After over 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 was what it was about. The patch brings a laundry list of changes and quite a bit of new content.
Fallout 4 – Biggest Changes in Next Gen Update
Update 1.36 has been a long time coming, as it was originally announced back in 2022. Since then, the only updates have been the announcement of the delay and then the eventual release date reveal just two weeks ago. As of April 25th, however, the long-awaited patch is finally here to tide you over until The Elder Scrolls 6 or the new Starfield DLC, whichever comes first.
Headlining Fallout 4’s Update 1.36 is official next-generation support. Rather than simply running the game via backwards compatibility as usual, Fallout 4 has been given a new native version on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Overall stability and visuals have been improved, with players able to choose between the two 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 uses native 4K to compensate. You’d think that next-gen consoles would be able to handle both with a nearly decade-old game, but they simply can’t.
The patch also includes some vague "stability fixes"—and while they're not described in detail, anything that helps Bethesda's notoriously buggy, iterative engine is a welcome addition. These changes will likely be felt most keenly on consoles, since PCs have been getting fan-made patches and fixes for ages, but there's enough additional content here to keep players from every platform coming back.