The year's 2077 and the world is in the grip of a third world war over natural resources.

The fear of Nuclear weapons being used is palpable and vaults have been constructed to protect the elite and presumably useful.

Players take control of a survivor from Vault 111, a man (or woman if preferred) who’s been cryogenically frozen and wakes in the year 2287, a post-apocalyptic retro-future where life is bleak and survival is hard.

The open-world of the Commonwealth is a dangerous place riddled with bandits and cut-throats. You’ll seldomly meet anyone who doesn’t want to kill you, and it’s even more rare to find somebody who doesn’t want you to do something for them.

Missions are dished out by various Commonwealth dwellers and you’ll generally be more than happy to oblige, after all, what else are you going to do in Commonwealth? The answer - lots.

You’ll have to keep residents of settlements happy by building shelters, providing water and keeping them safe - for some reason they can’t do these things for themselves. Who knows how they survived the last 200 years?

There's plenty of scavenging to be done household item can be used to craft weapons, armour and more.

Fallout 4 is cast in the same mold as Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Oblivion, and although that mold is almost ten years old - it still feels great.

The graphics have been updated, settlements are new, the mechanised suit known as Power Armour is a worthwhile addition, and having a travelling companion is superb - but other than that, it’s more Fallout.

There needed to be more backstory in my opinion, but other than that, Fallout 4 is a masterpiece that needs to be played by veteran of the series and newcomers alike.

SCORE: 9/10