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Unlike Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Fallout 4's second slice of downloadable content, doesn't feature any quests, stories, or new characters. It's very much an add-on pack in both name and nature, providing you with a load of new settlement crafting options and not much else.

However, for its relatively low price tag, you actually get quite a lot of fresh stuff to mess around with when it comes to the open world title's expansive crafting system. There's a new basic building option in concrete, which can now be used to make floors, walls, and roofs, while the decorations menu has been fleshed out rather dramatically with new lights, potted plants, and hunting trophies.

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Indeed, Wasteland Workshop offers up a generous amount of new bits and pieces to add to your settlements, but for most, the big attraction will no doubt be the ability to set up your own arena of death. Arguably the two most important items included in the DLC are the blue team and red team platforms, which, when utilised, force two non-playable characters in your settlement to duel to the death.

Assigning settlers to the platforms like any other resource, the selected combatants will duke it out until one of them slumps to the ground. For those who enjoy tinkering with Fallout 4's crafting system and watching the impact that your actions have on the artificial intelligence, making your own gladiator arena will likely offer hours of fun and mindless slaughter.

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The other main additions that Wasteland Workshop brings are cages which can be used to trap enemies. After placing them in a settlement, all that you need to do is wait a few hours, sleep, or go off on an adventure – and by the time that you get back, you'll probably find that some poor soul's stumbled into your grasp. Depending on the cage that you build, you can catch anything from stray cats to Deathclaws, and this technically means that you can have big mutated monsters roaming around your settlements like guard dogs.

To tame your favoured beast, though, you'll need to construct a special beacon that calms your animal chums. Open up a cage without one, and whatever's inside – assuming that it's hostile – will need to be killed before it rampages through your shanty town, unless, you know, you just want to watch the world burn. Again. However, this is where the add-on fumbles just a touch, as you'll need a couple of specific perks to actually craft the taming beacon. Likewise, the cages themselves require meat from various creatures to use as bait, so if you're not prepared, you'd best be ready to head out into the Commonwealth and hunt down a few mutants, which can easily feel like a chore if you're just looking to snag your own pet Mirelurk.

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Of course, actually having the ability to capture enemies opens up countless possibilities. Creative players will find ways to unleash their prisoners in their own handcrafted arenas, for example, and there's certainly something to be said for forming a small army of monsters and watching them tear groups of Raiders apart. Now that's Commonwealth justice.

When it comes down to it, you'll already know whether Wasteland Workshop is for you. If Fallout 4's crafting and settlement systems are a big part of your post-apocalyptic experience, then you can't really go wrong with this DLC.


Fallout 4: Wasteland Workshop is available now from the PlayStation Store for £3.99/$4.99, and is part of the game's Season Pass.