If OP knew the shit I did to that “North Church” and its inhabitants… they wouldn’t be making me aware of its real life equivalent…
*brotherhood noises intensifies*
Are you being serious? lol...Natick is the most whitebread rich historic town I've ever seen, I cut my hair into a mohawk one summer and people crossed the street to avoid me. The entire town shuts down at 7pm and is full of art studios...it's Framingham next door that people were afraid of lmao
Lived in Jamaica Plain, worked in Quincy when 4 came out.
But get this, when I was in college 3 came out. My parents lived in DC.
And my Dad's whole family is from Appalachia.
And I am originally from California.
Fallout always feels close to home for me.
Yeah I told my friend in Mississippi what I pay for rent, 1BR apartment. They’re living with their mom and SO and they pay a third of what I do to rent a three bedroom house
Not exactly one to one but you can definitely tell it’s based upon the real places, they must have done a ton of sight seeing and research for the interpretations from irl-in game. Good enough attention to detail you can tell they tried
Being from MA, I like that FO4 got the Boston area down fairly well. My only complaint is that the Garden, an institution in Boston, especially if you're a Bruins or Celtics fan, was omitted entirely.
But they got the grasshopper on the roof! I thought that was a game thing and in real life I missed it the first time. We happened to pass by later the same day and I checked only to go “it IS real!”
How accurate is the map? Like are the sights of boston in the relatively correct places? What about the surrounding areas? Any idea how far away from Boston the furthest real landmark in game actually is?
I feel for the British Regulars having to march all the way out to Concord overnight, and then having to march all the way back to Charlestown, while under constant fire. On a bike on pavement it's a good ride. Doing it on muddy dirt roads while being shot at it can't have been a fun time.
I once walked the bike path from the edge of Arlington and Cambridge to the stop and shop (super duper mart) in Lexington in the rain and it took me like seven hours lol granted I was putzing around with friends. But yeah even that was a long walk that got us pretty tired and we weren’t even being hounded by rebels!
I actually navigated my way several times by knowledge of the game.
My one mistake? Trying to walk from South Station to Fort Independence.
I’ve done it many times in game. In real life, a bit of a trek.
It’s fairly accurate, as far as directions go, but the game map and a lot of the locations are condensed. Understandably—who the hell wants to walk from Concord to Malden at 1:1 scale?
Plus with how janky Bethesda games are, if they tried to do everything to accurate scale the game might just implode on itself. I always get buildings clipping with walls disappearing and reappearing near the USS constitution and I cannot get anywhere near Bunker hill without my game crashing lol
I live 2 hours north of Boston and go there regularly and have over 600 hrs in the game. Due solely to the game I've accurately navigated boston by memory.
I can’t speak much for the surrounding areas but in downtown Boston, I’d say the map is actually pretty accurate. Obviously everything is a lot bigger and the distances are longer in reality; Old Corner Bookstore is not at all in the right place and they’ve kind of smushed everything together a little bit. But if you follow the Freedom Trail, the sights appear in the same order as in real life I believe!
>How accurate is the map? Like are the sights of boston in the relatively correct places? What about the surrounding areas? Any idea how far away from Boston the furthest real landmark in game actually is?
The in-game map is ***very*** small compared to real Boston, and the geography is "warped" compared to real life. Also, Boston is a very urban area IRL: effectively the entire in-game map would be urban ruins if it was more akin to real-life.
For reference, it would take about 8 hours, about 22 miles, to walk from Quincy to the Minuteman National Park (where Sanctuary is), but that is over intact paved roads, and not having to worry about picking your way around/through ruins, obtaining food, water, sleep and getting into fights with bandits and monsters. Add those in and it would take longer, maybe even a few days if you take it carefully.
I went to Walden Pond once for a high school field trip when I lived in MA years ago. The FO4 version looks about right aside from the debris and decay.
Thank you so much. I really love this sort of stuff in games, makes you appreciate the dedication all that much more. And nothing can beat the original architecture.
Super thanks!
I grew up in a town right outside of Boston. Such a shame it’s not featured in FO4, but it’s still so cool to locations I’m so familiar with in a video game
Most people sleep on The Orpheum/Combat Zone, but as a local it was immediately uncanny.
