Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition was meant to act as a celebration of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic role-playing game on its tenth birthday. But it turns out that things haven’t exactly gone to plan as the update was met with a backlash on Steam.
The $59.99 Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition includes the six official Fallout 4 expansions and over 150 Creation Club items (paid mods). But there’s also a Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition upgrade Bethesda is selling to existing owners of the base game, priced $39.99.
While Bethesda points out that this upgrade offers a discount on all the items sold separately, fans have hit out at the pricing for the Anniversary Edition, especially in the context of Fallout 4 itself being a decade old and what the Anniversary Edition actually gets you. It’s worth noting that the Fallout 4 base game is currently $19.99 on Steam (it launched at $59.99), and the Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition, which includes the base game and all the six official expansions, costs $39.99.
The Fallout 4 – Creations Bundle, which includes the 150 paid mods released as part of the Anniversary Edition, costs $19.99 on its own. And it’s the Steam store page for this bundle that has born the brunt of the backlash, with a ‘mostly negative’ user review rating.
Complaints there report crashing issues, glitches, and even a problem with getting the new mods to work. Meanwhile, it sounds like the Anniversary Edition is breaking prior mods, although Bethesda warned this would happen when it came to mods that affect the new Creation Club menu.
“Be a gamer in 2025,” reads the most helpful review, according to Steam. “You purchase the content. You don’t get the content in game. Bethesda’s update causes even more crashes. Trying to quit the game causes it to crash. GG.”
Fallout 4 Perks Tier List
Fallout 4 Perks Tier List
“It is bugging out like crazy and not giving out all of the creations that are mentioned in the bundle,” another review reports. “Game absolutely refuses to let you attempt to install anything involving the Creation Club and freezes upon launching and quitting the game to the point where you can’t even use task manager or Steam to force close. For the love of god Bethesda, this is worse than Skyrim’s anniversary launch. Fix your game.”
The reaction on the Fallout subreddit features a similar sentiment, and yes, the memes have begun.
I want to thank Bethesda for charging me 20 quid for Fallout 4’s 10th Anniversary for some extra pip-boy colours and rewarding me by making my game unable to boot at all.
Even with the new script extender I had to remove every mod and reinstall everything. EPIC!!!! pic.twitter.com/7dIm8CRuao
— Micky D (@DeMickyD) November 11, 2025
The backlash has also spilled over into Steam reviews for the Fallout 4 base game, where negative reviews have flooded in following the Anniversary Edition’s release, causing recent reviews to plummet to ‘mixed.’
“They just killed the game with this Anniversary update,” reads one negative review on the Fallout 4 base game. “Not going to sort my 400+ mods as it would take days. Goodbye Fallout, I would like to say I will miss you but I won’t.”
It’s a disappointing start for Fallout’s big push ahead of the hotly anticipated December launch of Fallout Season 2 on Prime Video. A new Fallout: New Vegas bundle is also due out, with a Fallout TV show-themed update to Fallout 76 also coming in December. Hopefully Bethesda can sort these issues out sooner rather than later.
Fallout 4 – Creations Menu Update November 10 patch notes:
- Creations Menu: A new in-game Creations menu has been added, making it easier than ever to discover, download and enjoy content from professional developers and passionate enthusiasts alike.
Gameplay & Performance
- VATS Accuracy: VATS hit chances are now consistent across platforms and no longer drop to 0% or show incorrect values. Targeting enemies through walls without the Penetrator perk is no longer possible.
- NPC Visual Creations: Fixed stuttering and hitching caused by Creations that edit NPC visuals. Performance is improved when using such Creations.
Stability & Crashes
- BNET Connectivity: Better handling when there is a Bethesda.net outage
- Crafting Station Crash: Interacting with crafting stations or the workshop on ultrawide monitors no longer causes crashes.
Ultrawide & Super Ultrawide Support
- UI & HUD Scaling: UI elements, HUD backgrounds, and item previews now scale correctly for 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios. Menus, quest updates, tutorials, workshops, and inspected objects are no longer stretched or squished.
- Pip-Boy Map: Players can now place markers, fast travel, and pan the map to the right side in the Pip-Boy when using ultrawide resolutions.
- Save Preview Images: Save preview images are now letterboxed to avoid looking squished on ultrawide monitors.
Miscellaneous
- Resolution Detection: Autodetect now sets supported display resolutions, preventing crashes on launch.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
