After more than a year of radio silence, the long-awaited Fallout 4 next-gen patch is here—if you woke up to a mysterious update on your console, that’s what that was about. The patch brings a laundry list of changes and quite a bit of new content.
Update 1.36 has been a long time coming, as it was initially announced all the way back in 2022. Since then, the only updates were the announcement of its delay and finally the reveal of its release date just two weeks ago. As of April 25, however, the hotly anticipated patch has finally arrived to tide you over until The Elder Scrolls 6 or new Starfield DLC, whichever comes first.
Fallout 4 Update 1.36 patch notes
The headliner for Fallout 4‘s Update 1.36 is official next-generation support. Rather than simply running the game through backwards compatibility as usual, Fallout 4 has received a new native version for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Overall stability and visuals have gotten a bump, with players able to choose between either with all-new Performance and Quality modes. The former runs the game in 60 FPS at 4K resolution through the use of dynamic scaling, while the latter runs at 30 FPS but features native 4K to compensate. One would think next-gen consoles would be able to handle both with a nearly decade-old game, but not so.
The patch also comes with somewhat vague “stability fixes“—and while they’re not broken down in any degree of detail, anything that helps Bethesda’s notoriously buggy, constantly iterated-on engine is a welcome addition. These changes are likely going to be felt most on consoles, as PCs have had fan-made patches and fixes out for ages, but there’s plenty of additional content to keep players from every platform coming back as well.
These extras come in the form of Creation Club content, but don’t get those Credits out just yet—it’s all free. The biggest of these extras is the Enclave Remnants questline, which sees the Enclave emerge into the Commonwealth after previously getting stomped in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 76. Fifth time’s the charm, I suppose. Enclave Remnants will also include every other Enclave-themed Creation Club pack, likely so they actually have something to fight you with.
Also thrown in are a Halloween-themed Workshop pack and a Makeshift Weapon pack, which are nice freebies but unlikely to convince someone on the fence to purchase the game. Still, with all this on offer, it’s no wonder players are returning to the Commonwealth in droves. Now if only we could get an update on the Starfield DLC.
