Fallout 4: Wasteland Workshop Review

Fallout 4 Wasteland Workshop Review Screenshot 3

After the success of Fallout’s first DLC, their second add-on seems to be a lot smaller and more narrow in terms of content. But does this make it any worse?

If you have enjoyed modifying your settlements and making them your own, then this may be the DLC for you. In essence, the content that is added is simply more items that be constructed and used in the workshop hence the name, Wasteland Workshop. However, one of these that stands out most is the ability to capture live creatures.

That’s right, you can finally capture your own Deathclaw! To do this you create a trap which is one of the new items in the workshop. I took advantage of this and therefore decided to create a small army of Deathclaws to march through the Commonwealth. This was surprisingly more fun than I thought as I felt the sense of overwhelming power patrolling Sanctuary with my aggressive squad.

Fallout 4 Wasteland Workshop Review Screenshot 2

However, this still comes at a price. You will need to scavenge for the materials that you will need to build all this new stuff. This can be looked at from two ways. It’s good because it stretches out the gameplay time of the DLC and makes you feel like you’ve put a real effort into the creations which can be rewarding. However, the down side is that you can’t really get stuck in straight away. Unless you have a lot of materials stored up, you’ll realise it’ll be a little while before you can see what the content really has to offer. And this may be off-putting for some players.

Another one of the main features of the DLC is the ability to build fighting pits to put people and animals against each other. After you have scavenged all the materials to create such a thing, you then need to capture the animal you want to use, or bring the person over that you wish to battle with. The idea is that they are then released at the same time and fight to the death. This is all good in principle, but it wasn’t always successful.

Fallout 4 Wasteland Workshop Review Screenshot 1

In true Fallout fashion, there were glitchy occasions where this would not work. We’re all used to the minor Fallout bugs which we can look over, but once I had spent ages building the arena and capturing the competitors, I was rather annoyed that there was no outcome to be enjoyed. Additionally, I found that I spent a lot of my time waiting around for my creatures to take the bait laid out for them. This long build-up to a disapointing outcome was frustrating to say the least. Even though I did in the end get it to work, I had to divert from my original competitors and revert to various previous saves to get there.

Wasteland Workshop can be a lot of fun – when it works. But that’s the problem, you never know when something is going to work. And some may say that the spontaneity of this is good, but when something works some days and not others, that can get annoying. Maybe it wouldn’t be so frustrating if the build-up to it was short, but after scavenging for the materials for such a long time you want it to be worthwhile. That being said, some of the additional items that can be created really do enhance the visuals of a settlement and when the arena works, it is a lot of fun. So for the small amount of money you’ll be paying for this add-on, you may just get your moneys worth. I just wished the arena was more reliable.

Rating 5

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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