It almost seems like the massive success of Fallout 4 was an eternity ago. Last November, Bethesda's mega-hit put the latest edition of Call Of Duty 3 on the shelf, and became the must-own game at the end of 2015, receiving tons of press and attention from gamers. But the minute Dead Souls 3 made its way onto the market last month, many of those gamers shifted gears and started obsessing over dungeon-crawling rather than combing the wastelands. Seeing the storm on the horizon, Bethesda cranked out their DLC plans in February, knowing many of those gamers may eventually tire of playing the Bloodborne clone. On March 22 they released "Automatron," followed by the Wasteland Workshop on April 19.


When it came to the "Automatron" DLC, I have to admit, I had tremendous fun hunting down robots, scrapping them for bits and pieces and putting together my own creation. Ignoring the apocalypse aspect to the terrain and clear signs that you're on earth, it gave me the feeling of being a scavenger in Star Wars who builds their own tech to survive. You're not given a ton of variety when it comes to the primary hull design—they had to draw the line somewhere, I suppose—but the creativity in the armaments makes it worthwhile. The other half to this DLC is going up against a new villain in The Mechanist, who is basically this game's version of Dr. Wiley, with the exception that this one is an actual threat. The end battle has a surprise twist to it, and feels gratifying when you make it to the end. The best way to play is by having a profile with a ton of experience added into your Robotics perk, which will help you play with your self-made robots that you can build from scratch to adapt to all situations you may encounter.


On the opposite end of the spectrum, the "Wasteland Workshop" DLC left much to be desired. Building pens (which costs a lot), capturing creatures, building towns and obstacle courses, setting up mini battles and watching it unfold may be fun for some, but I was left kinda bored and frustrated.  Perhaps it's all my years constructing massive levels in Halo, or the time goofing around in Gary's Mod, but considering the game we're talking about, I kind of expected more.  This is the one time I was disappointed with the game, as I felt like this should have just been included in the primary game itself and not held over to make a quick $5. When people hear about DLC, they're looking forward to something new or innovative to enhance the experience. This feels more like I got a mini-game, for no other reason than they could make one.

Which bring us to "Far Harbor," the latest DLC addition which will make its way to systems on May 19. This looks to be the most promising of the bunch, as you make your way onto the island of Far Harbor in search of a young woman who is there with a secret colony of synths. There are elements of this that are downright creepy, as you make your way through Silent Hill-type fog with a town that doesn't really want you there and creates that will rip you to shreds. You're given better armor and weapons than before, on a land mass that far bigger than in "Automatron," trying to bring peace to an area under internal siege and fear. This is the kind of story I've been waiting to see in Fallout 4, and it just might be badass enough to bring those who put the game down for a moment back into things with gusto. Or at least until Bethesda's Doom makes it's way onto the market. In any case, "Automatron" and "Far Harbor" are definitely worth the download, but stay away from the "Workshop" unless that's your chem.