When Fallout 4 was announced for a Nintendo platform for the first time, I was extremely happy. Finally, there would be a convergence of post-apocalyptic media and Nintendo, two things I love. So after all this waiting, how has the franchise debuted on Nintendo hardware?

Fallout 4 puts you in the shoes of either a mother or father searching for their son after he’s taken from cryo-sleep and their partner is murdered. The last time I played Fallout 4, I wasn’t a father, nor was I married, and yeah, the story hit a little differently this time. There’s a lot of messed-up stuff in the Wasteland, and it starts from minute one. Once you step out into the Commonwealth, it’s up to you to decide the kind of person you are in the unapologetic post-apocalyptic remains of Boston. You can make friends, kill things, be killed, rebuild settlements and explore the world, figuring out what went down, and you’ll be doing it for months.

So what you really care about is how it runs on the Switch 2. Bethesda games, especially those built on the Creation Engine, are known for a certain amount of jank, so nothing is ever going to run perfectly. Objects fly around the screen as physics go out the window, but that’s the game, and that’s how it is on Switch 2. You can play it at 30fps, 40fps, or even 60fps. In the full-fat 60fps mode, some texture quality and world detail take a dip, but seeing this running on a handheld at a full frame rate, especially when the last time I played it was on a PlayStation 4 that sounded like it was trying to exit the atmosphere, is still amazing. It’s only expected to get better when the game receives DLSS support in the future.

It’s not all perfect, though. There are no mouse controls, nor any sort of gyro support either, something we on the Nintendo train have come to expect these days. Luckily, Fallout 4 isn’t a twitch shooter, and with the VATS system slowing things down to target enemies, it works well enough. Still, if we’re getting DLSS, surely we can get gyro.

Included in the package are over 150 items from the Creation Club. These quests, weapons, and items are essentially pre-installed mods, so while there’s no real mod support, this feels like a solid halfway step. Also included in the 60GB+ install are the six official add-ons that were previously released as free or paid expansions.

Fallout has always been one of those series I’ve enjoyed, but it’s never been anywhere near a Nintendo system. That meant I could just play it for myself without having to review it. Now, here on the Nintendo Switch 2, I have to cast an analytical eye over it, but thankfully Bethesda has done a great job with the port. Now I have Fallout on a Nintendo system, I think I’ll be playing this for a while yet, unless some other post-apocalyptic game were to suddenly appear.

Rating: 4/5