As much as we had to check for ourselves, it’s true; Fallout 4 is officially 10 years old as of 2025, and somehow, astonishingly, yet not surprisingly, Bethesda has managed to make a re-release dubbed the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition feel like a conglomeration of the studio’s bad habits – not really like a celebration of all things Fallout.
This one is marketed as the complete experience, and inevitably landed with a dull, uncalled for…nothing. You heard right, the Toddster did it again – we got an overpriced, bug-ridden repackaging of a game that most fans probably already own, and it by no means justifies its existence. On paper, this should’ve been an updated, nostalgic victory lap, filled with graphical updates and QOL features we expect from a release in 2025 – but alas, it surely was anything but this.
The game that helped define a generation of open-world RPGs, released just before the franchise’s renaissance as Amazon Prime’s second-most watched show, should have been an easy win, right? Instead, Bethesda has given fans what feels like a cynical cash grab – a $60 “bundle” of content most players already own, sprinkled with technical issues that make it feel less like a celebration and more like a reminder of how little the studio has learned.
What do fans think about this mess of a release? Let’s explore.
What’s New in the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition?
Let’s get the Super Mutant-sized elephant out of the way; there are no graphical improvements in the Anniversary Edition. None, nada, nothing. No enhanced textures, no improved lighting, no frame rate boosts, and no, not even the promised next-gen visual overhaul that fans were expecting when Bethesda teased updates for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions last year – you heard right, that one’s still missing.
So what did we get instead? Well, the package simply repackages the base game, all its DLC (Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka-World, and the smaller workshop expansions), and a bit of Creation Club content sprinkled on top, you know: those microtransactions that were already available for purchase years ago, and we’re already then lambasted by fans.
So, what’s the big selling point here? According to Bethesda, it’s “the most complete version of Fallout 4 yet.” But players aren’t buying it – literally and figuratively, they’re literally not buying it, and the Steam reviews tell the same story.
The new bundle is retailing for a full $60, even though Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition (which already included all major DLC, just so we’re on the same page) can often be found for under $10 during sales. The Creation Club mods, meanwhile, add a few new weapons and questlines, but they’re nothing special, to say the least.
Some are just fine, others are glorified fetch quests. None of them feel essential or polished enough to justify another major re-release, and even fall behind some of Starfield’s Creations, let alone Skyrim’s. And that’s saying something.
Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition Reviews
It looks like even the most loyal Fallout fan woke up after this release, and took off the rose-tinted Nuka Cola glasses, in order to make way for their discontent in regards to the release.
Across Reddit, Steam, and even YouTube, with even hardcore fans like MrMattyPlays calling it “legit insulting”, and excoriating the whole experience quite severely. On the r/Fallout subreddit, one user wrote:
“It’s not an anniversary – it’s a wake. Bethesda has turned nostalgia into a business model.”
Another called it “an insult to players who have stuck with the game for a decade,” adding that it feels like “Bethesda learned nothing from Starfield’s backlash about shallow content and broken promises.”
Even casual players are frustrated. Many point out that the Creation Club quests feel phoned in, often consisting of simple fetch this item, kill that raider objectives with no meaningful storytelling, which is surprising – Bethesda mastered environmental storytelling in previous titles, so what happened? Another sore point seems to be the voice acting, cobbled together from existing recordings,makes the experience feel robotic and cheap. Sorry Codsworth.
For us it’s particularly disappointing because the Fallout fanbase got a real treat after the success of Amazon’s Fallout TV series earlier this year, which as been greenlit for a third season. The hype around the franchise was stronger than it’s been in years, and this release could’ve been a golden opportunity for Bethesda to reintroduce players to Fallout 4 in a meaningful way. Instead, it feels like all they’re after is your money. Ironic, considering the source material.
