10 Great Video Games (With Terrible Storylines)

In 2011, Obsidian Entertainment—now a subsidiary of Microsoft—proved that Bethesda wasn’t the only studio out there capable of making a satisfying FPS Fallout title. With the ball in their court, what did Bethesda do to prove that they still had a handle on the franchise? By gutting most of the series’ RPG mechanics and simplifying the story, of course.

Fallout 4 is far from a bad game, but it doesn’t quite live up to the legacy of the franchise as a whole, particularly from a narrative standpoint.

While Fallout: New Vegas had tons of possible end-game scenarios and was so story-rich that it could have given George R. R. Martin a run for his money, Fallout 4 was very by-the-numbers and featured a mere four endings, each focusing on one of the title’s four main factions.

What’s more, there weren’t quite as many interesting side quests or unique story beats to be found in Fallout 4. Sure, players could help the super mutant Strong find the milk of human kindness or help Preston Garvey defend yet another settlement, but it all felt slightly soulless when compared to older entries.