When they’re not tinkering with their power armour, trying on quirky glasses or laughing at a joke told by a robotic clown, Fallout 4’s Sole Survivor can occasionally be found actually interacting with the game’s main quest.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that the titanic struggle for supremacy in The Commonwealth regularly takes a bit of a back seat, given how many other interesting quests and adventures the game has to offer, in addition to plenty of dungeons filled with mutated creatures and bloodthirsty raiders to blast or bash your way through for some killer loot.
However, if you’re interested in acquiring futuristic firearms, a new mod, which completely overhauls the loadouts on offer from The Institute, might convince you to jump into the faction-filled fray one more time.
Fancy making your pursuit of loot in Fallout 4 a bit more hectic?
The mod in question is called ‘ITO Institute Technology Overhaul - Weapons’ and is the work of prolific modder Micalov. A lot of their previous projects have added new weapons to the game, as well as modifications that can give existing guns some extra kick.
This time, they’ve ambitiously decided to combine a bunch of the interesting Institute-inspired armaments they’ve uploaded to the Nexus over the past few months as standalone mods with over 30 fresh weapons to form a fairly massive loadout overhaul for Institute and Railroad personnel.
As alluded to, some of these, such as the Institute Beam Cutter and Institute Heavy Plasma Incinerator might already be in your load order, but the likes of the Institute Defence Knuckles, Institute Accelerator Cannon and the devastating Institute Pen all offer something different to master.
That said, the mod outfits all of these Institute-affiliated weapons with: “Biometric and RFID security systems, (designed) so only authorised people can use them”, meaning that you’ll have to gradually unlock access to them either by siding with the Institute during the main quest or finding a bunch of new perk magazines hidden throughout the Wasteland.
Alternatively, you can give a bunch of new ‘jury-rigged’ Institute weapons, which you’ll seemingly find on NPCs belonging to factions like the Railroad, a go, as these have had their ID systems bypassed by their new owners.
No matter which side you’re battling against, you’ll also have to reckon with a few fresh grenade and stealth boy variants to fit perfectly alongside the mod’s massive arsenal of weapons.
There’s also a ‘lite version’ of the mod on offer, which foregoes some of the aforementioned mechanics, but won’t require you to start a new game.
Regardless of whether you’re now signing up to join the Institute in order to get your hands on some fresh firepower, make sure to follow us for more updates on interesting mods like this one for Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077. You can also check out our mods of the month for March 2023.