10 Fallout 4 Quests That Feel Much Sadder the Second Time

Bethesda's Fallout 4 was more than a little divisive, but the game has a strong following and is packed full of quests that make you think twice. Its open world, multiple factions, and time-sink diversions like settlement building gave many of us reasons to keep coming back.

And when we did, we realized that quite a lot of the quests in the game took on a new sense of sadness the second time around. Although the Fallout franchise is one filled with humor and fun, there are some deep moments, too. And armed with just a little more knowledge, sometimes, what was funny became sad, and what was easy became hard to choose.

10 Kid In a Fridge

Stuck In a Fridge for Centuries, AND He's a Ghoul

When you come across this quest for the first time, it feels absurd. But like the helpful Sole Survivor many of us are, we dutifully reunite Billy with his parents and move on... probably a little amused by the absurdity of it all.

And then we play it again, and realize this kid's been stuck in a fridge for centuries without any food or company. Ignoring the lore implications and the absurdity of it all, that's a long time for a kid to be stuck alone without anyone else in the world. And it's even sadder if, when he gets out, you decide to sell him to the Gunners!

9 Restoring Order

Best Intentions Gone Horribly Awry

The Automatron DLC is kind of pulpy, kind of wacky, and a lot of fun. Making your own robots was a great diversion in Fallout 4, and the quest line associated with it wasn't bad, either — and it included memorable characters like the sarcastic and evil robobrain Jezebel. It's got its funny moments, but it feels like a story of righteous revenge, too, which is always fun.

Except when you replay it, you understand it's all just an attempt at helping gone horribly wrong. The Mechanist was no evildoer: she wanted to make life better for everyone in the Commonwealth. It just didn't go the way she wanted, and with tragic consequences.

8 Close to Home

Never Knowing Who or What You Are

Kasumi Nakano's story is something of a mystery, with no clear answer as to whether she's human or a synth. Really, the quest is more about her need to grapple with uncertainty and find herself than anything else, which is something most of us can relate to!

The first time I played Far Harbor, I enjoyed the mystery of it, but didn't really think about the emotional impact. The second time, I spent a lot more time thinking about whether her crisis was even necessary, especially since it made her and her family so sad. In the end, nobody can ever know, which is sad but also kind of the point.

7 War Never Changes

The Calm Before the Nuclear Storm

Fallout 4's prologue quest, War Never Changes, opens with a cute and homey look at Pre-War life. Nate and Nora are getting ready and sharing flirty banter, baby Shaun is in his cot, and Codsworth is attending to the home.

It's a picture of Pre-War bliss. As players, we know that something is about to go wrong, but I definitely didn't expect things to go wrong in quite the way they did! The second time you play the opening, though, you know exactly how it pans out. And that makes this little moment of domestic bliss more bittersweet and sad than ever.

6 The Way Life Should Be

Not Who She Thinks She Is

Far Harbor is littered with sad quests that get sadder the second time, but The Way Life Should Be is a particularly good example. When you realize that Captain Avery was replaced by DiMA, it colors every single interaction you've ever had with her... and even some you've had with others.

The first time, I didn't really think about it, but the second time I played, every conversation with her — or about her — became a reminder of what DiMA was doing in his pursuit of peace. She's a living reminder that in the Commonwealth, you can't even rely on your own memories.

5 Brain Dead

Doomed to Insanity

This is another Far Harbor quest that seems one way at first, and then becomes something else at second glance. In Brain Dead, you visit a Vault filled with psychotic robots stuffed with Pre-War brains.

It's a zany murder mystery plot that feels funny on the surface, but when you come back to it again, you realize how sad it is. The quest is filled with people doomed to an immortal life of isolation, stagnation, and growing madness, trapped in cycles of betrayal and paranoia because of choices they made before the Great War. It's a perfect little microcosm of Fallout's wider world in that sense.

4 Blind Betrayal

Everything He Knew Was a Lie

Paladin Danse is probably one of the Fallout 4 companions with the saddest story overall. He's a committed member of the Brotherhood of Steel with a tragic backstory of growing up in Rivet City as an orphan. Super mutants killed his only friend, so he grew up hating non-humans and ghouls. He really drank the Brotherhood Kool-Aid, becoming one of its standout champions.

And then, actually, it turns out he was an Institute synth all along, and the Brotherhood wants him dead. The first time you play, this is a big revelation — but the second time? It's a little ironic, a little poetic, and also very sad when you think about it.

3 Reunions

With Understanding Comes Sadness

Reunions is one of those quests where your perception changes heavily after the first time you play — much like the rest of the main quest. The first time, I was filled with righteous fury as I set out to save my son from his kidnapper. Obviously, that didn't go as planned, but it felt good at the time. Satisfying, really.But the second time? I already knew what was up with Shaun. I understood what had happened to Kellogg throughout his life. The quest takes on a fundamentally different feeling, especially Kellogg's own dialogue. With understanding came sadness, rather than anger.

2 Best Left Forgotten

Secrets and Lies

When we first meet DiMA, he seems like a pretty reasonable guy for a somewhat decrepit robot. He wants peace between Far Harbor, Acadia, and the Children of Atom. When I started this quest, I was excited to find something big that would help preserve peace on the Island.

I didn't get that. Instead, I got secrets DiMA hid even from himself, and a peace built on lies and atrocities that only deepened division and strife in the end. The reveal was pretty powerful the first time, but on a second play, there's this sense of inevitable sadness that war never changes.

1 Institutionalized

The Sadness of Lost Potential

Institutionalized is, in my opinion, one of the saddest quests in Fallout 4 the first time around. It just gets even sadder on the second go. It's a quest of ups and downs: Shaun is alive! Wait, Shaun is a synth? No, Shaun is alive and old! But also the leader of the Institute!

The first time, the sadness is tempered by the fact that Shaun is alive and well, even if he's not exactly how you imagined him. But the second time, when you understand exactly how things end and know more about what Shaun personally ordered, there's a sadness overhanging the whole thing. A poignant and painful reminder that in Fallout's world, almost nothing can escape the darker parts of human nature.