Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Dust off your Pip-Boy: Fallout 4 is coming, and it’s set in Boston

The countdown website that Bethesda set up recently has ticked down to reveal the long-anticipated announcement trailer for Fallout 4, and it looks great! We will undoubtedly learn more at Bethesda’s upcoming E3 presentation, but for now we at least know that the game exists, and is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

It begins with the now-standard opening of panning out from a crackling black and white television set to reveal the ruins of 1950s Americana. A wayward dog leads us through a suburban house as it fades back and forth between the before and after of the nuclear apocalypse. The trailer actually gives us one of the most extensive looks yet at the pre-war Fallout world, up through people desperately clawing at a vault door as a mushroom cloud blooms in the background.

Recommended Videos

We are take a tour of standard Fallout sights and sounds: bustling settlements made of mismatched scrap, a deathclaw prowling a desiccated wasteland, power armor, Nuka Cola, and the open road. A few dirigibles and helicopters also dot the sky, implying that the Brotherhood of Steel or some other technologically-empowered organizations do exist. At the end the dog comes out to greet a wasteland wanderer, armed with a rifle and Pip-Boy, wearing a familiar vault jumpsuit (for Vault 111 in this case, which we also see earlier in the trailer).

Earlier rumors have suggested that Fallout 4 will be set in Boston, and while the trailer does not say anything explicit, a few glimpses of familiar landmarks indicate that is the case. First we see the statue of Paul Revere in front of the Old North Church where his famous “Midnight Ride” began.

A few shots later we get a glimpse of a glistening gold dome that is likely the top of the Massachusetts State House.

The Bunker Hill Memorial is looking a little worse for wear.

The USS Constitution, on the other hand, has apparently  received a few upgrades in the intervening years.

There are likely a few other familiar locations for eagle-eyed Bay Staters. Have you spotted anything else? As a native Masshole myself, I am extremely excited to explore the postapocalyptic ruins of my childhood.

There is a pre-order page set up on the game’s official website, but the links to Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy just go to the previous Fallout games currently.

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
How to hack in Fallout 4
A computer terminal in Fallout 4.

No matter what perks or skills your character has in Fallout 4, hacking will always come down to your ability as a player. There's no way to cheat the system here, and if you don't grasp what the game is asking you to do, you're mostly out of luck. Terminals will hide great loot behind their cryptic puzzles, as well as allow you to take over certain controls to turn your enemy's security against them. Some have very interesting logs about certain characters or events for all you lore junkies out there. Hacking has tons of uses, so let's brush up on your computer skills and give you a refresher on how to hack in Fallout 4.
How to hack in Fallout 4
When you first interact with a terminal to hack in Fallout 4, it will be a little overwhelming. As long as you have a high enough hacking skill to attempt a hack, you can go right into the minigame.

The basic idea of hacking is to find words hidden in that jumble of letters and symbols. Your goal is to find the correct word to crack the terminal before you run out of attempts. Once you find any word and select it, the terminal will tell you how close that word is to the correct one based on how many letters it has in the same space as the answer in the form of a likeness rating. The higher the rating, the more letters it has in common. It is somewhat similar to Wordle, only you don't type in the words yourself.

Read more
Amazon’s Fallout success reveals a big problem with the video game business
The cast of Fallout.

April's biggest video game isn't a new release like Tales of Kenzera: Zau or Stellar Blade. Instead, it's a series that hasn't gotten a new entry in years.

Fallout is currently enjoying a wave of mainstream attention thanks to its surprisingly fun Amazon TV adaptation. Returning players and newly-won-over fans alike are returning to classics like Fallout 4 and New Vegas to scratch their post-apocalyptic itches. It's the moment any video game publisher dreams of, but there's just one problem: Bethesda can't capitalize on the moment.

Read more
The best Fallout 4 mods
Everyone's Best Friend

The Fallout games, at least since Fallout 3, have been absolutely massive games in both scale and popularity. The post-nuclear-war setting is rife with interesting stories to experience and monsters to kill. Fallout 4 was the last single-player entry in the series before Fallout 76 took the game into a persistent multiplayer experience. A large appeal of these games is how you are able to actually role-play and immerse yourself in the game world, which isn't so easy with other players jumping around in their underwear. Thanks to mods, it has never been a better time to revisit the last "pure" Fallout game.

Just like Skyrim, Fallout 4 mods are incredibly popular. Some are inspired to fix the numerous bugs and glitches Bethesda games have become famous for, while others look to add new features. As open and dynamic as the base game is, mods just open the door to an almost endless supply of tools you can use to extend the life of your game. With so many mods available, it can be a little overwhelming to know where to start. We've sorted through all the best Fallout 4 mods out there and came up with the best ones you should install before stepping out of the vault once again.
Full Dialogue Interface

Read more