Summary
Among the first-person games in theFalloutseries,Fallout 4is often considered the weakest. While its combat and movement are much more fluid than previous entries, it lacked many of the role-playing elements that the franchise had built its identity around. Incomparison toFallout 3andFallout: New Vegas, it lacked a sense of character voice and choice for the protagonist. Yet there is one area of the game that even its critics must admitFallout 4handles far better than its predecessors, and that is how the game handles its companions.
All three of these titles include companion characters to some extent, NPCs who the player character can befriend or hire and take with them out into the wasteland. Companions fight alongside the player in combat, carry excess gear, and provide a bit of company in an otherwise lonely apocalypse. Yet in comparison to the companions available in the earlier two titles, which tend to be more static as characters and lack a sense of depth,Fallout 4creates complex backstories for its companions, tons of dialogue options, and even quests that allow the player character to learn more about them.
Earlier FalloutGames Have Companions That Are Interesting But Not Dynamic
Fallout 3 & New Vegas Companions Have No Growth
Of course, the two earlierFallouttitles include companions that have interesting personalities and have become fan favorites. From the gentle giant Fawkes inFallout 3,to the calm and laid-back Raul inNew Vegas, it would be unfair to say that the companion system in these games is bad. However, while these characters are fun to tag along with,they lack any sense of character growth or additional complexity to make them really stand out.
Characters in a story don’t always need to be dynamic with changes in their goals and perspectives, but ideally, central characters should have some kind of arc if they are going to stick around.Fallout 3andNew Vegasfeature companions which can get old quickly, with minimal dialogue options and no real sense of personal goals. One needs only to look at a few of thecompanions available inFallout 4to see how much of a difference that type of character writing can make.
Fallout 4’s Companions Feel Like Real Characters, Not Just Sidekicks
Dynamic Personalities & Unique Goals
Falluout 4’scompanions don’t just follow the player around, making canned remarks and doing whatever they are told.They have opinions on the player’s actions and goals of their own; if they don’t like what the player is doing, they will let them know. Characters like Piper the Commonwealth journalist will disagree with player choices if they are constantly violent and rude, while more volatile characters like Strong the super mutant will relish the player’s misdeeds. But the depth of these characters doesn’t stop there.
Many of the companions that players will meet have their own stories and personal quests that the player can help with.Following through on these quests can cause companions to change their outlooks on the worldand introduce new aspects of their personalities. The best example of this is Cait, the pit fighter with an addiction to a drug called Psycho, who will ask the player for help getting clean, and alter what she approves and disapproves of after this life change.
In comparison togames likeBaldur’s Gate 3andMass Effect, this companion system may not seem all that complex. But those are games built around their relationships with side characters. TheFalloutfranchise has never focused as much on that aspect of the story, butFallout 4proves that these games can benefit from giving additional depth and thought to these NPCs.
Fallout 4
Bethesda’s action RPG Fallout 4 puts players into the vault suit of the Lone Survivor, a pre-war soldier from an alternate future cryogenically frozen inside Vault 111. After their infant son is kidnapped, they venture out into the irradiated wasteland of the Commonwealth to scour the ruins of Boston for any sign of him. In doing so, they encounter various factions and companions and use an array of skills and abilities to navigate the apocalyptic remnants of society.
