can take up a lot of inventory space. Players will even run into Sierra Petrovita, a familiar face from Fallout 3, who is still obsessed with Nuka-Cola. Her quest provides players with a unique pair of sunglasses and instructions to find the ten “hidden Cappys” in the park in order to win an ancient contest. As if this wasn’t enough to search for, players can also try to track down all the ride medals scattered about the park and all the star cores, which will reward them with a snazzy new suit of power armor. Since it’s an amusement park, players can play mini-games like Bandit Roundup, Hoop Shot, and Whac-a-Commie in the Nuka-Cade for a chance to win tickets that can be redeemed for prizes. It also goes without saying that if players manage to restore power to the park they can also go on some of the rides for some short-lived fun.

Visually, Nuka-World is quite a change of scenery compared to Far Harbor’s dark and gloomy environments. Each zone is visually very distinct, which makes it a lot of fun to explore. Many of them also feature towering structures, which make for beautiful vistas. Unlike Far Harbor, Nuka-World features a new radio station operated by a DJ named Redeye. In addition to telling some amusingly far-fetched stories, Redeye is also the first Fallout DJ to perform all the musical tracks on the radio himself on his acoustic guitar. 

Nuka-World has a lot to see and do, but it is also far less story-based than Far Harbor. The new map is large and fun to explore, which is also highly encouraged by the number of quests that involve searching for things. Gage is a competent but unremarkable companion who can also be romanced if players wish. His companion perk grants players 5% more XP per kill and increases their damage resistance, which is helpful. As mentioned earlier, the game does not provide players with a lot of options to be the good guy, but those who like walking on the dark side will have a lot of fun. In fact, it’s even possible to undo all the good work you’ve done in the Commonwealth by establishing raider camps there. Doing so will burn all your bridges with Preston Garvey, but it can be cathartic to kick out settlers and replace them with raiders after hours spent catering to their needs in the main game. Unfortunately, raiders have their own whims and hate farming, so players must extort nearby settlements to take care of their food and water needs. The payoff is some free loot and unique raider-themed decorations to spruce things up.     

Overall, we enjoyed our time in Nuka-World but can see how it might not appeal as much to players who expect more of the story-heavy content found in Far Harbour. For players who spent all their time in Fallout being as noble as possible, it can also be jarring having to become the Overboss of a bunch of bloodthirsty raiders. Nevertheless, players who love exploring unique locations and shooting some brightly painted feral ghouls along the way will have a blast. Just watch out, as that Nuka-World jingle is quite catchy.