Fallout 4 Is Broken Once Again 10 Years Later

Few franchises have the kind of cultural staying power that Fallout does. Across decades, Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPGs have shaped the open-world genre alongside The Elder Scrolls, inspired countless imitators, and cultivated a fanbase willing to tolerate a lot of jank in exchange for incredible world-building and freedom. The original games looked different, but post-Fallout 3 have adopted Bethesda’s changes, culminating in Fallout 4. Sadly, when Fallout 4 launched in 2015, it arrived with the usual Bethesda cocktail of ambition, charm, and bugs. Yet fans embraced it anyway. It wasn’t perfect, but it was big, bold, and packed with potential. A decade later, the game still commands enormous attention.

But Bethesda’s reputation for messy launches has become part of its legacy, and the Anniversary Edition of Fallout 4 has given rise to new problems, 10 years after launch. And while many fans have grown used to patching and modding their way to stability, Bethesda’s recent updates have tested even the most loyal players. In fact, nearly every update Bethesda releases causes new headaches, but this Anniversary update takes the cake.

Fallout 4’s Rough Launch 10 Years Ago

When Fallout 4 first arrived in 2015, it was a strange mix of innovation and frustration. The Commonwealth felt alive, the gunplay was far better than Fallout 3, and settlement building gave the franchise a fresh identity. But even at launch, the game struggled. Characters got stuck in walls, quest lines failed to trigger, save files were corrupted often, and textures popped in as if the game had forgotten to load half the world.

Even more baffling was how Bethesda dumbed the RPG mechanics, especially the dialogue options. It leaned into its shooter elements, perhaps seeking to capitalize on trends at the time. This took away player agency, which was incredibly frustrating alongside the bugs. Yet in typical Bethesda fashion, the charm carried it. Players pushed through a mountain of bugs and poor conversation choices because the world was compelling and because the modding community turned the game into something extraordinary.

Within months, Fallout 4 became a heavily customized sandbox for millions of players. It was messy, yes, but fixable, and the studio eventually patched many of the worst problems. But even back then, one truth was clear: Fallout 4 was a game held together by duct tape and community patience. And now, somehow, a decade later, Bethesda has managed to rip some of that tape clean off.

Somehow Bethesda Has Broken Fallout 4 Again

If you own the base game but none of the DLC, you can buy the Anniversary Upgrade for $39.99, which gives you the DLC and a new Creations Bundle containing 150+ community creations. If you already own the Game of the Year Edition, the Creations Bundle alone costs $19.99. It’s unnecessarily complicated, but tolerable, until you download the required update. This update, which is mandatory, breaks all mods for nothing more than a handful of minor adjustments.

Worse, the update is causing crashes, texture issues, and performance drops, even for players running the game clean with zero mods installed. For a ten-year-old game, that’s embarrassing. Knowing all this, it’s clear to see why the game has dropped to a Mostly Negative review on Steam. Many players can’t download the bundle at all. Some get stuck in endless initialization loops. Others crash instantly upon loading.

Even the content that does work is underwhelming. There is next to no meaningful content. The bulk of the Creations Bundle is skins, while actual gameplay and story add-ons are absent. In fact, a lot of the cosmetics offered here have been free from mods for years. This is not the meaningful, nostalgic celebration Bethesda advertised. Bethesda has acknowledged the issues, but there’s no ETA on a fix. For Bethesda, this is becoming a pattern: delayed patches, broken updates, and minimal communication. It’s almost surreal watching one of gaming’s most influential studios mishandle a ten-year-old game this badly.

As someone who was thrilled by the Fallout TV show and thought the Anniversary Edition could be a great entry point for new players, this feels like a massive missed opportunity. Instead of welcoming newcomers, it frustrates them. Instead of honoring modders, it breaks their work. Instead of celebrating what makes Fallout 4 beloved, it highlights Bethesda’s worst habits that have somehow existed for over a decade.

Will the Rumored Fallout 3 Remake Be Worth the Wait?

With Bethesda’s track record, it’s fair to ask: if a Fallout 4 update can launch in this state, what hope is there for the rumored Fallout 3 remake? A Fallout 3 remake should be monumental. It’s one of the most important RPGs of all time, a game that introduced millions to the wasteland and forever changed the series. But Bethesda’s recent output makes it hard to trust it will deliver. Starfield’s shaky post-launch support, Shattered Space’s underwhelming reception, and now the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition fiasco all signal a studio struggling with quality control.

To be fair, Bethesda Game Studios is juggling a lot. The Elder Scrolls VI is still years away: an astonishing thing to say seven years after its announcement. Fallout’s popularity is at an all-time high thanks to the TV show. And the modding community continues to prop up the series with incredible passion. With so many things riding on the series, the Fallout 3 remake needs to launch in a near-perfect state and be given the same level of attention the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake received.

Fallout has a huge following, but passion can only go so far. Fans want stability, not another broken launch. A Fallout 3 remake deserves care, polish, and meaningful improvements, not a re-release that breaks more than it fixes like Fallout 4’s anniversary update. Right now, trust is wavering. And that’s heartbreaking for longtime fans who grew up exploring Vaults, scavenging ruins, and discovering strange Americana hidden across the wastes. I still have hope, however slight it might be, that Bethesda will treat my favorite Fallout game with the respect it needs, but only time will tell.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!