INTRODUCTION
The world of Fallout is a perfect setting for a survival game. The folks over at Bethesda are slowly starting to understand and exploit it. First with adding a survival mode to Fallout 4 and now with the new multiplayer-focused Fallout 76. But talented modders have been onto it for a long time and we bring you a list of mods that will make Fallout 4 a harder but also a more realistic experience.
Also, be sure to check out some of our most favorite Fallout 4 mods across other categories:
Insult to injury
Insult to injury is a mod that will make the vanilla Fallout 4 survival mode a bit more hardcore. It accomplishes this by changing a few systems such as limb damage recovery using stimpaks and bandages, infections and how weather influences your wellbeing. It’s a great mod that doesn’t go overboard on the survival mechanics.
REST – Realistic enjoyable survival tweaks
REST is a mod that balances out the difficulty of survival mode. It significantly changes weapons, perks and other factors to make enemies less bullet spongey. You can die in a shot or two, but so can the enemies. Fallout suddenly becomes a high stakes action RPG.
Wearable backpacks and pouches
No survival is realistic with your inventory being in the ether and all the items just disappearing when you unequip them. Wearable backpack and pouches mod fixes that by making them serve as your inventory space. I’m still not sure how some stuff fit even there, but hey, it’s a ton more immersive than nothing.
Campsite – Simple wasteland camping
As the mod description says, campsite is a simple, lightweight camping mod that adds craftable/carryable tents, sleeping bags, dog beds, fires, lanterns, and cooking pot, each with their own unique dynamics, sounds, and interactivity. Bethesda games are known for huge open worlds so being able to camp anywhere is imperative for any survivalist.
Survival options
Survival options mod is a simple mod that gives you a holotape through which you can fully customize the survival mode in a totally immersive way without having to navigate any menus or restarting the game.
Deadly Radstorms
What is a nuclear wasteland without the accompanying radiation? Deadly radstorms is another simple mod that you can use to customize radstorm damage and a chance of one occurring. From a walk in the park 5% to insta-death 100% damage.
True Frags
True frags is a mod that changes the way explosives work by making fragmentation grenades, fragmentation mines, baseball grenades, bottlecap mines, and MIRV grenades, propel deadly shrapnel when they explode. It immensely adds to the realism and will keep you on your toes in a firefight, especially when coupled with some other mods on this list.
Weapons of Fate
Another weapon realism mod, weapons of fate is a mod that affects how ballistics work. It will make every bullet have unique characteristics that are combined to determine the trajectory that the bullet will follow. Bullets will also no longer disappear after a certain distance, but will instead lose altitude until the point of impact.
Search and Destroy
Surviving in the wasteland will be much harder with this mod. No longer will you stealthily shoot an enemy and have him dismiss it as a gust of wind. This mod will dramatically increase the length of time enemies will hunt for you, and increases the range over which they will detect and follow you.
BASEMENT LIVING
The wasteland has vaults, sure, but surprisingly little basements considering the danger of war before everything went boom. This mod changes that and adds 10 standalone basement & bunker player homes which you can freely decorate to make them your safe haven in between all the surviving.
HOMEMAKER – EXPANDED SETTLEMENTS
Surviving will be much easier (and more comfortable) with homemaker mod which adds over 1000 new craftable objects with new build sets, working planters and much more. Time to build the base of your dreams.
WAR OF THE COMMONWEALTH
If you want the wasteland to get a bit more crowded with various factions vying for supremacy – war of the commonwealth is the mod for you. It will make surviving a real challenge as it adds new spawn points for enemy NPCs, animals, and creatures. With thousands of newly spawned enemies that will make the Commonwealth a true post-apocalyptic battlefield where you constantly need to be on your toes if you want to survive.
Take cover
Perhaps one of the most important mods on this list. Take cover is a mod that, as its name suggests adds a cover mechanic to Fallout that will be of infinite value when all it takes is one shot to put you down. It even features fully animated leaning out and vaulting over cover to make each shootout an intense game of cat and mouse.
Build your own Vault
Fallout 76 ain’t got nothing on mods as build your own vault mod makes each settlement have its own interior vault, that can be reached through a craftable load door. Once inside, you get to build all the different rooms, elevators, slide doors and customize it as you see fit. You can even make NPC live inside. It’s the ultimate survival lair for your convenience.
Frost – Survival Simulator
Frost – Survival simulator is a hardcore total conversion mod that focuses on freeform survival, lore and visual storytelling. Set in the years following the Great War of 2077, you will see completely new visuals, lore, challenging enemies, and too many overhauled gameplay systems to list here. It’s an excellent mod that removes the shackles of vanilla Fallout but adds a set of new survival heavy ones that will put full-fledged survival games to shame.
david
thanks this is great
Hrvoje Smoljic
Glad you enjoyed the list 🙂