Mods That Turn Fallout 4 Into A (Better) Survival Game

The world of Fallout 4 is a grueling one. From being chased by Deathclaws or getting mauled by ghouls, there’s already quite a bit of challenge within the basic, vanilla version of the game itself. However, Bethesda didn’t want to just stop there, which is why Survival difficulty is an official feature in Fallout 4. This difficulty turns the game into a full-on survival experience, with real stakes and no manual or autosave. Players can only save when sleeping. Moreover, the Sole Survivor will be subjected to thirst, hunger, and exhaustion.

While this difficulty alone is pretty good, there are a few mods that make it even better. However, Fallout 4 could use a bit more “survival” in its gameplay. Despite the Sole Survivor being a fish out of the water, things get easy very fast for them. Thankfully, new Fallout 4 survival mods that play into the game’s survival aspect are still being made by the community. These mods, like many others for the game, enhance survival mode quite a bit and ensure that players are as desperate as can be when exploring the Commonwealth and trying their hardest to ensure that death doesn’t creep up on them from out of nowhere.

Updated May 3, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: There’s no denying that Survival mode in Fallout 4 is a welcome inclusion that changes the way players interact with this game. It’s a blast to engage with, and players must keep track of the stuff they’re hoarding while eating, drinking, and sleeping at regular intervals. While the vanilla inclusion of this system in Fallout 4 is good, players will especially love the changes some mods bring to the table. These can make the gameplay feel more oriented towards the survival genre, being pretty hardcore and challenging. Keep in mind that most mods are broken courtesy of the next-gen patch, so remember to boot up an earlier version of Fallout 4 to enjoy most of these excellent tweaks.

1 Equipment and Crafting Overhaul (ECO) – Redux

Downloads: 404,407

The crafting system in Fallout 4 is decent and gets the job done, but comes with its own restrictions to make things somewhat grounded in reality. While some players may appreciate this, some players have spent a lot of time in the game and want to put their materials to good use. These players could use a fresh change of pace that helps them tackle this aspect of the game in a meaningful manner.

Players who want to make Fallout 4 feel like a rewarding survival game can use this mod to enhance the suite of options at their disposal, while also ensuring that equipment is balanced and fair. Customizing each and every aspect of a player’s armor is a blast, and some changes are groundbreaking.

2 True Perks

Downloads: 343,776

One of the biggest complaints about Fallout 4 was the simplistic nature of the perk system. Even a hardcore survival playthrough would be bogged down by meaningless perks that did nothing to ingratiate themselves in the eyes of most players. While most mods have tried to bring back skills in some capacity, this mod aims to try something different.

Instead of messing around with a new skill system, this mod makes every perk as unique and engaging as possible instead of performing simple, banal actions. It’s a great way to enhance one’s playthrough in survival mode, making the act of unlocking every perk extremely meaningful.

3 MAIM

Downloads: 286,182

Most survival games make combat as punishing as possible, forcing players to either avoid this scenario altogether or make sure they’re stocked up before taking on enemies. Regardless of how engaging Fallout 4‘s survival mode may be, most people agree that the easy nature of combat trivializes certain changes this game mode brings to the table.

With the MAIM mod, every gunfight becomes a battle to remain as healthy as possible after a bloody battle. A single shot can be lethal for the Sole Survivor, making it important to stay behind cover at all times. The wound system means that players must bandage themselves up and treat severe injuries as soon as possible before breathing their last.

4 Feast And Famine

Downloads: 188,143

Most of the items in Fallout 4 are pretty basic and don’t function how one would expect. In this instance, players would prefer to make these systems more realistic. Food being one of the game’s underwhelming aspects. With the advent of this mod, food is obtained from more logical sources and can be used in a wealth of recipes. Now, players will like cooking food in the game, which is not usually praised in Fallout 4.

Given how players engage with this mechanic time and time again in survival games, it’s easy to see why overhauling the food system is one of the best ways to make Fallout 4 feel more like a survival game than ever before. It’s a must-have mod for survival gameplay fanatics.

