What It’s Like To Play Fallout 4 As Someone Who’s Grown Up and Lives In Boston

When I first heard the rumors that Fallout 4 was to be based in Boston, I was immediately gripped with excitement. Even greater was this excitement, of course, when the game was confirmed to not only be based in Boston, but to be released soon.

So, now that I’ve played, though haven’t yet finished the game, what is it like to play in this familiar yet unfamiliar Boston area?

First, the locations in the game themselves. The places are pretty much all scaled down, as is the entire map, as they would need to. I don’t think it would be really fun to spend hours doing nothing but walking. However, they did nail down most long-standing landmarks pretty accurately, I have to admit. All of the places were instantly recognizable, and everywhere you went you saw some thing familiar. The State House, Faneuil Hall, The Boston Common (the swans are a little more aggressive than I remember), Fort Independence. Yup, besides the things that are purely Fallout-Universe, The game is pretty accurate geographically.

Well, first off, yeah, it’s exciting. I get to go to familiar places and shoot unfamiliar faces. You get to travel around in colonial garb and fight monsters in your backyard. It’s fun.

There’s another aspect, though, that is a bit off-putting. It can all be a bit surreal. You see, for one thing, I used to have nightmares about a nuke hitting where I live and having to escape to a shelter. It’s an odd thing to be hyped up to get to play through one of your nightmares. Another is seeing all of these places you knew and loved, and just spent the other day at, destroyed and decaying in the Nuclear Aftermath. Reliving my childhood visit to the Statehouse, now with gun in hand clearing out mirelurks, was a bit odd. As was dealing with super-mutants at Faneuil Hall, where my sister used to do Chorus (and I would be forced to come see her perform), which I suppose means that the new chorus is all baritones. The Boston Common: I was just hanging out there the other day! I was sitting next to the Fountain with friends, and now apparently I have to “Follow the Freedom Trail” (my sister worked in the Freedom Trail, too). Though I have to admit, the place that threw me most for a stir was Castle Island, or, you know, Fort Independence. From a pint-sized toddler to an adult, I’ve always enjoyed visits here. We arrived, got hot dogs at Sullivan’s, we walked around the Castle. In Fallout 4 things are different (spoilers). You gather with a few other guys in Sully’s, stocking ammo instead of food, You then take a walk around the Castle, shooting lasers at a bunch of mirelurks and a Sea Monster, and turning it into your own personal fortress. Now no one can tell me when visiting hours are for Fort Independence. And of course after you do that, you’re asked to use the place with your favorite hot-dogs as target practice. More than any other place, Fort Independence filled me with nostalgia, familiarity, and awe. You have no idea how excited I was to see Sullivan’s was still there. As you can guess, yes I did try to find my house. I found that all that was left of Dorchester was Pope John Paul Park (Neponset Park). However I did pinpoint where my house would be by comparing maps, and there were pieces of X-01 power armor in a pond. So not all was lost.

However, you don’t need the nostalgia factor in order to enjoy picking up a rocket powered sledge hammer and making a super-mutant’s head disappear. In any case, Fallout 4 is a fun and exciting game with a neat world to explore, for anyone: not just Bostonians.