The Cardinal Sins of Fallout 4 Explained

Despite being nearly 10 years old, Fallout 4 still remains one of Bethesda Game Studios’ most popular and active action role-playing games. While games such as Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, and Fallout 76 may have taken some attention away from Fallout 4, the New England-based game continues to grab new and old players’ eyes with its captivating stories and RPG mechanics. Nods to Fallout 4’s events were even featured in the highly successful Amazon Prime Fallout show. With new players trying out Fallout 4 for the first time amid the game’s 10th anniversary and the show’s upcoming second season, there are a few actions players should avoid making in Fallout 4.

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The Biggest Mistakes Players Can Make in Fallout 4

Giving Too Many Chems to Mama Murphy

When most new players initially begin Fallout 4, they’ll typically follow main quests at first, leading them to the ruins of Sanctuary Hills and eventually responding to a distress call from Minuteman Preston Garvy within the Museum of Freedom. Here, players will meet Mama Murphy, a kind, elderly woman who appears to have visions of the future called “The Sight” after using chems.

While these chem-induced visions can foretell events and locations to come, giving Mama Murphy five chems will cause her to overdose and die. This will cause most inhabitants of Sanctuary Hills to disapprove of the player’s actions and result in a severe decrease in the settlement’s happiness rating. Instead, players should strive to pass Charisma checks to convince Murphy to quit chems.

Refusing to Cure Dr. Brian Virgil

Later on in Fallout 4’s main quest, after traveling to the Glowing Sea, players will come upon a smart Super Mutant in a cave wearing an Institute scientist lab coat. This Super Mutant is unlike the wild, pillaging Super Mutants found throughout the Commonwealth as this one is actually former Institute Dr. Brian Virgil, who purposefully infected himself with the Forced Evolutionary Virus to hide in the Glowing Sea. After talking with Virgil, he’ll request the player to help find a serum in the Institute that can turn him back into a human. Once players acquire the serum, they can either give it to Virgil, and he’ll turn back into a human, or they can simply kill Virgil.

While eliminating Virgil would put players in favor of the Brotherhood of Steel and reward them with the unique weapon, Virgil’s Rifle, killing Virgil may just ensure chaos continues to run rampant in the Commonwealth for years to come. Once Virgil is cured, he claims he’ll spend the rest of his self-appointed exile working on a cure for all FEV strains. Virgil’s work may be the only peaceful solution to not just the rampant Super Mutants in the Commonwealth but to all Super Mutants found in the post-apocalyptic United States of America. The death of Virgil may doom most Super Mutants to face violent, lonely, and monstrous fates.

Executing DiMA in Far Harbor

If players purchase the Fallout 4 Far Harbor DLC, the Sole Survivor will travel to Maine’s Mount Desert Island, where they’ll eventually encounter a prototype synth similar to Valentine known as DiMA. Instead of becoming a private eye, DiMA went on to create Acadia as a safe haven for all synths. However, while DiMA expressed himself as a pacifist, he created a few contingencies to protect Acadia, such as threatening to blow up the Nucleus and shutting down Far Harbor’s wind farms. DiMA even went so far as to replace Far Harbor’s leader, Captain Avery, with a synth to artificially maintain peace between the town and Acadia.

After players restore DiMA’s memories of his contingencies, players have the option of destroying the Nucleus, Far Harbor, replacing the Nucleus leader’s with a synth, executing DiMA, or forming a lasting peace between all three factions on the island. While DiMA did kill the original Captain Avery, he is shown to be regretful for his actions and expresses disappointment whenever the player commits acts of violence. Killing DiMA would not only threaten Acadia’s other synths to the mercy of Far Harbor’s enraged citizens but also rob other runaway synths of a safe haven and opportunities to live their own lives free from Institute control.

Selling The Kid in a Fridge

As players travel around Fallout 4’s University Point, they may hear a kid calling for help from within a fridge. Upon opening the fridge, players will discover a young boy named Billy Peabody who has been turned into a Ghoul since the bombs dropped in the days of the Great War. From here, players can either help Billy find his family in Quincy or sell him into slavery to the Gunner called Bullet for at least 200 caps. While Billy can be saved even after he’s sold into slavery by killing Bullet, selling Billy into slavery will traumatize the kid and is one of the most cruel acts the Sole Survivor can make in the entire game.