Fallout 4 DLC Quest Resembles New Vegas Mod; Bethesda Denies Copying It

Fallout 4's Far Harbor DLC launched in May, and now one modder feels that its quest "Brain Dead" took a fair bit of inspiration from his Fallout: New Vegas mod, Autumn Leaves. The mod was released a month before Fallout 4's launch last year, but Bethesda says it would not "disrespect" the modding community by stealing from it.

Modder Guillaume Veer spoke to us about the similarities between his mod and the Fallout 4 DLC quest--these can also be seen on his ModDB post. He compared the story beats, characters, and even the environments. Veer says both the quest and mod start with a discussion through an intercom before entering a vault, which isn't "unusual, as Vaults are popular locations in Fallout's universe." However, Veer says it's when you go beyond the Vault's entrance that the similarities become more apparent. See one example for yourself below.

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We contacted Bethesda VP of marketing Pete Hines about the situation, and he said, "We love our mod community and would never disrespect them. I checked, and any similarities between the two are a complete coincidence." Bethesda has shown its love for mods and the Fallout 4 community by officially supporting them through its website. Mods have also made their way on to consoles, something that's not all that common.

Other similarities between the mod and quest include a murder investigation, where you have to check the crime scene and speak to every robot in the Vault. Both also feature a "mysterious death of the prime financier of the Vault" and a focus on voice modulators that help you tell the robots apart from each other. There's also a... sensual moment between you and a robot in both the mod and the quest.

It's important to remember that Fallout's universe already consisted heavily of the mod's themes: murder, robots, and Vaults. Additionally, the idea of talking to everyone located near a crime scene seems like a pretty standard objective for this type of quest. Veer said he doesn't seem too upset by the similarities, either. He understands that even he's taken inspiration from other games, including Fallout.

"I seriously think this is perfectly okay. After all, Autumn Leaves' inspirations are countless ... and being influenced is a natural part of the writing process," he said. He added that he would still like acknowledgement.

"Being acknowledged in the game's credits, for instance, would be a very nice--and costless--move towards us modders," Veer said. "Many of us are making mods, often taking years of our free time in order to get a job in the industry, and this kind of recognition would really gives us a tremendous boost."

However, with Bethesda dismissing the idea that it copies Veer's creation, don't expect to see his name pop up in Fallout 4's credits.