The world of Fallout 4 is a pretty grueling one. From existence chased by Deathclaws or getting mauled by ghouls, there'south already quite a bit of challenge within the basic, vanilla version of the game itself. All the same, Bethesda didn't want to just finish there, which is why Survival difficulty is an official feature in Fallout four.

This difficulty basically turns the game into a full-on survival experience, with existent stakes and no manual or autosave. Players tin can merely save when sleeping. Moreover, the Sole Survivor will exist subjected to thirst, hunger, and exhaustion. While this difficulty alone is pretty good, in that location are a few mods that make it even better.

Updated August 27th, 2021 by Anastasia Maillot: Despite Fallout 76 attempting to have the spotlight as Bethesda'south current go-to Fallout game, Fallout 4 continues to concur the crown equally its franchise'south star release in terms of graphics, novelty, and gameplay. Because of this, information technology'due south a game fans go along to come dorsum to over and again.

However, Fallout 4 could utilise a bit more than "survival" in its gameplay. Despite the Sole Survivor being a fish out of the water, things go easy very fast for them. Thankfully, new Fallout 4 survival mods that play into the game's survival aspect are however beingness fabricated by the community, including these five additional picks.

20 More Smarter Companions

fallout 4 piper companion angry

Fallout iv's companions are easily ane of the best aspects of the game due to how immersive their stories are. Nonetheless, despite the game conspicuously making them dissimilar types of fighters, it doesn't matter that much which companion players choose on their run a risk.

This modern really makes the choosing of a companion a strategic choice. Each companion has very distinct pros and cons, with special sets of abilities that will compliment certain play styles. Now, players need to choose very carefully who they tin trust to have their dorsum in the game.

xix Fallsouls

Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Menu

Players familiar with Dark Souls franchise will know that going into the menu won't actually pause the game itself. In Fallout 4, this is a simple way to exploit a tough situation by going into a menu to heal or utilise other consumables, which makes the game a bit easier to play.

Thankfully, the mod Fallsouls ensures that even when hacking a last, lockpicking, or using the Pip-Boy, the game fourth dimension isn't frozen. It makes for some truly difficult gameplay since players tin can't rely on a paused game to gather themselves. At the aforementioned time, it'southward just a bit more realistic and plays well with various survival mods.

18 Ameliorate Locational Damage

Fallout 4 - Molly Combat

Strategic gainsay is 1 way to ameliorate Fallout 4's default combat, and that's certainly what Better Locational Harm achieves, making a must-have Fallout 4 survival mod. Headshots in particular take been tweaked with this mod, to ensure that some enemies that are bulkier need a specific type of weapon or ammo to receive a headshot. Some of the largest enemies, like Deathclaws and Behemoths, will no longer take any headshot damage.

Other changes include the general health puddle of enemies, as well every bit the importance of gear. Gear is really now more of import than wellness since leveling up won't scale the player'southward wellness pool. Helmets volition now really prevent headshots, both on the enemy and the Sole Survivor.

17 Darker Nights

Fallout 4 Night Time In The Glowing Sea

Sometimes, information technology's the elementary mods that make the biggest difference. For a truly harrowing survival experience, players tin can opt to install the Darker Nights modernistic, which will make Fallout four'southward relatively "light" nights incredibly dark and difficult to see in.

This will make wandering at night time in a nuclear wasteland a real claiming. Some of the features can also be played around with to change how well enemies detect the player in darkness. For an extra challenge, requite enemies better night vision.

sixteen Arbitration AI Haul

Fallout 4 Player Shooting With A Rifle

Gainsay is a major part of Fallout 4, but it's non without its flaws. To make Fallout 4 more survival-friendly, the modernistic Arbitration tweaks the AI of enemies and turns combat into an really interesting and strategic experience. Players can also finally say bye to the abundance of grenades being chucked at them by enemies.

1 of the more than remarkable changes is in stealth and stealth detection. Enemies volition be smarter about searching for the player. To counterbalance the increment in damage and enemy deadliness, reloading and walking speed have been increased also, though each of these features tin be changed in the mod's menu upon launching Fallout four.

15 PIRAD

Fallout 4 Radiation Suits

Radiation is one of the major survival aspects of Fallout four, but it isn't perfect with its mechanics. That's where the mod PIRAD comes in to make radiations fifty-fifty more dangerous and realistic with its effects, besides as where it could realistically threaten the player.

New magazines and suits accept been included in the modern equally well, and shielding from radiation is more important than ever due to the complications that follow from non doing so. Radiation poisoning is no longer a joke with this mod, and with now breakable hazmat suits and gas masks, it's important to keep that protective equipment in order.

14 Damn Apocalypse

Fallout 4 damn apocalypse mod adjusted to dlcs

A lot of players tend to shy away from mods due to them existence then heavy on their games. Yet, there are some mod packs similar Damn Apocalypse that work well even for those who would rather not strain their PCs when installing mods. With DLCs taken into account also, it'southward the ultimate combination of smaller mods and tweaks for a quick survival fix.

The mod has a flake of everything, from changing how boodle and the economy work to making combat a bit more realistic. There are new items every bit well, mostly trash, which volition encourage players to craft rather than find what they demand in the wild. Information technology'southward a staple Fallout four survival mod.

13 First Me Up

Fallout 4 Sole Survivor with Dogmeat

The beginning of Fallout 4 is memorable and iconic. It actually puts urgency in the player's heart to go and find Shaun. That being said, sometimes it would be nice to just be born as someone else and spawn in a completely different location.

The Start Me Up mod is fantastic for players who want a much more than challenging outset. Sanctuary Hills is pretty easy and total of useful loot, so spawning in a location further down south with nothing but a shirt on the Sole Survivor's back is the ultimate challenge. Even better, the modernistic adjusts the game'southward dialogue appropriately.

