Why I’m Dreading Fallout 4

I, like many people, played the hell out of Fallout 3. When Fallout 4 was announced I, like many people, could not have been happier. Now, many people are playing Fallout 4, I am not one of them, and I’m only marginally excited by the prospect.

Don’t get me wrong. I want to play Fallout 4 something fierce but at the same time the game is a serious commitment. There are hours upon hours of gameplay there. I’m just not sure I have the time. My life revolves primarily around sitting in front of a computer and typing. I make words much like the ones you are reading here. My video game playing over the last several months has been limited to mostly episodic games like Telltales, Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones as well as Sierra’s King’s Quest. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I got paid to review those, the other is because those sorts of games are the only thing I have time for anymore.

I used to love the deep, immersive, sprawling worlds that games create but now I look at it all and it just feels overwhelming. Along with all the other things that I need to get done in life how does one dedicate the appropriate amount of time to a game like that anymore. It seems strange, I was still an adult with a job when the last Fallout game was released, yet somehow this didn’t seem to be an issue. Maybe I was neglecting more than I thought.

Add to it the fact that this is the worst time for a game like Fallout 4 to come along. While it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint that major game releases occur during the holidays I don’t actually understand how this business model entirely works. Nobody who bought Fallout 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider this week bought it give to somebody as a Christmas or Hanukah gift. They all bought it for themselves. If I buy the game for myself then what are my friends and family going to buy me for Christmas? Doesn’t anybody else ever think ahead?

This is a First World Problem to be sure but one that really does bother me. I will without doubt enter the Wasteland, and I’ll do so sooner rather than later. I’m just not sure if I’ll ever get out.