This changes all that, with just about everything you find in the world being useful for crafting, or at least usable once you scrap it for parts. That meant the vast majority of items were set dressing or bits of contextual storytelling that had little to contribute to the gameplay. In previous Fallout games, players had to develop a sense for which items were worth keeping and which could be safely passed by. The one major addition here is a crafting system, which is so robust and well-integrated into this framework that it feels like it should have always been a part of it. There's nothing necessarily wrong with another Fallout game in the vein of its predecessors, but as much as I enjoyed another visit to the Wasteland I couldn't help but feel slightly underwhelmed. Simply put, the handful of improvements and one significant new system make this feel more like an iterative sequel than the long-anticipated return of one of Bethesda's most celebrated series.
I feel compelled to address that upfront because, if Fallout 4 has one shortcoming, it's that the extremely long hiatus has resulted in a less ambitious sequel than I had hoped. Fallout 3 was a revolutionary experience.