12 Loot Overhaul

Fallout 4 player loot

The affluence of stuff is a major issue in Fallout four. There'south just and so much junk and other loot everywhere the player goes that surviving actually feels adequately easy if the player knows where to look for specific items. Moreover, it doesn't even make sense for areas to be then full of boodle in an era of raiders and radiations.

The Loot Overhaul modern and its 2017 patch are a necessity for Fallout 4'southward modded survival fashion. The patch is a must-download since it'll likewise comprehend all of Fallout four'southward DLCs. Finding useful junk items will no longer be an easy task with this mod.

11 Survival Options

Fallout 4 survival options mod settings in pipboy

If playing on survival mode is a brand new feel, it might be a good thought to install this modern called Survival Options. It allows players to customize the default preset for survival that Bethesda has introduced, which is smashing for players who are merely getting into this type of gameplay.

The modernistic can exist plant on the Pip-Boy, and basically allows the player to tweak options for every attribute of survival, including sleep, hunger, thirst, combat, diseases, bed, and even salve options. There's no improve mode to commencement than making a custom preset fit for one's needs.

10 Realistic Survival Harm

Fallout 4 Glowing Sea Ghouls

Ane of the main issues in the vanilla Survival difficulty is that players will do much less damage on the enemies. Equally such, they'll often notice themselves using more than ammo to kill uncomplicated creatures in the wasteland, which feels a fleck unrealistic and tedious at times.

Realistic Survival Damage balances this out past ensuring enemies aren't just bullet sponges. It doesn't make the game easier, only rather ensures the player won't be mowing down the aforementioned gang of ghouls for v minutes straight. In terms of combat mods, this one is a must-have Fallout 4 survival mod.

9 Truthful Storms

Nothing makes surviving in the wasteland more atmospheric than the dynamic conditions system of Fallout four. Sadly, it could use a little more than work and a bunch more detail in order for it to feel real and engaging. That'due south exactly what this mod aspires to do.

The True Storms modern adds more than weather condition effects and sounds, both outdoors and indoors. The weather feels more realistic overall and a lot more intense than in the original game.

eight Some Assembly Required

Power armor is one of the virtually essential parts of successfully surviving in the wasteland. Even so, it's really easy to notice around the Republic, with how prevalent it is. That simply seems to take away from the immersion and the challenge of the game.

Some Assembly Required is a highly recommended Fallout four survival mod for those who play with ability armors in particular. Information technology makes finding power armor really feel expert and rewarding. Total sets will no longer be a common occurrence, and so players will actually have to wait around and be sparing with their resources.

vii Journey

Fast travel is i of those controversial features in open up-earth games that tends to take away the feeling of immersion. That's why in Survival difficulty information technology's actually disabled and players are forced to walk everywhere on the map, which can become pretty irksome.

A nice tweak to this is the Journey mod, which allows players to fast travel to settlements simply. This actually makes sense from a story-telling perspective as well. In terms of which Fallout 4 survival mods to start with, this one is hands amongst the first ones players should become to increment the stakes.

half dozen Sleep Or Relieve

The only way to save in Survival difficulty is to sleep, but this isn't really that realistic. The actor could wake upwards and make a bunch of preparations in the morning, only to have to slumber once more in order to salvage the game. This only doesn't make much sense.

The Sleep or Salve mod allows players to choose between the two instead of always sleeping. Beds and sleeping numberless are now valid save points in the game, which makes sense and doesn't take away the challenging office.

five APC Send

If fast traveling to settlements doesn't experience right, at that place'southward another modernistic out there that replaces the fast travel characteristic with a make new vehicle. This APC likewise doubles equally a storage infinite for players, and it's also bang-up for sleeping and saving the game while on the go.

The APC doesn't travel admittedly everywhere either, which makes it feel realistic. It has about 36 locations for the base game, including some of the major cities.

4 Horizon

Players looking for just i large modernistic pack to completely overhaul their game will definitely relish a mod like Horizon, which is a huge modernistic that introduces a ton of features and tweaks to the Survival difficulty of the game.

From armor to perks to gainsay and even healing, everything has a healthy dose of realism. With Horizon, it's more difficult than ever to actually survive in the wasteland long-term, making it a fantastic basic Fallout 4 survival modernistic.

3 Sim Settlements

Fallout 4 Red Rocket Settlement

It'southward pretty weird how settlements work in Fallout iv. The Sole Survivor just has to do everything for their people, which seems a little chip strange. After multiple settlements accept been invigorated, one would imagine that the people would grow more than independent.

This becomes the case thanks to a Fallout 4 survival mod known as Sim Settlements. This lets the player plan out various areas and buildings in advance for a settlement, and the settlers themselves will and then work towards them.

2 Campsite

Camping is a feature that perhaps 1 twenty-four hours Bethesda will officially adopt into their major game franchises. Notwithstanding, for now, players will have to survive with the help of mods. Camping is virtually like a missing part of the game that was never released, and it's finally brought to life by the Campsite mod.

This mod introduces a bunch of new items and crafting recipes into the game. From sleeping bags to even canis familiaris beds, the Sole Survivor is fix to spend the night anywhere in the Commonwealth.

one Clothing Backpacks & Pouches

Since carrying weight is reduced in Survival difficulty, getting all the boodle and crafting textile might be a bit of a claiming, especially since crafting is now such an important aspect of the game. Thankfully, rather than going for a mod that normalizes carrying weight, there'due south a mod that makes this realistic.

The Wearable Backpacks and Pouches modern introduces bags and pouches every bit items the Sole Survivor tin wear to gain a pocket-sized boost in carrying weight. It fits well into modded Fallout 4 survival mode, and information technology looks surprisingly expert in the game.

NEXT: Fallout 4: The Best Easter Eggs In The Game