There are definitely a lot of the Fallout-universe zombie analogues to fight, but that in itself does not make Fallout 4 a zombie game. In fact, even the mission that introduces you to the BrotherhoodвЂ™s recon outpost involves rescuing the recon team from a town swarming with Feral Ghouls, before they send you off retrieving technology from вЂ“ you guessed it вЂ“ other Ghoul-infested locales. Brotherhood of Steel need you to fetch some technology? The areaвЂ™s lousy with them. The Minutemen need a location clearing for a new settlement? ItвЂ™s filled with Ferals. You stumble across an interesting building, tunnel or bunker? ItвЂ™s got Feral Ghouls in it. Take a moment to stop and think about just how many encounters youвЂ™ve had in Fallout 4 involving Feral Ghouls. Like any zombie franchise there are human antagonists in Fallout 4, and there are of course far more dangerous enemies вЂ“ hearing (but being unable to locate) the telltale beep of a Super Mutant Suicider, or getting locked in a creepy abandoned church with an angry Deathclaw both come to mind вЂ“ but the reason Fallout is actually a great zombie game is that the Commonwealth is completely overrun with FalloutвЂ™s very own version of the fast zombie: Feral Ghouls. Stepping out of that vault for the first time feels like Cillian MurphyвЂ™s character stumbling from the hospital in 28 Days Later. In Fallout 4 however, Bethesda eschewed cheap colour-washing gimmicks and overly-empty environments for that distinctive вЂњlived-inвЂќ feel, instantly familiar to fans of The Walking Dead and George A. Fallout: New Vegas on the other hand, which sees the player forever in the middle of warring factions of raiders and tribals in a dust-swept Mojave desert setting (with burnished orange hues replacing the mouldy green tint) has a distinctly Wild West feel about it. In Fallout 3вЂ™s Capital Wasteland the Enclave are chief antagonists, but itвЂ™s the hordes of rampaging Super Mutants вЂ“ combined with the gameвЂ™s distressed green visage and penchant for forcing you to travel down terrifying subway tunnels вЂ“ that paint the experience as a bleak struggle of humans against monsters, somewhere between Gears of War and Metro: 2033. The locales and world-building are of course important, but it is the prevalence of certain types of enemy вЂ“ along with a few simpatico design choices вЂ“ that really sets the tone.

The setting of any game in the Fallout universe, particularly since it transitioned to first-person, making the switch from CRPG to immersive action game, has been key to its success.

Fallout 4 zombies mod