Fallout 4 was Saving Content’s Game of the Year, and the first DLC content for the game, Automatron doesn’t quite deliver on its initial entry, but is a great excuse to return to the Commonwealth. It’s not as exciting or as transformative as I was hoping for, but it was the right length and the right amount of entertaining to play. Automatron does provide some new gameplay benefits that help this otherwise standard story arc become something meaningful.
As you’d expect new story content in a Fallout game to do, begins with a new distress signal being picked up on your Pip-Boy, upon listening to it, you’re drawn out into the Commonwealth to answer it. You’ll encounter a robot by the name of Ada, who quickly becomes your first robotic companion to work together to stop the Mechanist. The Mechanist, who you’ll remember from Fallout 3, was in a war with the AntAgonizer. While this isn’t the same person behind the mask, the character permeates throughout the wastelands as a figure to look up to and an assuming identity worth taking on. This is a lengthy story that will have you traveling through a good portion of the Commonwealth to complete.
Automatron introduces many new robots, some familiar like modded Assaultrons and Ms. Nanny’s, others new like the Servobot, Swarmbot, Scrapbots, and Golems. Many of them have this nasty habit of exploding when dead. It is recommended that you are Level 15 when starting this DLC, but I found that being Level 60 with many beneficial perks made this a challenging experience.
The Mechanist has also garnered the attention of the Rust Devils, a faction not heard of before, but has been gaining prominence as of late – almost as if the game has recognized you haven’t played recently. They are a band of people who tinker with robots. The ornate and crazy designs of their robots when encountering the Rust Devils are denoted by the skulls attached to these robots. They are not given a whole lot of detail, but it is nice to see a new group of people more than the usual ones in the game.
As part of the DLC, you’ll be given the ability to craft a new workbench specifically designed for robotics. Here you’ll be able to modify your robotic companions as well as craft new robots to be used for defenses or later as a mission objective. During your journey, you’ll be going to new locations, many of them are places you’ve already been, but with a new building or buildings inserted randomly.
Fallout 4‘s Automatron is rarely, if ever exciting. It is not bad, and is fun to play. An issue with the core game, is the framerate. It seems especially strained in the new areas with many robots on-screen. With a new holotape game to play, new robots to build, and new schematics to use, Automatron certainly adds on to the base content. Robots weren’t much of a threat before, and now Fallout 4 allows you to create an army for yourself while fighting off one.
A PlayStation 4 code for the Season Pass was provided by the publisher for review purposes.