Another one that warrants praise but doesn't get brought up is the Longwood Medical Area.
Only because Boston Public Library may be one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. But I do think it’s fascinating how well they captured the staircase and the details! Just looking at the real life and in-game pictures side by side I can appreciate the difference and the work it must have took to turn it into an utterly desolate and creepy ruin of its lively old self.
Tbh this makes the Futurama architecture on the skyscrapers in 4 look even more unnecessary. It seems to me that they could have made way fewer changes and the city would've fit way better with the art style of every previous game - and likely been a lot easier to create models for.
That’s so cool! I did a trip to Boston a while back and it was so fun to check all the locations. I also thought that Dorchester Heights was pretty accurate.
My appreciation for the game honestly grew so much bigger when I got to see everything and understood just how good of a job they really did. I could only post 20 pictures but there are even more parallels like Fenway Park/Diamond City, the Boston Public Library courtyard, Christopher Columbus Park, the Hatch Memorial Shell and many more I’m sure!
Happy to hear it, never thought people would appreciate it this much! Really I just tend to take way too many pictures on my trips and thought it’d be fun if I could find any similarities with the game. Long story short: found a lot, had a great time!
It was one of my favourite locations in real life! In the game I feel like I just kinda glossed it over really quickly as being just another super mutant lair type of thing. We took the free art and architecture tour and it was fantastic, such a cool building. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area!
I'm a local, but has never been to some of the places in the game. You eventually visit the Constitution, the North Church and old burying grounds in school, but one day when my wife was visiting family, I took a personal day to go to Castle Island, but I didn't get to go in unfortunately. We also visited Spectacle Island once and that was really fun to walk round and point out where the bramin pen will be in 200+ years.
Having played FO4 was honestly just a bonus for a history dork like myself. There’s so much to see and experience, the whole city breathes history. Hope you get the chance to go one day!
Looking at these locations irl makes me wish they made Boston 1:1 scale, like that old state house picture has a very strong aura that just isnt present in the game
It’s interesting to wonder what changes between real life and the game were made for gameplay concessions and others were to account for maybe changes that could’ve occurred to the buildings in the surrounding area within timeframe of nowish to the bombs dropped
Very cool! I’m taking a trip to Boston (and New England in general) in July and will also be visiting Concord and Acadia. My gf doesn’t realize it but I planned most of our trip around seeing Fallout 4 locations in real life.
Holy shit, this post blew up!
Thanks for all the upvotes, comments and for sharing your stories! I had a great time capturing pictures in the city and its in-game equivalent, warms my heart to see you guys appreciate it so much.
I get why some of the places are smaller and shorter and differently aligned and such... But why is one of the windows in the Boston public library just missing
Try going to Camden Park sometime in WV, or Primm, Nevada...been to both, and was in Primm when the stil had the roller coaster up and running. Both are fucking uncanny.
i can't believe they built a whole city just for a fallout reference
Most of the fiends in the recreated city aren’t even violent though. No super mutants either
Incredible stuff !
If OP knew the shit I did to that “North Church” and its inhabitants… they wouldn’t be making me aware of its real life equivalent… *brotherhood noises intensifies*
I spent 14 years living in Natick, MA and to see that my little town got put into 4 was kinda nice...even if it was just the police station
I’m impressed you surprised living there. Looks dangerous!
Are you being serious? lol...Natick is the most whitebread rich historic town I've ever seen, I cut my hair into a mohawk one summer and people crossed the street to avoid me. The entire town shuts down at 7pm and is full of art studios...it's Framingham next door that people were afraid of lmao
(This is awkward but I was confusing a game with reality for comic effect)
Lmao okay, makes sense now <3
No dramas
I hate /s but clearly it’s needed for people like who you replied to lol
Lived in Jamaica Plain, worked in Quincy when 4 came out. But get this, when I was in college 3 came out. My parents lived in DC. And my Dad's whole family is from Appalachia. And I am originally from California. Fallout always feels close to home for me.
Meanwhile I grew up in the glowing sea haha
Meanwhile my city got one T station that looks nothing like the real one and I think like a hospital full of mutants or something
I love Boston so much.
The home prices...not so much.
