As the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition causes chaos, Bethesda promises two patches, but you'll be waiting a while

Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition hasn't had the start Bethesda probably hoped for. Its launch was quickly met with a flood of negative reviews as the update broke many of the best Fallout 4 mods. Even some players who cleared out their addon list have been reporting fresh issues with their playthroughs, and of the more than 4,500 reviews submitted in the last 30 days, just 41% give it the Vault Boy thumbs up. It's a far cry from the usual praise for one of Bethesda's best RPGs. The good news is that patches are in the works; the bad news is that we're going to be waiting a while.

Revealed during the Fallout Day broadcast in October, Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition launched on Monday November 10, and the response from PC players has been largely one of frustration, with the most pressing complaint being that it's caused a high percentage of mods to stop working, meaning creators will need to update them to restore their functionality.

This isn't the first time a major Fallout 4 revamp has caused serious problems for modders in particular. The next-gen update that launched in April 2024 caused the release of giant fan project Fallout London to be pushed back by three months because it caused similar instabilities.

Bethesda does have one Fallout 4 hotfix in the works for "next week" that addresses several issues, including problems causing creations that rely on DLC to not work. Beyond that, it promises that two more patches are on the way, but these won't be coming for a while. The first is scheduled for the week of Monday November 24, while the second is planned to arrive "in the first half of December."

There's no more detail on exactly what the updates will entail, although Bethesda says it will "provide an overview of these patches soon." It adds, "Thank you for your continued updates and support tickets, it's helped us to pinpoint issues. We'll work to address these as quickly as we can."

Other complaints have come around the price of the new edition. The Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition that gives you all of the DLC and the new bundle of 150 Creation Club items is priced at $59.99 / £52.99. An upgrade from the base game will set you back $39.99 / £35.99. User reviews for the Creations Bundle specifically come in at just 23% positive, with players annoyed by broken quests, a high percentage of cosmetic inclusions, and a need to manually install all files one by one.

If you've been considering revisiting the Bethesda icon, you may want to wait until the new year when these patches are out, especially if you're planning to mod your playthrough. While the changes might not cause further compatibility problems, there's a chance they could, and some mod creators may simply choose to wait until the dust settles before they update their projects to run on Anniversary Edition.