Earlier today, Fallout 4’s final DLC, Nuka World, released for PS4, Xbox One and PC; this final entry into the world of Fallout 4, centred around the infamous Nuka World theme park, which has been occupied by three rivalling Raider gangs:

  • The Disciples, a traditional raider gang that focuses on survival, gang culture, and bloody vengeance, lead by the ruthless, but co-operative Nisha.
  • The Operators, a money-hungry, technically-adept and strategic Raider group that wants nothing more than to fill their pockets – Lead by the ambitious and calm Mags.
  • The Pack, a savage, bloodthirsty, cruel, murderous ragtag group that wants nothing more than to have fun…At everyone’s expense. As long as there’s blood, they’ll be happy. That, and they enjoy putting explosive chokers on their slaves. Lead by Mason, a crazed, unintelligent, violent thug.

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Within your first few minutes of Nuka World, you’re tasked with clearing out the Nuka World Transit Centre; your main (And only) way of entering the famed park – Once you’ve cleared the station, you’ll be able to ride the tram into Nuka World…At this point, looking at the park for the first time is a awe-striking sight; the park is large in size (Although nowhere near as large as Far Harbour), and the change in visual style is both refreshing and interesting to boot.

However, once arriving in Nuka World, you’re immediately reminded that you’re not very welcomed here; under the strings of barbed wire, torn flesh and bloody spikes, you’re put through your paces in The Gauntlet; a long, gruelling challenge that sets you against multiple traps, turrets, Mirelurks and rats – This, however, is where Nuka World’s cracks begin to show – The design of The Gauntlet has been done before, albeit in a much better fashion, with the Milton Parking Garage in the base game; for those of you unfamiliar with the name, the Milton Parking Garage was a location in The Commonwealth that acted as a similar gauntlet of terror.

Whilst navigating through The Gauntlet, you’re constantly mocked by the comical voice of RedEye, and thrown a number of challenges, tasks and threats; regular players will appreciate the escalation in difficulty, however less regular players might find being thrown in the deep end a bit disorientating, enraging and downright unfair.

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After slogging through these trials, you’ll reach the Cola Cars Arena, a small ring where you’ll meet the ruler of Nuka World, Overboss Colter (Note the similarities to the Vault Title of ‘Overseer’); killing Colter grants you the title of Overboss, the equivalent of General of the Minutemen – This, again, is where more cracks begin to show. For example, the sound design in this area is atrocious, as within the arena lie only 30 NPCs max; however the sound of the arena makes you think that you have the eyes of a hundred Bandits watching your fight – The Nuka World DLC suffers from the same issues that plague the rest of Fallout 4’s DLC and main plot too; walk in, do a trivial task, become the leader of an entire faction.

This is the one thing I hoped Nuka World would avoid, as the premise is entirely ridiculous in this circumstance – In Nuka World, we have three factions controlled by the Overboss; when the Overboss is killed, why on earth wouldn’t one of these leaders rise up to take the seat? Why would a gang of cutthroat murderers, criminals and bandits trust an outsider to rule over them, manage their community and organise their whole operation?

After talking and convincing the three factions to band together for ‘The Greater Good’, you are then tasked with…Walking around the park to secure five sites for each faction…Ugh. To be perfectly honest, this is no better than Preston Garvey’s pestering to get you to secure Settlements.

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One thing I will praise, however, are the new Settlement games, and Nuka World Arcade segments, that offer greatly fun minigames to play, often with prizes involved, and the rides and visual elements of the park are an absolute treat. The new enemy types as well are diverse enough to stand on their own, however these elements alone cannot save Nuka World from it’s shabby start. Perhaps the story will expand and become better as the story reaches its’ midpoint, however, this DLC is no Far Harbour.

It’s a dent on the already dented DLC experience of Fallout 4…And to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t make me feel like I’ve earned my worth by purchasing the Season Pass when I first bought Fallout 4. Sure all the settlement additions and extra quests are nice, but overall all these experiences, barring the Robotics side of the Mechanist DLC, Far Harbour, and maybe the entertainments of the Nuka World DLC, I hardly feel that £30-40 I spent on the Season Pass was a good purchase.

However, these are just my first impressions, and my opinion may change as I put more hours into the DLC, so be sure to let us know your opinions in the comments below! Do you agree with this opinion? Do you feel satisfied by the Season Pass? What has been your favourite DLC so far? Let us know!