10 Things Fallout 5 Should Learn From 1 & 2

For someone supposed to be on a frantic search for their kidnapped child, the Sole Survivor surely spends a lot of time trying to build the tallest tower of aluminum cans and cereal cartons in all of Massachusetts.

Yes, we’ve survived the nuclear holocaust and it’s probably time to rebuild, but this is borderline stupid. Instead of advancing the plot, exploring irradiated ruins or interacting with interesting NPCs, the Sole Survivor sinks days upon days into junk runs, scouring and re-scouring every map marker for the last roll of duct tape and broken typewriter. All that, to accommodate a bunch of witless survivors who can’t find a place to sleep unless you lead them to it.

As much as a penis-shaped megastructure built of junk improves the post-nuclear Boston skyline, this is not world-building. It’s padding, designed to soak many more hours of playtime than it’s worth.

Back in the day, world-building was done through meaningful player actions. You made truces between raiders and townsfolk, busted corrupt officials and secured food shipments for struggling settlements. That, plus the latest-gen graphics technologies, would make for unprecedented immersion potential.