Fallout 4 is a great game, one of the year’s very best, but it’s somewhat less open-ended than past titles in the series. While past Fallout games were free-ranging RPGs, Fallout 4 is more of an action-adventure with RPG elements, and you’re often presented with situations where killing seems to be the only option.
Well, apparently it isn’t. YouTuber and Fallout master Kyle Hinckley set about playing through Fallout 4 without scoring a single kill, and lo-and-behold, he actually managed to do it. Not only that, but he did it on the balls-hard “Survival” difficulty. You can check out the beginning of his journey above and the final chapter of his playthrough, below. Obviously don’t click on the video below if you haven’t finished the game yet.
In order to achieve a zero kill run, you have to cheat the system a bit. If you have particularly high Charisma, you can gain access to perks that allow you to pacify enemies, then sic them on each other. This is how Hinckley got through most must-kill scenarios without, technically, getting any blood on his hands. Oh, and you can’t rely on your AI companions to do all the work – if Dogmeat mauls a mole rat to death, that’s counted as your kill.
Interestingly, it’s clear the makers of Fallout 4 weren’t planning on anybody taking an entirely non-violent route, as pacifying enemies often results in an already glitchy game becoming even glitchier. And yet, somehow Hinckley made it through, with the help of a lot of saving and reloading. After achieving his no-kill run, Hinckley got a bit philosophical about this latest entry in the Fallout series…
“I’d love to ask the developers why pacifism is so difficult in this Fallout. My version of pacifism isn’t really diplomatic, it’s more exploitative of the game mechanics to achieve a zero-kill record. It’s a lonely departure from the rest of the Fallout series.”
Hey, if pacifism weren’t hard, I’m pretty sure the irradiated world of Fallout 4 wouldn’t exist in the first place.
via Kotaku