What can I do for you?
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Just when you felt Fallout 4's encumbering system was frustrating, the [UNKNOWN] says shut up and double down on it.
This new and improved difficulty setting called survival mode is open beta on Steam.
And it is absolutely brutal.
Your inventory gets cut in half.
Hunger, thirst and fatigue are a constant worry.
You take way more damage, ammo and syntax have weight, no more fast travel, and the real kicker, the only way to save your game is by sleeping in a bed.
But why?
Why would anyone want to play like this?
Well, because survivor mode at its core is how Fallout 4 should be played.
Well, at least some of the features feel that way.
So where are we off to next?
The mode forces you to quite all those bad hoarding habits, completely wiping the way you manage inventory.
The first thing you'll do in survival mode, drop everything.
What and how much you think you can carry goes out the window.
You never thought twice about lugging around ammo in stim packs.
Now you will.
Take a once weightless mini nuke for example.
They now weigh 12 pounds.
And that's just one weapon package.
After weighing the perks of countless weapon types, Tossing out your babies, you finish your arsenal spring cleaning and come to a haunting realization.
I'm carrying two weapons.
That dwindling down is due to the wellness factors that now run your life.
If you don't drink, eat, and sleep Your AP meter fills up with red offering the same way rags do with hell.
In fact, you'll drink clean water more than you use sim packs.
And now that sim packs weigh .1 pounds, the 127 you've stacked up just dropped to ten.
Of the three sleeping is not as pressing as as the others and now you're already looking for beds constantly for in order to safe.
Conveniently There are already tons of beds and mattresses scattered around the world, only you'll need to sleep in a full-size bed at some point in order to completely eliminate your fatigue.
Because in survival mode you're forced to take a hard look at what you actually need in a typical wasteland No longer are you stuffing your face with every piece of junk you find before [UNKNOWN] prevents you from fast traveling home.
You pick up that one blueprint you're trying to craft and you stick to the materials it entails.
But [UNKNOWN] really isn't the only reason why you're crawling home There's a fear in running out of clean water because drinking dirty water leads to rads.
Rads lead taking rad aways and the thing is rad aways and [UNKNOWN] immediately make you parched.
It's a vicious cycle that formulates a fear of being stranded, slowly dying in the wasteland with your health withering away.
Along with your 30 minutes of progress, and that fear is the **** best part.
It pressures you to plan ahead.
Up until survival mode, you were looking at a map littered with destinations.
Now it's filled with routes, play points ending with a safe settlement to not just restock, but relax.
Take this run of mine for instance.
After a night of inventory prep I wake up at 1 AM to avoid ending my run at night.
I drink water from the pump.
I have breakfast.
I get in my power armor because I'm a wuss.
And then I hit the road with companion Aida, who carries a fat man and emergency supplies.
The plan is to tackle a side quest at the watering station, do some aluminum looting, and then end that Diamond City to restock.
It's a good plan, and it starts off fine, keeping my distance by sniping, ignoring the occasional squad of Finding plenty of beds to sleep at.
It's a breeze.
Then I find the sewers.
It's not part of the plan, but I got this.
No I don't.
It's filled with ghouls.
Five minutes in I realize I'm out of clean water, so now I'm drinking sewerage.
I run out of ammo for both weapons, so I am forced to pick up and use a Pipe Pistol.
I haven't saved in 20 minutes and I'm using a Pipe Pistol to survive.
I manage to get out and I check into the dugout, in for the night.
I put a hundred and fifty hours in fallout four and I've never felt the panic and sheer gravity of my actions for such a long period of time.
It was awesome.
As someone who had a pretty dull and tedious experience towards the end of the main campaign survival mode is the breath of fresh air I wish was always present.
It wasn't just the difficulty that made it so enjoyable, but the mode game gave so much more meaning to the content already present in the game.
Building settlements and supply lines actually make sense.
tagging specific loops, using empty bottles for water, cooking food, and actually using mattresses you always run into.
And let's be honest, no one should end the game with 130 sim packs at the ready.
That's just dumb.
Survival mode is in beta and still needs to work out some kinks Such as your water dependency is way too high, and frequent crashes drove me absolutely insane.
Regardless, for those of you who found Fallout 4 easy or lacking, survival mode is definitely worth coming back to.
And with DLC down the road, I won't be playing it any other way.
So, shall we depart?
Time to hit the road.
Understood.
Please read on.
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