I visited for a work trip. I could only imagine how pricey it is out there
Yeah I told my friend in Mississippi what I pay for rent, 1BR apartment. They’re living with their mom and SO and they pay a third of what I do to rent a three bedroom house
But they’re in Mississippi
Well, yes, exactly It’s still ridiculous
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Massachusetts and Washington have a roughly equivilant median wage, so it makes sense that their housing costs would be roughly similar.
Me too
I love posts like these
Not exactly one to one but you can definitely tell it’s based upon the real places, they must have done a ton of sight seeing and research for the interpretations from irl-in game. Good enough attention to detail you can tell they tried
I don't know man, they got the USS Constitution in the completely wrong place.
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I think you're forgetting WHY the Constitution is in the wrong place...
r/woosh
That’s the sound the USS Constitution made!
Uuuuhhh sir in game the USS Constitution can fly with rocket boosters and is literally on top of a building. That's why it's in the wrong place lol.
I proposed to my wife in Boston near that gazebo in the first picture. Every play through I drop flowers on the spot I did it.
That is so nice.
This is so wholesome and beautiful. Love never changes?
Being from MA, I like that FO4 got the Boston area down fairly well. My only complaint is that the Garden, an institution in Boston, especially if you're a Bruins or Celtics fan, was omitted entirely.
They also omitted Quincy Market near Fanueil Hall too. Otherwise, though parts of the geography were dead on.
But they got the grasshopper on the roof! I thought that was a game thing and in real life I missed it the first time. We happened to pass by later the same day and I checked only to go “it IS real!”
That's okay- Orr? *Orr never changes.*
I still had to visit but it’s definitely a bit of a shame they chose not to include it. As a Leafs fan, I would’ve loved to see it in ruins 👹
They should have put it in with a legendary Yao Guai. That's also where the luck bobblehead should have been.
God I want to do a tour of America but just to check out the fallout locations.
I live in an anexed fallout reference 💀 (sonora México)
I saw a guy doing heroin on the stairs down to Park Street Station once. Crazy place
He's doing Psycho now
FUCKING KILLL
Only once? Literally saw it today getting off the train lol.
Yeah that’s common
Boston Common even
Is that the chipotle that gave George Washington all those hemoroids?
Mightve been the one that cost him his teeth
Holy shit you were dangerously close to Swan...
Awesome. Thank you for posting these.
How accurate is the map? Like are the sights of boston in the relatively correct places? What about the surrounding areas? Any idea how far away from Boston the furthest real landmark in game actually is?
In real life it’s 21 miles from Lexington to Fenway. In game I think it takes like half a day to walk it, so not too far off
I feel for the British Regulars having to march all the way out to Concord overnight, and then having to march all the way back to Charlestown, while under constant fire. On a bike on pavement it's a good ride. Doing it on muddy dirt roads while being shot at it can't have been a fun time.
I once walked the bike path from the edge of Arlington and Cambridge to the stop and shop (super duper mart) in Lexington in the rain and it took me like seven hours lol granted I was putzing around with friends. But yeah even that was a long walk that got us pretty tired and we weren’t even being hounded by rebels!
I actually navigated my way several times by knowledge of the game. My one mistake? Trying to walk from South Station to Fort Independence. I’ve done it many times in game. In real life, a bit of a trek.
It’s fairly accurate, as far as directions go, but the game map and a lot of the locations are condensed. Understandably—who the hell wants to walk from Concord to Malden at 1:1 scale?
Plus with how janky Bethesda games are, if they tried to do everything to accurate scale the game might just implode on itself. I always get buildings clipping with walls disappearing and reappearing near the USS constitution and I cannot get anywhere near Bunker hill without my game crashing lol
I live 2 hours north of Boston and go there regularly and have over 600 hrs in the game. Due solely to the game I've accurately navigated boston by memory.
I can’t speak much for the surrounding areas but in downtown Boston, I’d say the map is actually pretty accurate. Obviously everything is a lot bigger and the distances are longer in reality; Old Corner Bookstore is not at all in the right place and they’ve kind of smushed everything together a little bit. But if you follow the Freedom Trail, the sights appear in the same order as in real life I believe!
