Seven years ago, I was given my first introduction to the quirky, post-apocalyptic world of Fallout, in which our pursuit of the American Dream has been forcefully put on hold in order to make room for a nuclear war. I had no idea what Mirelurk were or how delicious they could be after your tastebuds have been irradiated to the point that everything tastes like the wall of a gas station bathroom. I didn’t even know that war never changes. Like, not ever.

On the surface, Fallout 4 looks like a worthy, if not terribly exciting, continuation of one of gaming’s most beloved franchises. My initial impression of the game was lukewarm. It was fun. I loved my canine companion, scavenging for precious resources, exploding Raider faces from afar using V.A.T.S., and watching my lady character gradually transform into a true warrior of the wasteland.

About sixty hours later and I have officially fallen for Fallout all over again.

The game starts out somewhat slow, especially if this isn’t your first time. Aside from a pre-apocalypse bit at the very beginning, it follows the formula established by Fallout 3’s memorable prologue — choose a survivor, spend way too much time customizing your survivor, get in the vault, escape the vault, wait a minute for your eyes to adjust to the wasteland’s horrific beauty, pick your jaw up off the floor, accept your first mission, ignore your first mission, treat the world like it’s Black Friday and you’re the only one in line.

A lot of what’s new isn’t immediately apparent, it takes time to seek out. That’s true for most things, with the exception of the base-building, which is arguably the game’s most ambitious feature.

In Fallout 4, you can use the endless amount of supplies you’ll recover while adventuring to invest in the construction of bases. You can’t build just anywhere, the spots are predetermined and there are plenty of them to keep you busy until next Spring, at least.

You’ll need that much time to turn these trash hills into robust towns with their own scalable economies, renewable sources of food and water, power supplies and defensive capabilities. You’re in charge of everything, from planting crops to assigning farmers and even placing turrets, building homes and powering all of it to keep everyone happy. Treat your settlers right and they’ll return the favor by giving you a source of income, missions, information and kinship. Plus, some of these weirdos are downright hilarious.

I spent many more hours than I care to admit transforming the town of Sanctuary — the first, and largest, spot you’ll get to build on — from a garbage field of misery into a settler’s paradise known for its rustic charm. It’s rewarding even without any of the measurable benefits that come with it.

There’s plenty to look forward to for veteran vault dwellers, too. Character progression is governed by the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck) that’s returning with no significant tweaks other than an occasionally frustrating-to-navigate poster layout. Each perk is laid out in an unintuitive grid format that had me scrolling through it longer than I would’ve like in order to find the right perks.

Forming a character that suits your play-style is simple, and while it’s still important to prioritize the traits you want the most for your specific build, the nonexistent level cap means all of them can be unlocked with enough playtime.

Since the world itself is the first thing you’ll see after fleeing Vault 111, it’s easy to come away unimpressed. The graphical evolution isn’t as impactful as I was expecting it to be, even though there’s a huge leap in the amount of detail that can be displayed on-screen at any given time. The world feels more alive than ever, it just takes its time revealing what’s new about it.

There’s more variety this time around, particularly in the dynamic weather system. Sunny days are broken up by the odd smattering of rainstorms, thick fog and even rare nuclear storms that come and go, painting the world in an eerie, sickly green color before quickly dissipating.

The level design may be the most surprising evolution I noticed in the environments. Towns aren’t merely fields sprinkled with buildings, they’re more fluid. They feel less “game-y” and everywhere you look there are hidden stories waiting to be uncovered. There was one town in particular that had been flooded, forcing its residents to take to the rooftops.

Crude bridges connected each building, resulting in another town that sat on top of the remnants of the first. Pay close enough attention and this incredible attention to detail can be found everywhere.

The combat has never done much to elevate the gameplay in this series, but that’s no longer a hindrance thanks to some necessary refinements to the shooting mechanics and a tweaked V.A.T.S. that now lets you activate critical attacks with the press of a button. I promise that’s a way bigger deal than it sounds like it is.

Of the 200+ hours I lost to Fallout 3, most of them were spent strategically targeting slow-moving enemies and their exploitable weaknesses using V.A.T.S.. This time around, it’s been about 50/50. I still enjoy watching as an unsuspecting Raider suddenly explodes in slow-motion after a successful sneak attack, but the guns now feel accurate enough that I don’t feel like I need to use it.

It hasn’t reached the near-perfection of dedicated shooters like Halo or Call of Duty, but perfection isn’t a realistic goal when you have an arsenal built from pipes, screws and a good old fashioned desire to not let an apocalypse stand between us and our right to murder living things with guns. What would humanity do without them, pool our remaining resources and unite to ensure our species has a future? Not in my America.

With open-world games like this, an element of discovery is crucial. Dropping dozens, or even hundreds of hours in this game isn’t frighteningly easy, so a steady source of intrigue is necessary to motivate the player to keep going, to keep discovering. Bethesda has mastered this here. I can’t guarantee that its world will appeal to you, but I can guarantee that if it does, you won’t run out of things to see and do anytime soon.

The Final Word: Fallout 4 is a sequel built on a myriad small tweaks, subtle refinements and quiet additions that all come together to make it one of the most complex, rewarding and addictive open-world games of this console generation.