Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth major installment in the Fallout series eighth overall. It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 10, , except in Japan, where it was released on December 17, , due to the country's requirement to censor some footage and references to atomic war, while still keeping the plot intact.
The story of Fallout 4 focuses on the Sole Survivor , a Vault dweller from the pre- War era who was cryonically frozen inside Vault , later waking up in the wasteland over years later to search for their missing child, Shaun.
Fallout 4 is set in the Commonwealth , in and around the ruins of Boston , Massachusetts. Along the way, the Sole Survivor discovers a world gripped by fear and terror over a mysterious organization known as the Institute. The Institute has the people of the Commonwealth consumed by paranoia that they could be replaced by a race of artificial human-like beings known as synths.
As a result of the synth-focused narrative, the Sole Survivor, as well as the player, are faced with ethical questions such as how far people should experiment with science, the morality of creating sentient machines that express emotions and suffering, and what it means to be human.
Story elements from previous games are present, primarily Fallout 3 ; the main story of Fallout 4 expands on elements from the side quest The Replicated Man from Fallout 3.
