Fallout 4's expansive and wild wasteland of the Commonwealth contains no shortage of post-apocalyptic adventure for players to participate in. But even so, after so many playthroughs, survivors are inevitably going to feel like they're running out of things to survive and will begin to feel like they're treading tired ground after doing everything they can possibly do. However, things don't necessarily need to end there, considering the vast amount of user-created content at their disposal.
Like any good Bethesda title, Fallout 4 hosts a vibrant modding community. Whether it's a complete overhaul that almost entirely changes the game, or a hilarious, entirely off-key bit of fun developed entirely for a laugh, there are plenty of ways to spice up your next playthrough. Today, we're here to cover a little bit of both. Keep scrolling to check out five mods that practically turn the game upside down, alongside five others that are impossible to not have a chuckle at.
10 CHANGES EVERYTHING: FROST Survival Simulator
FROST takes the narrative-heavy nature of Fallout 4's gameplay and completely transforms it into a true post-apocalyptic survival sandbox. Don't go in expecting your typical "gotta find my son" Sole Survivor experience because that's not what this mod is about.
Environments and locations have been overhauled, combat is much more deadly, survival mechanics are an absolute priority, and the content has been de-leveled to provide a challenging and immersive experience. Rather than a localized nuisance, radiation is now a fact of life, and journeying outdoors in itself is dangerous without the appropriate protective equipment.
9 HILARIOUS: Buzz Lightyear Paladin Danse
Now you can bring your Toy Story fan fiction to life! Sort of. This mod adds a set of custom Buzz Lightyear themed power armor to the Prydwen, which you can then get Paladin Danse into. What you do at that point is up to you, but needless to say, it makes his romance option infinitely more... interesting. And perhaps even a little bit beyond? Yes, that pun was entirely forced, and no, we don't feel an ounce of regret for making it.
Actually getting Danse to equip the set requires jumping through a few game logic hoops, which the mod author thankfully details on the Nexus Mods page for this particular venture. It's nothing too outrageously complicated, and the results are entirely worth the effort.
8 CHANGES EVERYTHING: Horizon
To describe this mod as "big" would be a pretty significant understatement, as the amount of additional content it packs into the Fallout 4 experience is almost unreal. Horizon works best with Survival Mode, but there's so much of it that practically any playthrough will be significantly affected.
Playing Horizon keeps a lot of Fallout 4's base game intact, but the rebalancing and additional systems associated with it will entirely change the way that you'll play it. There's far too much to tackle within a nice, neat paragraph, but highlights include higher combat lethality, a fully fleshed out skill system that's familiar to fans of Fallout 3 or New Vegas, a much deeper healing and medical system, and a totally overhauled settler and settlement system.
7 HILARIOUS: The Dolphin Launcher
The "Fat Man" nuclear catapult, by its very nature, is an endlessly entertaining weapon. What could be more fun than launching miniaturized nuclear warheads at obscenely underpowered targets? Well, apparently, all you need to do in order to accomplish that is replace the actual warhead with an adorable plush dolphin.
The Dolphin Launcher just goes to show that even tiniest, seemingly insignificant changes can be made to great comical impact. Just as mentioned, installing this mod means the Fat Man will now launch small stuffed dolphins at your adversaries, complete with appropriate sound effects.
6 CHANGES EVERYTHING: Unbogus Fallout Overhaul
Unbogus is essentially a comprehensive balance overhaul, improving some aspects of the game (such as carry weight and the impact that strength has on it) while bringing some into more "realistic" or difficult proportions. Examples of the latter include changes to the stealth system, expanding the system with additions like throwable distractions, and making stealth a more difficult and less overpowered component of the game.
Combat, as it is with many overhaul mods, is more deadly and direct, but Unbogus is a lot more than just another immersion mod. It restores cut content, adds new legendary effects, chems, and other items, and even changes the way that ballistics work in regards to projectile weapons.
5 HILARIOUS: Macho Claws
When people think of ridiculously silly and entertaining mods in Bethesda games, one of the most classic examples that come to mind is Skyrim's Macho Dragons mod, which swaps out Skyrim's abundant dragon population for inhuman renditions of famed wrestling personality "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
So, it's only natural that one version of this or another would find its way into Fallout 4. Enter Macho Claws, which replaces the dreaded Deathclaw with an equally horrifying (but insanely comical) model of the Macho Man, complete with sound clips and all. It's absurd, it's hilarious, and for the purposes of this list, totally perfect.
4 CHANGES EVERYTHING: Fallsouls
If there were one singularly overpowered piece of equipment that the Sole Survivor has access to, it's the Pip-Boy. It might seem like an unlikely candidate for that title, but think about it! The Pip-Boy essentially has the power to stop time. What's more is that you can use healing items while time is stopped, completely rearrange your equipment, apply an overpowered cocktail of performance-enhancing chems, and more.
Fallsouls simply removes that crutch, allowing the game to continue as normal while the Pip-Boy (or the options menu, for that matter) is up. It might seem like a minor and insignificant change at first, but being forced to approach every situation in real-time is a complete game-changer when it comes to how you need to deal with combat situations.
3 HILARIOUS: Riding Giddyup Buttercup
The absence of operable motor vehicles (beyond the limited application of Vertibirds) is a bit of a conundrum in the Fallout universe. You can build all sorts of advanced technological implements utilizing crafting, but not a car? A motorcycle, even? Heck, even Skyrim had horses. So what's the deal?
This mod aims to fix that. Sort of. It won't exactly give you the ability to repair a truck, but you'll be able to summon a mighty steed to ride into battle! Behold the glory of a perfectly mountable and functional Giddyup Buttercup. She's no Shadowmere, but imagine the absolute horror of your raider adversaries as you charge headlong into them atop a mechanical children's toy.
2 CHANGES EVERYTHING: Immersive Gameplay
Immersive Gameplay gets straight to the point with its title, accomplishing exactly what it advertises, which is to create a more immersive gameplay experience for Fallout 4. Towards that end, this mod leaves few gameplay systems untouched, if any.
The biggest and most notable is the way that this mod works with combat and enemy AI. Hostile combatants are much more tactical and cautious in gunfights if they're armed with ranged weapons, and combat itself is a much more dangerous prospect. But it doesn't stop there. Crafting, loot, and statistics are balanced and altered with a more realistic slant in mind, and you'll need to approach the game with a more tactical mentality in order to succeed.
1 HILARIOUS: Nicholas Cage Paintings
Are your wasteland shantytowns feeling a little drab? Settlers won't stop complaining about the lack of fetching decor? Do you feel the need to establish a shrine dedicated to one of Hollywood's most historically manic personalities? If the answer to virtually any of these questions is "yes," then this is the mod you need to make your experience complete.
As you might've guessed, this mod simply adds an impressive array of paintings of Nicholas Cage to your settlement building options. As is the case with a lot of these joke mods, a little bit goes a long way. You can plaster any settlement wall-to-wall with the visage of Saint Nick, and the results are entirely satisfying.