Fallout is a game series about surviving in a world post nuclear apocalypse; however, the latest game in the series, Fallout 4, does not feel like this at all. It mostly has to do with how the overall gameplay works and feels. The game does not necessarily have bad gameplay, but I definitely feel like it could have been made to feel more like it takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Here are four mechanics that would have made Fallout 4 feel much more realistic:

1. Equipment Condition

Fallout 3 had equipment condition. Fallout New Vegas had equipment condition. So why doesn’t Fallout 4? This mechanic made the game feel like it actually took place in a wasteland. There is no real way to have a gun always in perfect condition during a nuclear apocalypse. This is especially true for the makeshift pipe weapons. After the war, these guns should be rusted, burned, and beaten. Unless they were protected in a vault, there is no way for them to always perform like new.

2. Firearm Malfunctions

Like I just said, the guns in Fallout 4 would have probably been heavily damaged over the years. This would mean that the operator would probably experience jamming, smokestacks, ejection failures, and misfires fairly often unless the gun is regularly repaired at a workbench. This might also be somewhat interesting to see with power armor. The occasional joint locking and HUD glitches could have been something to add.

3. Food Poisoning

Upon starting the game, your character already seems to be an expert at preparing the strange creatures of the wasteland for consumption. Also, cooking food in the game is overpowered, allowing you to get an extreme amount of health back for an extraordinarily small amount of effort with few to zero consequences. Introducing a random chance of becoming ill from eating radroaches and mole rats might prevent this and make the cooking mechanic a bit more interesting. A perk to reduce the chance of becoming ill could also be implemented.

4. Radiation Sickness

Radiation is hardly a worry in Fallout 4. You can literally go swimming in a vat of irradiated sludge and be perfectly fine (with a little bit of health loss). If you were to come into contact with radiation in real life, you would experience nausea, dizziness, weakness, and a host of other problems from just a small amount. The introduction of radiation sickness would make radiation scary as opposed to being a slight inconvenience.

Fallout 4 is not a bad game, but there are definitely some key nuclear-apocalyptic characteristics missing. These mechanics will likely be added through mods made by the community, but it would have been nice to see these already in the game. Although the gameplay does feel a lot better than the old games overall, I think Bethesda should have put more time into thinking about new mechanics to add rather than old mechanics to remove. It would have made for a much better gaming experience overall, and it would have made the wasteland a little bit more interesting.