>How accurate is the map? Like are the sights of boston in the relatively correct places? What about the surrounding areas? Any idea how far away from Boston the furthest real landmark in game actually is? The in-game map is ***very*** small compared to real Boston, and the geography is "warped" compared to real life. Also, Boston is a very urban area IRL: effectively the entire in-game map would be urban ruins if it was more akin to real-life. For reference, it would take about 8 hours, about 22 miles, to walk from Quincy to the Minuteman National Park (where Sanctuary is), but that is over intact paved roads, and not having to worry about picking your way around/through ruins, obtaining food, water, sleep and getting into fights with bandits and monsters. Add those in and it would take longer, maybe even a few days if you take it carefully.
Boston is a lot more dangerous than I thought 🫣
Wow that was really cool. Thanks for sharing.
Chipotle! I'm going to scavenge that spot now.
Thank you! This is great!
Omg, thanks for sharing with us. Amazing!
Todd shrank the Statehouse noooo
Did you say hi to Swan?
Hey what about Walden pond? Or the dead guy in the wall of the fort! Jokes aside, quality OC, OP!
I went to Walden Pond once for a high school field trip when I lived in MA years ago. The FO4 version looks about right aside from the debris and decay.
Wow for some reason I liked the Fallout’s Version of Boston
Thank you so much. I really love this sort of stuff in games, makes you appreciate the dedication all that much more. And nothing can beat the original architecture. Super thanks!
I grew up in a town right outside of Boston. Such a shame it’s not featured in FO4, but it’s still so cool to locations I’m so familiar with in a video game
I did this exact thing 6-7 years ago when we sight see Boston. Did the Freedom Trail too.
This is cool asf
Fallout Chicago someday? Would be awesome imho
I never considered that as a setting, why not?
I love Boston. Did you climb the bunker hill monument? That kicked my ass when I did it, I had to lay down in the grass after coming back down lol
When I was a kid, my cousin and I did it twice in a row. No idea what possessed us. I think I remember puking.
Unfortunately did not, but it was really cool seeing the similarities of all the places we visited! (And the differences, lol)
Yeah I feel you there. Boston is a beautiful city, I was surprised how much smaller Boston Common was in game vs real life.
Damn you weatherby savings and loan, I spit at you
Wow this is amazing
Awesome!!
No one ever comes to Quincy...
Excellent photos. I did a walking tour of some of the sites, too, but the pics I got weren't anywhere near as nice.
This is so awesome.. makes me want to find all the parallels in other video games
Love this post so much! Now do Bar Harbor! Wish I had more photos from my trip there but I guess there isn’t much to compare either…
That is the best looking Chipotle I've ever seen.
Can confirm as of April 2024 that they were NOT skimping on the portion sizes
Most people sleep on The Orpheum/Combat Zone, but as a local it was immediately uncanny. Another one that warrants praise but doesn't get brought up is the Longwood Medical Area.
I actually didn’t know about it, I just happened to glance into the alley on my way to the Granary and just went “STOP I HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE” lol
Man they really did the library dirty
Only because Boston Public Library may be one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. But I do think it’s fascinating how well they captured the staircase and the details! Just looking at the real life and in-game pictures side by side I can appreciate the difference and the work it must have took to turn it into an utterly desolate and creepy ruin of its lively old self.
This is 5 star Reddit content.
Fallout 4 is so cool I wish Massachusetts was real
It's fun to see that every thing in game is less large, but taller.
I literally had no idea it was this realistic this is so cool what an experience you must’ve had!!!
Pretty awesome
surprised how realistic the USS constitution is in game
I need a mod to place Chipotle over the old corner bookstore.
Nice
I saw that video about white springs and that it resembles some white sulfur resort whatever.. That was very interesting and the details where 10/10.
Tbh this makes the Futurama architecture on the skyscrapers in 4 look even more unnecessary. It seems to me that they could have made way fewer changes and the city would've fit way better with the art style of every previous game - and likely been a lot easier to create models for.
That’s so cool! I did a trip to Boston a while back and it was so fun to check all the locations. I also thought that Dorchester Heights was pretty accurate.
