Previously covered last week, superstar Skyrim developers at Bethesda Game Studios released their highly anticipated, large-scale DLC drop for popular, apocalypse-dispistopian, action/adventure RPG, Fallout 4. Titled Far Harbor and taking place on the scenic East Coast in Maine, Bethesda art designers hit the ground running and did what they always do best: topsy-turvy world building. They turned the lobster/bay/iconic scene of the Maine coast on its head and twisted into giggling nightmare fuel. Most of Fallout’s narratives take place in barren deserts or decimated and decaying urban jungles–this marked Fallout’s first excursion to the beach, but it was neither beautiful nor romantic. Try giant lobsters, try creatures rising out of the muck (aka: Fallout’s version of an ocean), try dark skies, dark waters, and lots of fog.
Far Harbor is not a friendly place. The town’s inhabitants don’t trust you. Monstrous creatures lay in wait around every corner. Even the island itself can kill you.
The expansion is included with a purchase of Fallout 4’s $50 DLC pass, or can be downloaded on its own for $25, and many were excited to play through entirely new Fallout 4 content, as the game’s main campaign had previously gone over extremely well with fans and critics alike back during its initial release.
However, something reared its big, ugly head out of the water–and I am unfortunately not referring to a murky, seaweed entangled enemy from the game.
Fans who downloaded the DLC on its May 19th release date have been reporting a few frustrating issues and hiccups while playing their new games. While it is to be expected with an initial digital release, fans have come to expect high standards that come along with the name Bethesda.
In response, Bethesda released a statement issued via their online forum, Bethesda representatives were quoted apologizing and continued to promise they intend to fix the issues as quickly as they can:
We made optimizations based on the Far Harbor beta feedback, but understand some people are experiencing issues. We are actively working on more improvements. As we have news and information, we’ll update this post.
The complaints appear to primarily center around a slow, or bugged, frame rate–especially in areas where the game works overtime to render graphics…such as fog… (And the game takes place on the coast of Maine…sooo…Fog is kind of everywhere).
A video made by YouTube user Oblivions Reaper might help players who are thinking about buying the game pause and reconsider.
If you haven’t downloaded/purchased Far Harbor yet and are considering it, you may want to put a raincheck on this one and wait it out a month or two to see what developers at Bethesda do.
Hopefully we will see some patches soon!