Fallout 4: Fallout 4: Comprehensive Achievement Guide (Single Playthrough Strategy)

• Use Multiple Save Points
• At specified “points of no return,” always create a manual save. These saves allow you to roll back, choose a different faction path, and avoid replaying the entire game.

• Complete certain major quests for each faction up to a point—then stop before triggering final, irreversible steps.

• The Minutemen’s final castle defense quest line can prematurely lock you into the Minutemen ending. Follow this guide to ensure you don’t trigger it by accident.

• Many Fallout 4 achievements are tied to specific storyline quests; radiant or side quests (like recurring “help a settlement” tasks) are optional for achievements. Focus on the storyline quests that grant achievements, but complete or ignore minor quests as you see fit—just be careful not to accidentally advance a faction’s final quest.

• Prologue (War Never Changes)
• Out of Time

• At the end of Out of Time, you’ll meet the Minutemen and start “When Freedom Calls.” Finish it completely.

• You can alternate between the main storyline and the Minutemen quests—or do them one at a time—until:
• Main Quests: Finish Hunter/Hunted
• Minutemen Quests: Finish Old Guns

• Important: After completing “Old Guns,” do not continue with Minutemen tasks like defending settlements. Doing so can trigger the Minutemen ending, locking out other faction achievements.

At this point: You should have completed enough main quests to progress, and you should have the Minutemen achievements (e.g., Taking Independence, Old Guns) without advancing to their ending.

• While working on this quest, you’re forced to contact the Railroad.

• Complete Road to Freedom (your introduction to the Railroad).
• Complete Tradecraft, which formalizes your involvement with the Railroad.

• Build the teleporter with Railroad assistance (this ensures you’ll get the Underground Undercover quest). Advance Underground Undercover as far as you can for now, but do not finish it yet.

• After finishing “The Molecular Level,” you’ll gain access to the Institute. Agree to work with them to keep all faction options open.

• Synth Retention
• The Battle of Bunker Hill
• During this quest, your choices regarding the synths won’t permanently alienate any faction.
• Mankind Redefined

Tip: At this point, you’re aligned with the Institute on paper, but you still retain ties to the Railroad and haven’t fully abandoned the Minutemen. This ensures maximum flexibility.

• The next Institute quest, Mass Fusion, will automatically make you an enemy of the Brotherhood of Steel (BoS). This locks out the BoS quest line if you move forward without finishing their achievements first.

• Depending on how you first encountered them, your initial quest may be Reveille (meeting at the Boston Airport) or Fire Support (a skirmish at the Cambridge police station).

• Complete enough BoS quests to become a member (for instance, Call to Arms) and keep going until:
• You unlock The Nuclear Option as a Brotherhood quest.
• Completing The Nuclear Option with the Brotherhood will net you the corresponding achievement for their ending.

• By completing Blind Betrayal, Ad Victoriam, and eventually The Nuclear Option (BoS version), you earn all Brotherhood-related achievements.

• Now that you’ve done the Brotherhood ending, revert to the save created before starting Mass Fusion. You’ll retain all previously earned achievements while regaining access to the Institute story path.

• Siding with the Institute here will cause the Brotherhood of Steel to become hostile.

• During Pinned, you can help the Minutemen by sending them away during negotiations.
• In Powering Up, have the optional conversation with the synth (this is optional but adds story depth).

• This Railroad quest was initiated during “The Molecular Level.” Keep advancing it without finishing the Institute’s final quest just yet.

• This Institute quest will have you eliminate the Railroad, which is the final severance from that faction. You’ll lose access to Railroad achievements if you proceed without completing them first.

• Operation Ticonderoga
• Precipice of War
• Rockets’ Red Glare (earns you the Railroad’s ending achievement)

• The Railroad’s final quest for destroying the Institute is also called The Nuclear Option. However, you do not need to complete it again for an achievement if you already completed the BoS version. Achievements for that ending quest can be obtained via any faction route.

• Having now secured Railroad achievements, revert to go down the final Institute route.

• You will kill key Railroad members, making the Railroad permanently hostile (or essentially wiped out).

• This quest is about eliminating the Brotherhood of Steel.

• This is the Institute’s ending quest, granting you the final ending-related achievement.

Congratulations!
By following these steps and reloading at the key points of no return, you can experience each faction ending and collect every quest-related trophy/achievement in a single overarching playthrough.

War Never Changes – Prologue (unmissable)
Unlikely Valentine – Main quest (unmissable)
Reunions – Main quest (unmissable)
Dangerous Minds – Main quest (unmissable)
Hunter/Hunted – Main quest (unmissable)
The Molecular Level – Main quest (unmissable)
Institutionalized – Meet the Institute
Taking Independence – Minutemen quest
Old Guns – Minutemen quest
Tradecraft – Railroad quest
Underground Undercover – Railroad quest (if you asked Railroad for help during “The Molecular Level”)
Rockets’ Red Glare – Railroad quest
Semper Invicta – Brotherhood of Steel quest
Blind Betrayal – Brotherhood of Steel quest
Ad Victoriam – Brotherhood of Steel quest
The Nuclear Option – Ending quest for Minutemen/Brotherhood/Railroad (complete once for the achievement)
Mankind Redefined – Institute quest
Powering Up – Institute quest
Nuclear Family – Ending quest for the Institute