5 Degrade And Salvage

Downloads: 99,485

There are plenty of great weapons in Fallout 4, and the ability to mod them is certainly appreciated. However, this system can become rather monotonous to deal with after a time, and players won’t be faulted for wanting a change here.

With this mod, players interact with weapons in a meaningful manner by using appropriate crafting components. Players also need to maintain their modded weapon at regular intervals, which isn’t as irritating as most people would assume.

6 South Of The Sea – Atoms Storm

Downloads: 539,409

• Creator: Baerthe, Cryptd**k, Carnagefiend, Wanaming0, HaplessAccreditation
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The Glowing Sea is one of the most challenging locations to explore in Survival mode. Managing a player’s radiation level is already annoying as is, and stacking up hunger, thirst, and sleep levels on top of this can make things pretty tough. So, any mod that enhances the area of the Glowing Sea is bound to enhance the exploration in this area and make it even more harrowing to trek through.

South of the Sea is easily one of the most popular mods in this regard that players adore. Both the Glowing Sea and Quincy Marshes are improved with this mod, adding a wealth of new locations, loot, and enemy encounters. Suffice it to say, exploring these areas in Survival mode becomes even more harrowing, especially with this mod featuring some really difficult moments that can become downright nightmarish if things go out of control.

7 Bullet In The Chamber – Expanded Weapon Mechanics

Downloads: 113,544

A huge part of the reason why players check out Survival mode is to enhance the immersion they experience while playing Fallout 4. Suffice it to say, any mod that makes things more immersive for the player would add to this experience considerably. This is where the Bullet in the Chamber mod comes into the picture, making gunplay more realistic and engaging than ever before.

The sheer number of features this mod brings to the table is great, letting players manually check their ammo count, drop their cartridges in the middle of reloading, have an extra bullet in the chamber if they reload with a partially full clip and other such inclusions. It may seem like a small change, but games-play/”>players who prioritize immersion in Survival mode will love the changes this mod brings to the table.

8 Feral Infestations

Downloads: 95,434

Feral Ghouls are one of the more prominent enemies in the game whom players will encounter time and time again. games-combat-systems/”>The violent manner in which they throw themselves at the player and get in their faces makes them the best version of this classic enemy to ever appear in a Fallout game. They may be rather easy to deal with, but some mods make these enemies more challenging to deal with in an immersive and engaging manner.

Feral Infestations brings forth the infestation mechanic from State of Decay into Fallout 4. Players will be notified of certain infestations that will slowly grow over time if the Sole Survivor doesn’t nip this problem in the bud. These can reach a total of three levels, with a maximum of six infestations being active at one time.

Downloads: 225,411

Some of the best mods are gigantic projects, total overhauls that rework entire games from the ground up, vastly expanding the vanilla experience or even transforming it entirely. Yet a mod doesn’t have to be large or overhaul core mechanics to be good; even tiny mods can sometimes be excellent.

Survival Stats Widget is as small as it is impactful. It makes a small change to the HUD, adding meters that let the player track their Hunger, Sleep, and Caffeination at a glance. Since so many survival mods put a premium on being well-fed and well-rested, it’s nice to know right away how good one is doing in those areas.

10 N.E.S.T. Survival Bunkers

Downloads: 131,620

Fallout is all about survival in an irradiated wasteland: it’s even in the name. While the Vaults may be some of the most iconic places where people have survived the end of the world, they aren’t the only ones. N.E.S.T. Survival Bunkers introduces some welcome variety on that front.

Adding 30 bunkers, shelters, and holdouts to the game, this mod gives the player a variety of options, whether they’re looking for a new place to explore or just somewhere to bunk down for the night. The designs of these shelters are based on Cold War bunkers, so they feel realistic and fit in well with the rest of the setting. Just don’t expect them to always be safe.

11 Survivalist Armor

Downloads: 96,069

Surviving the apocalypse is great and all, but it loses a bit of fun if the player doesn’t look the part. Vanilla Fallout 4 doesn’t do a terrible job in this department, giving players a variety of outfits and armor that more or less look good and make sense. There could always be more and better options, however.

