Fallout 4's long promised next gen (really current gen) update is finally here after a two-year wait since its initial announcement, but it's not a winner on PC. We anticipated there would be the usual issues with mod compatibility (see the Fallout London devs delaying their highly anticipated project), but PC players aren't getting much benefit from the ~14.4 gig patch.

Here's a breakdown of the problems I've had myself or noticed others complaining about:

• Issues loading modded saves and using non-Creation Club mods at all, including the essential Fallout 4 Script Extender.
• The "next gen" patch does not introduce any graphical improvements.
• The new ultrawide support has a poorly stretched user interface that will require a user made patch⁠—basically the same solution ultrawide gamers were using before the update.
• Fallout 4's iteration of the Creation engine still doesn't support frame rates over 60fps.
• The "Weapon Debris" graphics setting still causes the game to crash on RTX cards, an issue that has been present since RTX cards were introduced.

With all of that in mind, was it worth borking mod support and modded saves for this update? Looking at the patch notes, none of the minor bug fixes or added Creation Club content seem to justify the extent of the disruption from this update.

Modders had to similarly scramble to accommodate Skyrim's special edition and The Witcher 3's next gen update, but those patches had more to offer that justified their respective hassles, and The Witcher 3 still lets you download and play the pre-4.0 version of the game to this day. Fallout 4's next gen patch seems to be largely console-focused, introducing better support and options for PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, but I don't see why PC players should have to suffer for that.

I do have to give Bethesda credit for the unambiguously good things here: the collection of bug fixes in the next gen patch does include the resolution of a long-running glitch in the settlement system that modders even had a hard time addressing: "Resolved issue that could cause corruption within the Settlement system resulting in wrong resource counts and/or destroyed settlements." Moving forward, at least there'll be a 1% reduction in Preston Garvey bugging you whenever you come home.

The next gen update also includes some new free quests and gear from Bethesda's premium paid mod Creation Club, with the biggest addition being an Enclave-themed quest and some associated weapons and armor. It reminds me of the Witcher show-themed gear sets that were added in The Witcher 3's own fraught next gen update.

We can likely expect modders to fix their individual projects in the coming days and weeks, but if, like me, you've ever found yourself enamored of an abandonware mod, it might be worth it to delay auto updates on Steam and run Fallout 4 through an alternative launcher like F4SE⁠—absent official tweaks from Bethesda, you may also want to keep an eye out in case a user-made rollback patch shows up on the Nexus.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor released in early access in February, and developer Funday Games and Ghost Ship Publishing have announced that the spinoff of Deep Rock Galactic has now sold over a million copies. A Vampire Survivors-inspired take on the joys of dwarves space-mining in extreme peril, the initial reception has been positive and left our own Robin Valentine "much more hooked than I expected."

It's good times for fans of beards, with the OG Deep Rock Galactic having now sold over 8 million copies itself and gearing up for its fifth season (which starts in June). Deep Rock Galactic released in early access in 2018, moving into full release in 2020, since when it's followed a live service style seasonal model and gone from strength to strength. Deep Rock Galactic Survivors is published by Ghost Ship Games, a publishing label established after the original game's success, and there's more to come: cooperative roguelike spinoff Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core will enter Early Access later this year.

The direction the original game has taken is proving consistently popular among the playerbase, and season 5 will allow players to dust off the older seasons and play them in their own dedicated game modes (previously they'd been mothballed once the season was over). Season 5 is called "Drilling Deeper" and features a new deep scan mission that sees the hardy dwarves going further than ever before in search of treasure, using new tools to locate the loot and then going in with the excellently named Drillavator. Needless to say, the depths are not just filled with lovely things.

Getting back to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, the news of a million sales came alongside some other impressive dwarven stats. Players have managed to put in 13,626,025 hours since launch, spread across 94,220,323 miners (36,850,079 of whom were never to return). Together they've annihilated 6,652,132 Dreadnoughts, mined 9,037,541,252 gold and 3,886,238,739 Nitra, although only 3.7% of all players (36,413) have managed to complete a Hazard 5 mission (the hardest difficulty).

The game's "living roadmap" shows what players can expect in the future, which in the short term includes new biome goals for the Salt Pits, new elites, a new boss, and UI improvements, with other new missions, monsters and weapons coming further down the road. "We hope this will sate your ravenous appetite for Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor content," says Funday Games but, going out on a limb, I think these dwarves are going to take anything thrown at them, and come back demanding more.