Fallout 4 Guide: Which Faction to Choose

Starting out in Fallout 4 you’ll pretty quickly locate at least two factions. A third and fourth get added along the way, making up the entirety of the faction choices contained in Fallout 4. These are the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Railroad, and the Institute. We’ve previously shown you how to find and join two of these, click here for the Railroad and here for the Institute. However, the question that comes up later in the game is, which faction to choose as a permanent spot.

At first you should definitely join all four. You can even progress a decent amount in each of their quest lines before any real choice has to be made. However, at certain points the objectives of each group will diverge, and you can quickly become a permanent enemy of one faction or another. Where these divergence points are will be easily identifiable, as a warning will come up letting you know that taking on this mission will have permanent ramifications. If you reach one of these points you might want to stop and do some of the other faction’s missions for a while, until you’ve decided which to choose.

So, which faction should you choose? Each has their own pluses and minuses, so the one you end up with is totally up to you. We’ll run down some of the differences between the groups to help you decide which to stick with permanently.

The Minutemen

This is probably the first group that you joined, and is one of the easiest to stick with throughout the game. The Minutemen are dedicated to improving the lives of the Commonwealth citizens. This means you’ll go on quests to help out different settlements, and try to recruit them to the cause. If you want to be the hero of the wasteland, shaping it into a better world for those that live in it, then you can’t go wrong by sticking with the Minutemen.

The Brotherhood of Steel

On the other hand you have the Brotherhood of Steel, whose military and technological power is nearly unmet by any other group in the wasteland, perhaps aside from the Institute. The Brotherhood has an interesting philosophy though, and you might have trouble agreeing with all of their actions. The Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 4 is more like their west coast counterparts from previous games, with all of the xenophobia included. Don’t think that you can stick with these guys, while keeping your friendship with synths and super mutants. However, they’ll definitely make you a truly powerful force to be reckoned with.

The Railroad

Do you feel that the oppression and destruction of synths is bad? Then you’ll probably want to stick with the Railroad as saving synths is their modus operandi. You’ll be doing more covert work too, so if you like espionage then this is the faction for you. However, this ragtag group of freedom fighters don’t really provide the sort of provisions that others will. They aren’t technologically advanced, and their supplies are always just above what they need to survive, so sticking with them could mean a lot of extra work for you and your character. If you feel the plight of the synth though then there isn’t really any other choice.

The Institute

However, if you feel that synths are just tools to be used by humans as they see fit then you’re in luck. The Institute is the greatest technological powerhouse in the Commonwealth, though their fighting is done using synth Coursers rather than Power Armor laden soldiers. You will quickly find that the Institute has a lot to offer, but the moral questions might become a problem. Their hoarding of technology will also put you at odds with the Brotherhood of Steel, and might make you wonder why they won’t help all the people suffering in the wasteland above. If none of this bothers you though, then the Institute has a ton to offer you.

Some of these factions can work together, but the further you get into Fallout 4 the more they’ll start to become enemies. Working for all of them is impossible throughout the end of the game, but you might be able to swing one, two, or maybe even three if you’re very careful. Choose wisely and let us know in the comments which faction you went with for your Fallout 4 playthrough.