REVIEW

Fallout 4: Nuka-World Review

by Luke Walsh, September 7th, 2016

It was only a matter of time before Fallout made its way to an abandoned theme park as it next radiation riddled environment for the Vault Dweller to explore. In the Fallout 4: Nuka-World DLC you get a taste of what it would be like if Disney and Coca-cola teamed up. There are many places to explore and some pretty big decision to make which are unlike the previous expansions.

The first arrival into Nuka-World (after you get on the tram from the Wasteland) you are forced into a death gauntlet. Playing through on my level 32 stealth character at the time, I found it pretty easy to navigate around with little friction. Not activating traps was the biggest help through The Gauntlet, as it is almost infested with them, grenades bouquets, tripwires and scale pressure explosives are everywhere. If you are a character who plays a non-stealth meta-type and don’t have at least level 3 stealth it might be quite tough to get through.

At the end you’ll come across an “invincible boss” who has one weakness and can exploit that weakness to temporarily get through his defences. At around the suggested minimum level (being 30) I found it a fairly tough fight, nothing a simple rinse and repeat action did not solve though. Higher level players 50+ will probably walk through the battle or if you pop out your Fat Man. It is a shame that Fallout still have not incorporated any form of level scaling which would make DLC more challenging regardless of levels.

In true Raider fashion, killing the current boss automatically makes you the new OverBoss, placing you in charge of the various different Raider gangs who have set up camp in the park.

The park is split into 5 areas, each with their own theme, based of what you would expect to find in a real world theme park. Each area will probably take you between 2-4 hours depending on how much you explore. Tasked with making the zones inhabitable again, you mainly either are killing monsters that currently live there or collecting parts.

Although, kill quests and fetch quests can become dull very quickly, Nuka-World sends you round distinctly different areas. Galactic Zone is space-themed with rollercoasters and robots, while Safari Adventure is a Zoo based exploration zone with mutant gorillas and a Tarzan throwback.

What adds more flavour to each zone is a different enemy, some being new to Nuka-World but are re-skinned enemies. These include, Ghouls dressed up like clowns, worms which feel like they are straight out of Tremors, Nuka-Cola blasting robots and Deathclaws which have been spliced with Crocodiles. Each monsters have their own strategy needed to take on but I found each area even at level 32 fairly easy because of my high stealth stat and 5 crank laser muskett. Some fights where quite lengthy but I did not really feel that challenged even when up against Alpha Gatorclaws. There were some “tricks” that made the sections a little easier, such as scaling the wall around the Safari Zone and getting 3.5x damage bonuses on sleeping Gatorclaws. Even in a direct fight though, the monsters where fun to fight but not overly epic.

A lot of your time in Nuka-World will be exploration, being enticed by two new power armours. One of which is locked by a display case that can only be opened by finding all 35 star cores scattered around the park. There is also a secret scavenger hunt for the real Nuka-Cola recipe which requires you to find codes scatted around the park only visible by equipping special glasses. Other loot is a little more far and few between with you being able to collect the three different Raider armour types, a space suit and other themed gear and mixing Nuka-Cola’s to gain new drinks with special buffs, health boosts and anti-rad effects. Once you have cleared the park, there are some new grenades types that you can use which are quite fun. There is also a souped up version of the Fat Man to find which packs a serious Quantum punch.

Exploring is by far the best part of Nuka-World but the story is not really something I can write home about. The narrative of being forced into a leadership role of hostile gangs is not groundbreaking but more so is there is no tie to what you do in the game with the story. As far as choices go, you capture a zone and assign it to a gang earning you “favor” with them. Even if you give all the gangs equal as possible share (which you can’t because 5 zones). The outcome is the same and one gang (who gets the least) triggers an event towards the end of the DLC. Who you decide to place in each Zone offers no real change to the narrative as you progress and there is no real rivalry between the gangs other than them telling you how they like to do things.

You can ignore the three Raider gangs completely and decide to opt for a quest that helps the settlers who are trapped as slaves by killing the leaders. The only problem is once you kill one leader, even via stealth methods, the whole park is agro’d towards you making it impossible to take the quiet and clean approach which ruins being able to take a different play style or strategy to the quest. It also, locks out the main ending quest which the one gang triggers and means you do not get any special buff at the end. Killing all the leaders would of been a better choice if you got a special settler perk or buff by helping them but unfortunately you don’t.

You do get to team up with a new companion, who is also your advisor Gage, the same man who helped you kill the previous OverBoss. Although he talks about his plans, there never is really any real direction from him other than “fulfilling” the previous OverBoss’s plans of securing the entire park as it should of been (before the previous OverBoss got lazy) and his constant teacher’s pet attitude. As far as companion’s go, I tried him out for a little bit but I much prefer DogMeat because he does not say much and is fun to have around, barking and growling at nearby enemies and picking up bits of junk for me.

Once the park has been conquered in a surprising twist, you get the send some of your Raider buddies to the Wasteland to attack and raid some settlements. You are presented with a list of settlements that you can attack but the problem is, not all of them are suitable for the attack (why I don’t know) and have to go through the dialog sequence for choosing another settlement all over again. There is also no visual cue between ones you own and run and others which are yet to be found in the wasteland, much time was spent for me trying to find one I had not already spent much time building upon as all in the list seemed to be under my control.

When settled in, Raiders have a couple different mechanics that can be used, one of them is how they gain water and food as apparently they are not up to farming for their own. In true Raider fashion, they are able to subjugate nearby settlements and make them supply the resources needed to continue living, which does make sense considering their place in the wasteland being the bad guys. During building mode, you have a range of new raider-themed decorations that can make your new gang homes feel more on point and although there is not a great deal added to the raider camps, it is nice to get a different spin on the settlement management system that we have all been so used to for sometime.

In terms of heading back to Nuka-World, there are a couple of reasons one of them being the ability to pick up new loot at each of the stash locations in the various zones. You can also take on some enemies who decide to enter the Gauntlet and challenge your leadership, they can be a little tough but again nothing a decent level 50+ will have any problem with. When power comes back to the park as well, you’ll be able to use the workshop and other bits around the park which is quite nice after spending 20 hours in a powerless Nuka-World.

Overall, Fallout 4: Nuka-World is a great environment to explore that has a range of new monsters to fight, new raiders and a lot of secrets and surprises including some cool ones to do with Nuka-Cola as a corporation. The mechanic to conquer settlements is a fun little add-on but the lack on consequences in the wider world leave it feeling insignificant. It is also a shame that the Nuka-World story does not have any major choices that affect the park on a Macro level and in turn the entire wasteland, but there is lots to do and new loot to gain making it worth its while. If by now you also have not played Far Harbour, it is definitely the time to go out and get it.