Places You Didn't Know You Could Explore In Fallout 4
The Commonwealth in Fallout 4 is a sprawling wasteland, full of fascinating places to explore and interesting people to meet and possibly kill, depending on how much you like what they're wearing. Because it's a huge game, players could take months to fully explore every nook and cranny that it has to offer. While the main quests take you through a lot of the bigger settlements and points of interest in Fallout 4, we're willing to bet that there are more than a few radioactive stones that you've left unturned. With that in mind, here are a few choice locations off the beaten (and bombed) path in order to provide you with some fun distractions. Just pray that no Deathclaws wander into these areas.
The parking garage dungeon
The parking garage dungeon/maze is located next to Milton General Hospital. Should you choose to venture into this labyrinthine structure, be warned that it's a pretty long maze full of puzzles, so you should definitely save your game before heading into the building. But for those of you with enough gumption (and what we assume is a large supply of Stimpaks and ammo), there are locked-door puzzles, creepy mannequins, and traps aplenty waiting for you inside. The general vibe in the garage is like that of the Dunwich Building in Fallout 3. If that name rings a bell to you, then you've known horror.
The rocket shed
Killing Deathclaws and fending off raiders is hard work, so we figure you could use a little something to help you unwind. What better way to let off some steam than by sending a bunch of propane tanks screaming into the horizon before exploding? Located northeast of Relay Tower 0BB-915, the rocket shed is a dinky little shack built on a cliff. No one knows who built the damn thing, but it's safe to say that they were really into seeing stuff blow up. There are mini ramps facing out towards the wasteland on which you can prop the many tanks in the shed, so all you have to do is set them, shoot them, and then watch them go rocketing off in the distance, hopefully taking out a few Super Mutants when they go boom.
The Orca wreckage
One of the best things about huge games like Fallout 4 is discovering all of the neat Easter eggs strewn about. They're usually pretty recognizable because a good amount of them are pop culture references, involving movies, memes, and other artifacts from our cultural history. The wreckage of the Orca is one of these references, clearly a nod to the classic film, Jaws. Head to the bay north of the Salem Museum of Witchcraft to spot a half-sunken ship. When you climb on the deck, you'll see a monstrous porpoise of some sort and the corpse of what can only be assumed was the Quint of this ship. Dive into the water and you'll see a diver's cage, just like the one Hooper uses in the movie. They probably would've put some of the tanks from the rocket shed to good use.
Old Gullet Sinkhole
While it might sound like a mean-spirited nickname you might use for a terrible ex, the Old Gullet Sinkhole is actually a deep chasm full of garbage, is cloaked in darkness, is home to a monster, and is very much a place where most things go to die. Once again, this is a location in Fallout 4. Not your ex. The Sinkhole is also where you can complete the quest Fallen Hero and retrieve Joe Savoldi's grandpa's old hat. You simply jump down into the crater and follow the rushing water until you can see the entrance to Old Gullet Sinkhole highlighted by your cursor and then slide on into the cave. Of course, you'll have to defeat a host of ghouls, a Deathclaw, and other pests first, but that's no big deal since there's also a bunch of loot around. Once you're in the sinkhole, you'll find a magazine, Savoldi's grandpa's corpse, and old gramps' hat. Take that sucker back to Joe at Bunker Hill and you'll get to keep it. Not that great of an award, but at least you get to explore a cool locale.
Prost
Everyone inside might not know your name (mainly because you're a stranger and they're all corpses), but entering the unmarked location of the bar Prost will give you waves of nostalgia if you've ever been a fan of the show Cheers. This Easter egg is only fitting since the setting of Fallout 4 is post-apocalyptic Boston, home of the famous TV bar. To find the dried up watering hole, simply head southwest of the Massachusetts State House. If you need more markers, try heading west of the gazebo at Swan's Pond. Inside Prost, which is German for "cheers," you”ll find a mailman and another patron at the far end of the bar, nods to Cliff and Norm. There are also baseball posters plastered on the walls, which is probably a reference to Sam Malone. Sadly, the jukebox in the bar doesn't play the theme song by Gary Portnoy.
The Yangtze
Getting to the Yangtze, a Chinese submarine in the middle of the ocean, is actually part of a side quest, but it might be easy to miss if you're not the exploring type. In order to get access to the submarine and continue a questline involving an awesome character named Captain Zao, you have to grab the quest "Here There Be Monsters" by speaking to a young boy named Donny Kowalski. This little dude is located behind the Shamrock Taphouse, standing on the docks and looking out to sea. He says that there's a monster's eye that is visible in the horizon. After getting the quest from him, the map marker for the Yangtze will become available and you can swim out to it to pick up the questline, which ends in you getting a shiny gift in the form of homing beacons that mark tactical nuclear strikes. Have fun with that one.
Back Alley Bowling
There's no better way to unwind from a long day of killing and looting like knocking down some pins at the local bowling alley. In Fallout 4, you can head to the General Atomics Galleria to check out Back Alley Bowling, where you'll find 39 bowling balls, 37 bowling pins, and some bots named Tenpin, Split, Strike, and Kingpin. Just be warned that going past the counters will make the bots hostile, but you were probably going to kill them anyway. You can try to knock down the pins the old-fashioned way and lob bowling balls at them, or you could do it the fun way and load the balls into a Junk Jet for some added power. There's also a sly nod to the character Roy Munson from the film Kingpin located in the left side ball return chute, in the form of hand bones.