'Fallout 4' Pilgrim mod: Give your game a survival horror feel

Fallout 4 has some creepy moments of its own, but none that could hold a candle to horror greats like Silent Hill or titles of that ilk. That’s why a new mod named Pilgrim, which takes Bethesda’s expansive open-world adventure, is so intriguing. It turns an already unsettling wasteland into one rife with atmospheric effects, which makes everything feel a bit more dramatic.

Fallout 4 Pilgrim mod: What’s creeping out fans so much?

Pilgrim — Dread the Commonwealth is the mod’s full name, and as its official NexusMods listing states, it alters several parts of Fallout rather than introduce new content. According to the description, it adds “lens emulation, film grain, adjustable letter-boxing, optional sharpening and a lift shadows function that can be disabled for deeper shadows.” In layman’s terms, it makes things appear a lot more dreadful and scary, serving up a Hollywood horror movie feel with a film-grain effect.

Creators l00ping and TreyM, who were responsible for the Photorealistic Commonwealth and Cinematic Film Looks, implemented new weather, environmental lighting and audio to leverage what’s already in Fallout 4 to weave a tale partly inspired by the 2016 horror film The VVitch.

Different music will play depending on what the weather is currently like in-game, with brand-new selections of exploration and combat music composed solely for Pilgrim instead of what already comes in-game. There’s a slider available in the audio section in-game, which you can adjust at will to change up the musical effects as well for you to further personalize your game.

The result is an infinitely more surreal and uncomfortable Commonwealth that doesn’t even brighten with your companion Dogmeat. He’s also been given new textures with glowing eyes and less “cheerful” audio, according to the mod’s creators. In the future, they even hope to replace him with a goat named Black Phillip, in case a dog with glowing eyes isn’t quite scary enough for you.

You can pick up the mod for free right now via NexusMods if the footage hasn’t scared you away entirely just yet. 

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