On release Fallout 4 had an amazing wealth of content for the player to enjoy. Lots of unique and interesting areas, quirky weapons, incredible power armor, and more.
Yet as players began digging into the files of the game and the developers began responding to interviews, it’s become apparent that there were a lot of things cut from Fallout 4 before the final release. Even more incredible is that some of these things haven’t been added in the seven add-ons that came since the game’s release.
10 10. The Replacement
As part of the Institute, players had the chance to participate in a quest called “The Replacement." It was tied to the Battle of Bunker Hill in which the player must collect synths that escaped from the Institute. Likely, it was an optional component of the quest that when completed would ensure the player a special reward.
Apparently, the Institute would’ve made a synth duplicate of your dead spouse to accompany you in the wasteland. It was likely this reward/quest was cut due to concerns over backlash, but it would have made an intriguing dilemma for the player to be accompanied by someone that looks, talks, and acts like their spouse, but is really a robot.
9 9. Destructible Environment
Some players were digging around in the files of the game when they found what looked to be the plans for making a destructible environment. This means as the player causes explosions via grenades, mini-nukes, and other weapons the environment would’ve received damage.
Anyone with a familiarity with game design will understand why this was cut. Making the environment destructible can do a number on the computer or console’s performance. It also can complicate quests, as players will blow holes through walls for shortcuts. Many players would also lose their minds if a bandit showed up at a settlement and destroyed everything they worked so hard to build.
8 8. Nuke Weapon
Speaking of destructible environments it also seems that the player was intended to have access to a very destructive weapon capable of utilizing nukes. In fact, the mini-nuke launchers in the game would’ve been potato launchers compared to these powerful weapons.
The so-called Nuke would have been capable of launching nuclear missiles that would deal devastating explosions in combat. It may have been too overpowered to be included in the game, or, more likely, the gun’s explosive power would’ve been so destructive it would kill the player more often than not.
7 7. Lost Vaults
For how much vaults and their respective company Vault Tech play a role in the Fallout series, it’s surprising that Fallout 4 didn’t possess a lot of vaults for the player to explore. This was rectified partially with the inclusion of Vault 88 in an add-on, but the Commonwealth is bare of these settlement/dungeons.
It seems that the developers had plans to include vaults 113, 117, and 121. For whatever reason—perhaps time constraints—they were forced to abandon their creation. Fans still wonder if they would have been generic dungeons or had interesting NPCs with side quests like Vault 88.
6 6. 20 Leagues Under The Sea
In Fallout 4, there are large amounts of ocean that has little bearing on the game. Yet, hawk-eyed players have found a number of remarkable things under the sea like fossils, sunken ships, and even loot.
It turns out there was a large quest called "20 Leagues Under The Sea" that would’ve had players explore the depths of the ocean in an underwater vault. Perhaps because of the size or from difficulties with game mechanics underwater, the entire thing was scrapped.
5 5. What Lies Beneath
Speaking of those large fossils, players have thought it interesting that, out of all of the mutated creatures in the Commonwealth, there’s not a single living sea creature to be found. No fish, no horrific sharks, nothing.
It turns out that, as part of the "20 Leagues Under The Sea" quest, there were going to be gargantuan sea monsters for the player to fight. The unused Pip-Boy animation for the quest depicts a large creature slithering around the water. There are also files suggesting a giant squid would have been another foe to face.
4 4. Centaurs
Fallout 4 was unique in the series for being the only game not to include Centaurs. Centaurs are highly mutated creatures with multiple limbs, heads, and other body parts resulting in large Cronenberg-esque monstrosities.
It’s been discovered that the developers had concept art drawn and had taken steps to include them in the game, but decided against it. There's no telling why, but maybe it had something to do with lore conflict, as the Institute was busy working on synths and wouldn't have had the time or resources for Centaurs.
3 3. Paladin Perk
There are a lot of useful perks that with the right builds can make the player unbelievably powerful. Life-Giver, for instance, grants huge permanent health boosts with health regeneration outside of combat at rank three. Penetrator allows you to shoot through walls, and the Cannibal perk turns the Commonwealth into your personal buffet.
But there’s a cut perk associated with the Brotherhood of Steel that would have been immensely powerful, which is probably why it was cut. Paladin granted the player the ability to recover health while they were wearing power armor. Can you imagine having health regeneration in combat while wearing power armor? With enough power cores, players would have been unstoppable with this thing.
2 2. Throwing Weapons
There are a lot of weapon types in this game—everything from lasers to shotguns to swords. Given the numerous melee weapons, it’s strange that the developers would’ve started working on throwing weapons, but never released them.
These throwing weapons included things like spears, knives, saws, bottles, harpoon, and more. It would have added an interesting dynamic to the game and allowed for greater roleplaying, but sadly, it’s never been implemented.
1 1. Richer Combat Zone
The Combat Zone where players find Cait has always felt underutilized for fans, and many of the more popular mods involve fleshing out this area to make it more interesting. After players uncovered a number of dialogue and audio files, it turned out the developers had every intention of making this area more interesting, but likely ran out of time.
The goal was to add stores, side quests, and an arena mechanic where players fight against enemies in rounds of increasing difficulty for great rewards. Many of these mechanics were implemented in Nuka-World, but not to the level hinted at with the Combat Zone.