The Survivalist Armor mod adds a new armor type with light, sturdy, and heavy variants, all of which can be found in the wasteland, crafted at a workbench, and customized. Rugged and weathered, the Survivalist Armor looks right at home in the wasteland and is perfect for helping the player survive against some of the game’s more terrifying aspects.

12 Smarter Companions

Downloads: 331,424

Fallout 4’s companions are easily one of the best aspects of the game due to how immersive their stories are. However, despite the game making them different types of fighters, it doesn’t matter that much which companion players choose on their adventure.

This mod makes choosing one of the Sole Survivor’s many companions a strategic choice. Each companion has very distinct pros and cons, with special sets of abilities that will complement certain play styles. Now, players need to choose very carefully who they can trust to have their back in the game.

13 Fallsouls

Downloads: 331,090

Players familiar with the Dark Souls franchise will know that going into the menu won’t 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 use other consumables, which makes the game a bit easier to play.

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

14 Better Locational Damage

Downloads: 1,378,609

Strategic combat is one way to improve Fallout 4’s default combat, and that’s certainly what Better Locational Damage achieves, making it a must-have Fallout 4 survival mod. Headshots, in particular, have been tweaked with this mod to ensure that bulkier enemies 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 pool of enemies, as well as the importance of gear. Gear is now more important than health since leveling up won’t scale the player’s health pool. Helmets will now actually prevent headshots, both on the enemy and the Sole Survivor.

15 Darker Nights

Downloads: 3,683,477

Sometimes, it’s the simple mods that make the biggest difference. For a truly harrowing survival experience, players can opt to install the Darker Nights mod, which will make Fallout 4’s relatively “light” nights incredibly dark and hard to see in.

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

16 Arbitration AI Haul

Downloads: 486,476

Combat is a major part of Fallout 4, but it’s not without its flaws. To make Fallout 4 more survival-friendly, the mod Arbitration tweaks the AI of enemies and turns combat into an interesting and strategic experience. Players can also finally say goodbye to the abundance of grenades being chucked at them by enemies.

One of the more remarkable changes is in stealth and stealth detection. Enemies will be smarter about searching for the player. To counterbalance the increase in damage and enemy deadliness, reloading and walking speed have been increased as well, though each of these features can be changed in the mod’s menu upon launching Fallout 4.

17 PIRAD

Downloads: 17,044

Radiation is one of the major survival aspects of Fallout 4, but it isn’t perfect with its mechanics. That’s where the mod PIRAD comes in to make radiation even more dangerous and realistic with its effects, as well as where it could realistically threaten the player.

New magazines and suits have been included in the mod as well, and shielding from radiation is more important than ever due to the complications that follow from not 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.

18 Damn Apocalypse

Downloads: 292,129

A lot of players tend to shy away from mods due to them being so heavy on their games. However, there are some mod packs like Damn Apocalypse that work well, even for those who would rather not strain their PCs when installing mods. With DLCs taken into account as well, it’s the ultimate combination of smaller mods and tweaks for a quick survival fix.

The mod has a bit of everything, from changing how loot and the economy work to making combat a bit more realistic. There are new items as well, mostly trash, which will encourage players to craft rather than find what they need in the wild. It’s a staple Fallout 4 survival mod.

19 Start Me Up

Downloads: 3,750,183

The beginning of Fallout 4 is memorable and iconic. It 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 challenging start. Sanctuary Hills is pretty easy and full 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 mod adjusts the game’s dialogue accordingly.

20 Loot Overhaul

Downloads: 29,720

The abundance of stuff is a major issue in Fallout 4. There’s just so much junk and other loot everywhere the player goes that surviving feels fairly easy if the player knows where to look for specific items. Moreover, it doesn’t even make sense for areas to be so full of loot in an era of raiders and radiation.

The Loot Overhaul mod and its 2017 patch are a necessity for Fallout 4’s modded survival mode. The patch is a must-download since it’ll also cover all of Fallout 4‘s DLCs. Finding useful junk items will no longer be an easy task with this mod.