One of Bethesda's major strengths has been environmental storytelling: mysterious, unmarked locations with specific enemies and skeletons arranged in a way that tells a wordless tale. Sometimes, lore entries and audio diaries are thrown into the mix to tell a brilliant microstory that further immerses players into Bethesda's universes. It's partly why its latest major game, Starfield, received so much criticism, trading handcrafted experiences for procedurally generated worlds.
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By Matthew Whitehurst
Apr 3, 2025
Fallout 4, despite being a decade old, still continues to impress with its environmental storytelling and the abundance of bite-sized stories the map is brimming with. The Commonwealth is full of small locations that tell a heartbreaking story of survivors fighting for their existence, only to succumb to the harsh realities of a post-nuclear war world. Even years after, some of these sad tales may have escaped players and deserve a revisit. Some of them come with holotapes, others have notes, and the third kind simply relies on visual storytelling, and all of them are off the beaten path.
Evan's Home
A Tribute To A Real Fan
* South of Nuka Town in Nuka World
In Nuka World, exploring the southern desert may take players to a small, humble home where Evan lives. The location yields some loot that won't turn Evan aggressive when taken, and speaking to him will reward players with the Nuka-Love recipe, which lets players concoct a powerful Nuka-Cola variant that grants 300 AP and 100 HP. Nothing to scoff at.
The tragedy of this place is its background story. Evan is actually a tribute to a real fan of the franchise, the brother of a Reddit user NoohjXLVII. The two brothers had lost their father, and Bethesda was in the process of delivering a Fallout merchandise package. Unfortunately, Evan passed away before the package could be successfully delivered, resulting in Bethesda's tribute in the Nuka-World DLC.
Boston Mayoral Shelter
The Mayor And His Family Met A Tragic End
* Southwest of Fort Hagen
Boston's mayor was not exactly a man of the people, and he met an end that many could argue he deserved in this lavish shelter that was constructed with the hard-earned money of taxpayers. While nuclear bombs ravaged the surface, the Boston mayor refused to let any outsiders enter the shelter, which rightfully turned the locals into an angry mob.
Inside the shelter, the player will find the remains of the mayor in a bathtub, where he committed suicide. Though he was selfish, the intention was to trade his life for the survival of this family. Unfortunately, this plan, as his body was hidden away, and the angry mob dealt with the rest of the people inside the shelter accordingly after storming in. It's one of those tragic tales where too little is done too late.
Charlestown Abandoned House
A Scientific Experiment Gone Terribly Wrong
* South of Bunker Hill
Exploring the neighborhood just south of Bunker Hill will have players stumbling across a house with Halloween decor and a few ghouls guarding it. Inside is a surprising mini-story. Peters, a research assistant, stayed in this very house to test the effectiveness of a new antiradiation serum sample.
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By Robbie Mitchell
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As one would expect, things didn't go as planned. The holotapes found here tell a harrowing tale of her demise. Not only did she have to risk her health and subject herself to an experimental serum, but she also had to expose herself to radiation to the point where her body took a major toll. It's unclear what happened to her following the serum's failure, but it's possible that the glowing one found upstairs could be what remains of Peters.
Ranger Cabin
A Runaway's Final Record
* Southwest of Sanctuary
An apocalyptic event always puts the disagreements among family into perspective, and one has to wonder what would have happened if the young pregnant girl sheltering at Ranger Cabin had been reunited with her family successfully after the fall of the bombs. This spot isn't too far away from Sanctuary, but is easy to miss for players who don't stray from the main road or from their questing.
Following her family's disapproval of her unplanned pregnancy, the girl finds shelter in the Ranger Cabin, where she leaves her final holotape. Hearing her ponder at the end, "Will anything ever be right again?" is truly heartbreaking, knowing what the state of the world would be not long after, and how the conflict with her family would remain forever unresolved.
Train Car Surrounded By Ghouls
Final Moments Of A Mother And Her Children
* Southeast of Relay Tower 1DL-109
Throughout the Sole Survivor's travels, they will come across various distress signals. Many of them lead to unmarked locations that each have a small, mini-story to hit players in their feelings, but this specific one, collected at Relay Tower 1DL-109, is on another level. Players can find it southwest of Oberland Station. Following the signal brings them to an upturned train car and a pack of feral ghouls.
Here, a mother and her children met their final end, trying to hide from the ghouls chasing after them. Just listening to the holotape alone is enough to give players shivers as they witness the final moments of a mother trying to protect her own, but in vain. It goes to show that the most powerful enemy in Fallout 4 truly is the wasteland as a whole.
Raider Burying His Friend
A Reminder Of The Wasteland's Cruelty
* North of Graygarden by the railroad tracks
Raiders are the scum of the post-war world, known for their cruelty and lack of respect for anything or anyone (well, save for those in Nuka-World, one could argue). That said, some moments in the game challenge this perspective to a degree. Head north from Graygarden and follow the old railroad tracks past an irradiated train car with ghouls to find a surprisingly sad and hidden encounter.
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Near railroad tracks, players might spot a raider in the process of burying his friend. It's a jarring sight since most raiders are simply cannon fodder to the player at this point, ready to shoot them into pieces at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, even if the Sole Survivor approaches in hopes of being friendly, the raider will turn on them and attack them as the rest. There's no humanity in the wasteland, even when grieving, and that hits home hard.
Sleepwalker's Place
A Deadly Final Rest
* South of Andrew Station
A high vantage point in the post-war world can seem like a good idea in terms of safety, unless one happens to be an avid sleepwalker. At the end of a floating roadway, players might come across a small, abandoned home with a note addressed to someone called Jamal. In the note, the former inhabitant expresses their worry about walking off the ledge, especially after a bit of drinking.
That's precisely what ends up happening, which is truly ironic considering the person made their home here in hopes of being safe. His body can be found off the ledge, in its final resting place, and the worst detail of all is the lone feline friend that has been left behind without an understanding of what happened to its former friend and likely owner.
Hillside Home
A House Of Tragedy
* Overlooking Natick
Up on a hill by Natick and the nearby lake is a house that has seen better days. It's unclear when its roof was crushed by a tree or when exactly its inhabitant met their untimely end, but it tells of a world where despair ruled everything. The proof of it lies upstairs, in a bathtub where the former inhabitant sits with a shotgun, and proof of the violence all over the bathroom walls. A second skeleton is in the garage building, with a similarly depressing end as its bones hang from the rafters.
What makes this discovery so depressing is that there are no holotapes, no scribblings, nothing to explain what happened. Players are simply left guessing. Did these people in question take their lives when the bombs fell because they had no hope left? It's one of those moments in a game that makes one stop and reflect on the brutality of Fallout 4's world and history.
9/10
Fallout 4
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OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 89%
Released November 10, 2015
ESRB M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS
Developer(s) Bethesda
Publisher(s) Bethesda
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WHERE TO PLAY
SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Genre(s) RPG, Action
Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
OpenCritic Rating Mighty
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