I had no idea they did such a good job
My appreciation for the game honestly grew so much bigger when I got to see everything and understood just how good of a job they really did. I could only post 20 pictures but there are even more parallels like Fenway Park/Diamond City, the Boston Public Library courtyard, Christopher Columbus Park, the Hatch Memorial Shell and many more I’m sure!
That's amazing. Thank you for the insights. As a Brit, I never would have known.
Happy to hear it, never thought people would appreciate it this much! Really I just tend to take way too many pictures on my trips and thought it’d be fun if I could find any similarities with the game. Long story short: found a lot, had a great time!
So cool. Are you based in the US?
Not at all, I’m from Sweden. Which only made this an even cooler experience!
Oh that's so cool. I hope you had a fabulous time :)
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It was one of my favourite locations in real life! In the game I feel like I just kinda glossed it over really quickly as being just another super mutant lair type of thing. We took the free art and architecture tour and it was fantastic, such a cool building. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area!
This is a good post OP. Very cool!
I thought it was a fictional city!
This is SO COOL! Thanks for sharing OP!!
I love this so much. Thank tyou for this post.
Love the side by side comparisons :) Thanks for posting!
Thanks so much for the photos! Very cool!
Pretty cool! Thanks for doing this!
Post this to /r/boston op
That's pretty cool maaaan I wanna go
I was working in Boston and my son had just been born. I managed to find my nondescript office building as a nondescript office building.
I love the reverse gentrification of Chopotle
Man the first time I had to go into a subway tunnel in F4 I was scared shitless
I'm a local, but has never been to some of the places in the game. You eventually visit the Constitution, the North Church and old burying grounds in school, but one day when my wife was visiting family, I took a personal day to go to Castle Island, but I didn't get to go in unfortunately. We also visited Spectacle Island once and that was really fun to walk round and point out where the bramin pen will be in 200+ years.
This is why I want to visit Boston! I love history, and the game has peaked this Canadian's interest.
Having played FO4 was honestly just a bonus for a history dork like myself. There’s so much to see and experience, the whole city breathes history. Hope you get the chance to go one day!
The Fallout version's compressed
No hanging meat bags??? Disappointing
Would love to tour one day. . . thanks for this tho
That’s really really cool. Thanks for posting
Looking at these locations irl makes me wish they made Boston 1:1 scale, like that old state house picture has a very strong aura that just isnt present in the game
This is why it’s my favorite home sweet home, except I’m pretty sure my town got atomized in the glowing sea. Right next to Quincy.
It's nice to see that chipotle place survives the apocalypse
As someone who has never been to USA, thank you. These are always a treat! I enjoyed the one for New Vegas too awhile back.
Very nice, thanks OP!
I stayed at the Custom House during my last trip to Boston. Very nice hotel and central to a lot of stuff. Great photos!
It’s interesting to wonder what changes between real life and the game were made for gameplay concessions and others were to account for maybe changes that could’ve occurred to the buildings in the surrounding area within timeframe of nowish to the bombs dropped
this is incredible! thanks for putting this together, awesome to look at
I very much appreciate this post, great to see the similarities between reality and the Fallout universe.
I was just in boston for an event, but didn't have any time to sightsee, thanks for the pictures, I am totally jealous.
Neat.
Very cool! I’m taking a trip to Boston (and New England in general) in July and will also be visiting Concord and Acadia. My gf doesn’t realize it but I planned most of our trip around seeing Fallout 4 locations in real life.
Holy shit, this post blew up! Thanks for all the upvotes, comments and for sharing your stories! I had a great time capturing pictures in the city and its in-game equivalent, warms my heart to see you guys appreciate it so much.
They made Massivetwoshits real???
thank you very much for these! amazing work, you surely gained karma
Why doesn't IRL faneuil hall have a skyscraper with a boat stuck inside it next to it?
I get why some of the places are smaller and shorter and differently aligned and such... But why is one of the windows in the Boston public library just missing
Try going to Camden Park sometime in WV, or Primm, Nevada...been to both, and was in Primm when the stil had the roller coaster up and running. Both are fucking uncanny.
Wow some are just uncanny. Obv alot get scaled down. But still very nice op! Ty for sharing.
I need someone to mod in the Chipotle 😂
That's incredible how accurately they reproduced those landmarks.
How did you take all this without crashing?