Fallout 4's Survival Mode Makes You Actually Use Its Features
Fallout 4's Survival Mode is all about making the game harder and more immersive, and one of the best ways it does that is by removing fast travel. This seemingly small change has a huge impact on the game, forcing you to actually use features that would otherwise be useless.
In normal Fallout 4, Fast Travel is your best friend. It lets you zip around the map, saving you time and making the game feel a bit less tedious. But in Survival Mode, you're on foot. This means you have to walk, which sounds boring, but it actually makes the world feel much more alive.
Walking the Wasteland
You're more likely to run into random encounters, and the danger of getting lost and low on resources is always present. It forces you to think about your routes and plan your journeys carefully. It also makes the resources you find much more valuable, because it takes so much longer to get them.
Vertibirds and Teleportation Relays Become Useful
But the most interesting change is how the lack of Fast Travel makes features like the Brotherhood of Steel's Vertibirds and the Institute's teleportation relay actually useful. In normal Fallout 4, these features are just convenient shortcuts, but in Survival Mode, they become lifesavers.
The ability to quickly travel between settlements is invaluable, and it makes joining these factions feel much more rewarding. It also adds a layer of strategic thinking to the game. Do you want to join the morally dubious Institute and get access to their teleport technology, or stick with the Minutemen and rely on walking and your own skills?
Survival Mode might seem like a tedious change at first, but it actually makes Fallout 4 more interesting and engaging. The increased difficulty and immersion make the game feel much more meaningful, and the changes to the game's features make you appreciate them in a way you never did before.