RPGs are one of the best genres for replayability. Franchises such as Fallout thrive off of player builds and unique ways of solving problems. Fallout 4 might have removed a few RPG aspects such as skills, but the game still has quite a few ways for players to survive in the Commonwealth.
Challenge runs are a great way to mix up playthroughs by forcing certain restrictions. These can range from only using a certain weapon to becoming addicted to every chem in the game. Not all challenges are created equal, however, and some runs are far harder than the rest. Here are ten of the hardest challenge runs players can attempt in Fallout 4. Main story spoilers ahead.
10 Random S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats
Leaving stats down to luck in any RPG can lead to either a fun time or a horrific experience. That's the best way to describe the RNG stats challenge wherein players use a random number generator to generate S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats for the player.
This can also extend to the perks players can grab. For a first-time challenge to get players out of their comfort zone, randomizing their character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats is a rather engaging challenge.
9 Never Leave Sanctuary
Sanctuary is the first settlement players will find in Fallout 4. It has quite a few supplies to help the player get on their feet in the beginning, but is it enough to last an entire playthrough?
One of Fallout 4's strangest challenge runs requires players to never leave Sanctuary once they leave Vault 111. Looting the town and one of the house's cellars is mandatory to get settlers. Of course, players will be unable to complete the main story or most of Fallout 4's side quests in this challenge. The goal is whatever the player wishes. Most go for making Sanctuary as feature-dense as possible while bringing in income and settlers.
8 Cannibal Survival
Survival mode makes Fallout 4 more difficult by introducing the adrenaline mechanic alongside hunger and thirst gauges. Fast travel is also disabled. If players find these modifiers too easy, they should consider a cannibal Survival mode playthrough.
Cannibalism needs to be obtained as soon as possible for this challenge. Once obtained, the player can only fill their hunger by feeding on corpses. Players will need to manage the Dark Cravings addiction every 12 in-game hours since hunger goes straight to ravenous. Combining this with a melee-only playthrough is a great roleplaying idea. Just note that nearly every faction hates their members being eaten after death.
7 Unarmed Only
A challenge that pairs well with cannibalism is an unarmed only challenge. In essence, players are unable to use any weapon excluding knuckles and power fists. Power armor also grants unarmed damage if players choose to use that. It's a fun challenge that gets much harder on Survival mode. Players will want to invest in Strength and potentially sneak perks to make this work.
Once players gain a few levels, this challenge becomes much easier. For those that are masochists and wish for the entire run to be difficult, restrict weapon types or power armor altogether.
6 Legendary Gun Game
Legendary gun game is a challenge where players can only use the most recent Legendary items they find. This challenge can either be for only weapons or also include armor. Players can use anything until they get their first Legendary.
Playing this on Very Hard is essential to maximize Legendary enemy spawn rates and keep the random nature of this run intact. Since players are constantly swapping gear, perks that increase weapon damage are situational at best. For an even harder run, prohibit crafting so every Legendary has to stand on its own merits.
5 Permadeath Survival
One fundamental change to Survival is all it takes to make Fallout 4 much harder: dying is permanent. If the player dies at any point during the Survival run, they must start over from the very beginning.
This single change applies much more pressure to every decision a player makes. Stealth is the preferred method of most that have bested this challenge, damaging targets from the shadows using long-range weapons. Even though permadeath is in effect, make sure to frequently save to not lose progress if the game crashes. Try to complete the main campaign and DLC content to get the most out of this challenge.
4 Fat Man Only
The Fat Man is one of the most powerful weapons in video game history. This launcher fires mini-nukes that kill virtually every target near the blast radius. While it is great for taking down Fallout 4's toughest foes, it makes for a tough weapon to make an entire playthrough around.
On Very Hard or Survival, players must avoid killing anything until they get a Fat Man. The player is only allowed to kill enemies using either the Fat Man's mini-nuke or bashing the weapon at targets. Players will either need to gain an insane amount of damage reduction to survive the Fat Man blast or get used to bashing targets inside of dungeons.
3 Vault Dweller Challenge
After players leave Vault 111, they are only able to use the starting 10mm pistol and Vault 111 jumpsuit. Players can't equip armor or use new weapons.
Depending on how hard they want the experience to be, players can decide if crafting is allowed. At least players won't have to worry about ammo since 10mm rounds are so plentiful, although that does not lessen this challenge run's difficulty by much.
2 Level One Only
Similar to the Vault Dweller challenge, this challenge forces players to complete the entirety of Fallout 4 without leveling up once. Legendary armor and chems that grant increased S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are mandatory in a run like this.
To make the run even harder, start Far Harbor and Nuka World straight out of Vault 111 and try to survive against the high-level opponents. This challenge run will test any player's skills.
1 Pacifist
What would have been considered an easy challenge in Fallout: New Vegas is easily the hardest challenge run in Fallout 4. Pacifist runs require players to never accrue kills on their kill tracker. A player's stats can be viewed from their Pip-Boy. Kills from the player's weapons, mines, or their currently-recruited companion count as a player kill.
Avoiding this requires a ton of game knowledge and patience. Dismissing companions and having them aggro on foes won't count towards a player's kill count, one of the few strategies that will let pacifists get past the Kellogg confrontation. Ten Charisma is a must to help players pacify targets and succeed with dialogue checks. For those that want to really think outside of the box, nothing comes close to a pacifist playthrough of Fallout 4.