I’m a bit confused by Wasteland Workshop. Several months after the release of Fallout 4, when a huge number of people will have finished the storyline in multiple ways and looking forward to a few new things to do (the same people who probably relished Automatron) we get this mini-DLC, a low cost extra which doesn’t add any new missions, doesn’t add any new places to go, and really only serves in giving you a chance to capture some creatures and tart your settlements up a bit.
As the name suggests, this update is all about giving your workshops a bit more usefulness. You can add fancy glowing neon signs to your settlements, or build a huge generator to power more stuff than you can find the resources to build. The former is a nice way to dress up your potentially drab setups, and approaching the old cinema in the distance and seeing your finely crafted “free popcorn” sign glowing through the night is pretty cool.
But the main attraction is the traps, letting you (at hefty resource costs) build cages to catch various creatures, including Deathclaws, which you can tame and assign to defensive duties within your settlements. You can also pitch them into battle by building a new arena, and see how they do against other creatures or settlers. You can even send two people into battle, but as it’s a battle to the death you’ll be losing a possible partner if you don’t save your game before things kick off.
But while it sounds like the elements to this DLC are just getting warmed up, that’s pretty much it. I was hoping to be able to climb onto a Deathclaw and ride it into battle, or at least have a tamed scorpion accompanying me round the wasteland to fend off any nasties coming my way, but it wasn’t to be. Instead I’ve got some settlements with fancy glowing signs and a few creatures roaming around keeping things safe, but that’s all. I could live without the signage, and my turrets were keeping everyone pretty safe already.
It’s a low cast DLC, let’s not lose sight of that, but it’s got a content level to match. If you’re not fussed about the cosmetics of the game and just want new stuff then hold off for a bit – Far Harbor is out soon and will be enormous by comparison.
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