Five Years Later: 10 Things You Learn Replaying Fallout 4

Having spent hours exploring The Commonwealth and getting to know the ins and outs of all four factions, it's a huge shame to see Fallout 4's main story go out on such a whimper.

Following the reveal that your son Shaun is now the leader of the Institute, the very organisation you've been told for the entire game represents nothing but pure evil, the player is left with the admittedly fascinating choice of whether they want to join in with the questionable practices of The Institute for the sake of their family or leave that behind for what they see as the morally correct choice. Unfortunately, no matter what choice you make the ending underwhelms.

Fallout's gameplay doesn't exactly lend itself to cinematic events, which means that the big final battle is decidedly lacking in bombastic action. Furthermore, while all of the factions provide different experiences in terms of how the final missions play out, only the ending where you side with the Institute has any significant impact on how the world appears after the credits roll, with your character becoming its leader and most of the characters in The Commonwealth hating you for it.

The other endings all have little to no impact on the game world after the story ends as even though they see the Institute wiped out, none of them assume power in The Commonwealth, meaning that the world feels directionless following the ending.

Furthermore, it is insulting that all three of the non-Institute endings end with essentially the same ending, as it makes every choice you made to side with these factions across the dozens of hours it takes to complete the story feel worthless.