What to Expect from ‘Fallout 4’’s Far Harbor DLC

We’re less than a week away from being able to get our hands on the first large chunk of downloadable content for Bethesda’s latest title. Far Harbor is set to add the largest landmass Bethesda has ever created to Fallout 4, along with a new main questline centered on Nick Valentine — and tons of content to explore out in the open world. The newest DLC does carry more weight on its shoulders than previous DLC’s for Fallout 4, though, especially because the previous content packs have been much lighter than expected.

Take Automatron for example, which was the first piece of content released for the game. Automatron did have a cohesive storyline and the ability to build robotic companions, but many felt that too much of the DLC was built to work within the game’s settlement system – a feature that’s been met with mixed reception.

Thankfully Far Harbor looks like the fully fleshed out Bethesda experience we’re used to seeing.

Far Harbor is set on an island off the coast of Maine, where a new case from Nick Valentine’s Detective Agency will send you in search of a young woman and a colony of synths. Like Fallout 3’s Point Lookout, Far Harbor has an extremely eerie vibe akin to something you’d typically find in a Resident Evil or Silent Hill title – one which many are hoping encompasses the entire mood of the DLC.

While solving the case, you’ll encounter a few new settlements filled with different perspectives on the post-apocalyptic world. The first of these are the local townspeople, who look to have it out against one of the two additional factions: The Children of Atom and the synth colony. While we don’t know much about any of these new settlements, it’s safe to say that you might want to consider a character with high charisma to build alliances and bring peace to all three. The dynamic here is one that I really hope Bethesda takes advantage of to tell us more about how the Children of Atom operate; especially when it comes to their opinion of synthetics occupying the same space. They’ve got a lot of room to play around with interesting themes here.

As expected, Far Harbor will also be filled with new equipment for players to dig into and arm their character with. In the trailer we were able to see a few new suits of armor, including what appears to be a diving suit and a more rugged-looking set of combat armor with a full mask. The implications of having a diving suit are almost too good to be true – with underwater combat and exploration being a distinct possibility. While it’s never been done in a Bethesda game before, the Fallout 4 community showed extreme interest in the idea of underwater exploration when the game first released. Many players hopped in power armor to explore various areas underwater, with one dedicated individual actually taking the time to map out the entire underwater area so that others wouldn’t have to.

These new armors will be complimented by weapons as well. Within the trailer a few of these have been revealed, including a new fish hook melee weapon alongside a plethora of new lever-action rifles and heavier rifles akin to the Gauss gun from the base game.

For a brief moment during the trailer we also got a glimpse of what I’m guessing is the new settlement location within Far Harbor Placed next to what looks like an observatory, the new location seems very small in size with limited room to build – which makes sense considering how many Fallout 4 players have responded to the large focus on settlements in the previous pieces of downloadable content released.

No matter how you look at it though, Far Harbor appears to be the best DLC offering Bethesda has created for Fallout 4 so far. Taking inspiration from Fallout 3’s largely successful Point Lookout was definitely the right decision to make this time around and we’ll see how their latest creation shapes up come release May 19.

Remember to complete the quest ‘Getting a Clue’ if you want to hop into Far Harbor immediately – which is required to get over to the new landmass.