Commonwealth Concluded

And so the sun sets on this trilogy of adventures with our boy Brando. He hasn’t found his son. He hasn’t entered the Institute. But he has set up an interconnected network of post-apocalyptic settlements of which he is the de facto Emperor, and that was all he ever wanted.

The settlement system in Fallout 4 is flawed, it is slightly pointless, and absolutely undercooked, but I love sticking on the radio and going into full construction mode, developing slightly ramshackle towns and hamlets and heavily militarised bunkers of concrete and death. So, for my last post about Fallout 4 for now, let’s have a little tour of Brando the Builder’s exploits.

Sanctuary

The first settlement, and as such the one Brando considers his home. It’s where he established his office, reclaiming the ruined suburb for his own. You can tell Brando runs the joint because there’s a bar. There’s always a bar.

Tenpines Bluff

A more modest dwelling, the original two bed outhouse joined by a comfortable bungalow alongside the ruined farmhouse which now houses the recruitment radio relay. Not everywhere needs to be a wasteland metropolis. It’s not about being too lazy to fully develop every settlement, no way.

Hangman’s Alley

Evidence of Brando’s affiliation to the Railroad and propensity towards helping out the synths. It’s a cluttered little hovel, but he added some pretty lights, at least.

Oberland Station

Brando went into show-off mode on this one, creating a pretty monstrous greenhouse/bar/workshop over the old railroad tracks that can be seen glowing from miles around.

Starlight Drive-In

With the wide open spaces provided by the drive-thru cinema Brando was able to split this settlement into two distinct districts: a commercial, and a residential, and in the middle he stuck a power station/and yes that’s right, bar.

Taffington Boathouse

This boathouse has a main road running right alongside it, so Brando decided to flex his military might and slapped down an ugly checkpoint, complete with dual guard posts and lined with spotlights, missile and laser turrets. Note the flagpole out front. American patriotism lives on in the post-apocalypse in it’s most usual form.

There will likely be more settlements, more adventures, more Brando, in the coming weeks, but I can’t chat about him for ever. I intend to keep this Saturday post game-related, but keeping it focused on Fallout 4 probably wouldn’t be my finest idea.

It is one of my favourite games. It is also terribly flawed, but I have had a tremendous time replaying it and writing about it and spending far too long with the hud turned off trying to get half decent screenshots to use on this blog. Although it is the end of this mini-series of logs of my return to the game, I doubt that it is truly the end of my time with it.