Fallout 3 was a landmark moment for the now ubiquitous post-apocalyptic series, graduating to a fully 3D first-person perspective (with toggled third-person) and a bunch of systems that quickly secured its place as one of the best games of the generation.
Though some have since criticised it for feeling a little empty compared to New Vegas, the Capital Wasteland is an iconic location to explore and the game is full of interesting characters to meet and impressive story beats to follow.
Somehow, Fallout 3 has just turned 17, marking another year in a hugely impressive period of relevance, and making me feel exceptionally ancient in the process.
Happily, the community has continued to release mods and updates for the game that make it highly playable in the year of our lord 2025, and there's a new mod that brings some much needed updates to one of the most interesting, and grim, locations in the entire game.
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Take Me To Paradise Falls
If you are unfamiliar with Paradise Falls, the location gets its name from the Paradise Falls Shopping Centre, which has since been turned into the epicentre of the slave trade in the Capital Wasteland.
Run by the very sinister Eulogy Jones, it's one of the more uncomfortable locations to be in, thanks to its overall theme. It's also quite important to the experience overall, appearing in a ton of side quests, as what is essentially a town filled with slavers.
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As you'll likely be headed over there at some point, it's well worth downloading new release Paradise Falls Expanded, which the mod author claims adds some much-needed "life, character, utility, and atmosphere to Paradise Falls."
It's absolutely true that the base design does leave some things to be desired, and this mod comes packed with features that address the most egregious. Those include an easy way of operating the pre-war lighting in the mall space, as well as new lighting and smoke effects more generally.
It also comes complete with the Paradise Falls Mall Radio playing through the shop speakers, additional NPCs and an entirely new interior in one of the game's unused buildings.
With a distinct lack of news around the rumoured Fallout 3 Remaster from Bethesda at the recent Fallout day, our next best bet is to mod our existing games to make them more palatable in 2025.
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Paradise Falls Expanded is an impressive effort that brings one of the game's more consequential areas into the modern day, and should work nicely around other overhaul mods.