Fallout 4's Vault-Tec Workshop doesn't make you feel much like an Overseer

I've been looking forward to Fallout 4's Vault-Tec Workshop DLC, and herein lies my mistake: I was focusing on the 'Vault-Tec' in the title and not the word 'Workshop.' And ultimately, this is just another Workshop, and by that I mean it's just another settlement, and I don't know about you but I'm a wee bit tired of settlements.

With the $5 DLC installed, tune into a new radio frequency that will direct you to Vault 88, where a ghoul Overseer will begin giving you quests as she attempts, for some reason, to complete the Vault's construction and turn it into a fully operational facility. The quests, really, aren't much to speak of. There is one excursion to retrieve an item from elsewhere on the map, but the rest involve clearing out ghouls and mirelurks from the depths of 88, and setting up a few experiments on the settlers who begin to move in. 

And hey, it's only $5, so I wasn't expecting a sprawling adventure, but the ultimate feeling I'm left with, quest-wise and experiment-wise, is: "Oh, that's it? Huh."

A ghoul wants you to take an eye exam in a filthy cave, nothing to be suspicious about.

A ghoul wants you to take an eye exam in a filthy cave, nothing to be suspicious about.

The experiments are the biggest disappointment. Build an item in the Workshop, place it and power it up, and tell some poor settler to use it. You can make your subject ride a stationary bike that acts as a generator, serve them chemically enhanced soda, give them an optical exam, and instruct them to play slot machines. Each experiment has three settings, depending on how evil you feel, that can influence the subject's behavior chemically, subliminally, or optically.

And that's it, really. Despite the ever-present Nick Valentine's disapproving synthetic stare, I went full-on evil, trying to pick the least ethical setting for each experiment. A couple settlers got giddy on tainted soda, one got angry after discovering a subliminal message during an eye exam, someone else was tricked into praising the ghoul Overseer even though she should not be praised because she is a jerk. I don't exactly feel like Lex Luthor, you know?

If you were hoping to become a puppet-master, creatively brainwashing your unknowing subjects with wild sci-fi experiments, uh, yeah, that doesn't seem to be included here. I feel like I've been meaner to settlers just in my day-to-day Fallout 4 routine.

I participated in the experiments too but didn't notice any side-effects spider turnip goblin

I participated in the experiments too but didn't notice any side-effects spider turnip goblin

Good news? Yes! There's some of that. 88's underground vault area is tremendously big. Really. It's huge. So, if you're really interested in building yourself a giant kickass Vault-Tec settlement, you've more than enough space to do it. There are all sorts of new Vault parts and pieces to build with, so I know dedicated builders will probably have a great time snapping together their own Vaults, and I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

Another nice little bit of tech has been added, a terminal where you can track all your different companions. So, if you can't remember where you parked Curie or Dogmeat, you can use the terminal to drop a quest marker on them and easily track them down. There's also a terminal that will allow you to monitor your population and—gasp—assign jobs to settlers remotely! No more walking up to people, pointing at them, then walking twenty feet away and pointing at corn! This might be worth the $5 alone.

Or, you know, you could use this existing mod that also does that.

So, I don't feel anything like an Overseer after playing with the Vault-Tec Workshop, which was kind of what I was hoping for. If you want a big giant huge (it's really very large) new underground area to build in, though, this is the place to find it.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Latest in Fallout
Male and Female Vault Dweller holding guns and cresting a hill with ruined city in background
The New Vegas remake of the Fallout 3 that never was just got its first demo, not to be confused with the straight-up remake of the cancelled Fallout 3 or, indeed, Fallout 3
Lucy smiling while using her pip boy
Ella Purnell dreads being typecast for her 'poop finger' in Fallout: 'This finger is the bane of my life'
Fallout 76 - a player in a vault suit gives a thumbs up
Fallout 76's former project lead says it's still his favourite game he worked on, but the initial reception was demoralising: 'I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I'll never forget'
Mortimer Goth swanning around inside a New Vegas casino built inside the Sims 2
A Fallout: New Vegas fan is so fed up waiting for a remake he's decided to do it himself. The twist? He's making it in the Sims 2
Maybe I'll finally stop getting lost in Fallout: New Vegas' Bison Steve Hotel thanks to this new minimap mod
A jumpsuit-clad Lucy, played by Ella Purnell, emerges from a vault in the Fallout TV series.
Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins sure are excited for everyone to see Fallout season 2: 'No one's going to be able to predict what happens. There's some big twists this time around'
Latest in Features
Geralt, two swords on his back, in the wilderness
2011 was an amazing comeback year for PC gaming
Alligator skull with glowing eyes on human body and cords coming out sitting at piano with "The Norwood Etudes" ready to play
My new most anticipated RPG let me be a kleptomaniac gourmand set loose in a noir city on a quest to make 'the perfect sandwich'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
Monster Hunter Wilds' new gyro controls are a fantastic option for disabled and able-bodied players alike
Manhunt 2
I played the notoriously ratings-board-ravaged Manhunt 2 and was quite glad for the censorship actually
A busy marketplace in The Bazaar.
The Bazaar could be the future of autobattlers, if it stops strangling itself to death with its own microtransactions
Marvel Rivals characters - Hulk with his hands out as if he's grabbing the camera.
Marvel Rivals' growing roster of heroes scares me, but the game's director seems sure that all is under control: 'Everything is progressing smoothly'