As the most anticipated game of last year was Fallout 4, Bethesda decided to cash in on the wait. And since the game came out in the fall, June saw the release of Fallout Shelter – a game which was meant to keep the players busy until Fallout 4 came along. Not even Bethesda could predict the amount of success seen by the tie-in.
The game
Very addictive, Fallout Shelter has won a number of mobile game awards, as well as some others from both Google and Apple. It has only been rising in popularity since its June release, and if I hadn’t lost two months of progress because of a bug the game had at the time, I would most likely still be playing it.
The game puts you in the metaphorical shoes of a Vault Overseer (your character does not physically exist in the game, but the dwellers do occasionally reference him) as you have to populate you underground bunker. It’s basically Fallout Sims, but if you imagine just the good parts of the mash-up.
While initially there wasn’t that much content, subsequent updates have made the game more fun than it was at first (where I lost two months of gameplay). Over time, Bethesda introduced pets, more tie-ins to the most recent installment of the Fallout series, and a wide number of thematically appropriate outfits.
New features
And now, after a while without any updates, Bethesda introduces Fallout Shelter update 1.4. It brings a whole slew of new features and content, making the game far more entertaining than it already was, and making old players regret their choice of uninstalling it.
The main feature of the 1.4 update is the crafting system. There to stay since the first Fallout game, crafting has finally made its way to mobile devices. The players will now be able to craft junk into weapons and armor. For this, a new room was introduced, focused on building weapons and armors.
As a previous update had introduced limited pets in the Fallout Shelter bunker, the new update brings dogs and cats, as well as some bonuses that they grant characters. More weapons and armors iconic to Fallout 4 characters were also introduced.
The last two features, although not necessary, are very nice to have. You will now have a Barbershop room, where you’ll be able to edit your characters’ appearance, and the time of day will properly be reflected outside the bunker.
It sounds like the 1.4 update has nearly doubled the amount of content in the game, making it more tempting (for me, at least) to reinstall and give it another try. As long as they fixed the “lose all saves on crash” bug that got so many people to rage quit.
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