You’ve found your kidnapped child, your settlements are all doing fine, and—perhaps most importantly— you have Dogmeat at your side. What’s next for your Fallout 4 playthrough? How about dating? Your dead spouse would want you to move on with your life, after all. And you gotta do something to distract yourself from the Radscorpions and Super Mutants all over the place, right?
There are 10 characters in Fallout 4 you can romance—”romance” here meaning anything from a long-term relationship to a one-night stand—and each of them comes with their own backstory and a nice perk for you! But which relationships are worth the effort? Lucky for you, we’ve ranked all 10 of the Fallout 4 romance options.
10. Gilda
In the world of Fallout, humans caused a nuclear war that wiped out the planet but they ALSO made robots bangable! Hooray!
Gilda is one such robot. Once upon a time she was a beautiful actress, but greed and privilege led her to extend her life by becoming a Robobrain in Vault 118. She’s not the most aesthetically pleasing bot, it has to be said, but you can romance her if you really, really want to.
You need the Fallout 4 “Far Harbor” DLC to meet Gilda. Once you’ve encountered her, flirt with her via speech checks and you’ll get a date! What happens on the date is left to your imagination, but it grants you the temporary perk Lover’s Embrace, which boosts your experience points for a few hours.
9. Porter Gage
Porter Gage is introduced in the “Nuka World” DLC, a fun but (in my opinion) not very substantial add-on. He’s pretty much your typical Raider: vicious, mean, aggressive, and rude. If you want him as your companion for a violent rampage across the wasteland, find him at the Fizztop Grille and complete the quest “An Ambitious Plan.”
Fun fact: Gage is the only companion you can buy items from! You have to be inside Nuka-Town to do this, though. And he also gives you the “Lessons in Blood” perk, which grants you five percent more experience points per kill and +10 to your damage resistance.
8. Magnolia
Magnolia can’t be recruited as a companion but she’s very much worth getting to know. She’s beautiful, she’s a synth, she sings at the Third Rail in Goodneighbor … and she’s voiced by Lynda Carter! Wonder Woman herself!
If you flirt with Magnolia enough, she’ll take you to the Hotel Rexford for the night, but then she’ll tell you she’s too dedicated to her career to ever have a relationship. Aww. You get the Lover’s Embrace perk from her, though.
Bear in mind that if you’re in a relationship with your companion, they won’t be happy when you flirt with Magnolia. Piper, on the other hand, will attempt to flirt with her too! Can you blame her?
7. Hancock
Don’t let his looks fool you, Hancock is definitely a worthy romantic partner. He hangs out in the Old State House in Goodneighbor, serving as mayor of the town. Once you do the quest “The Big Dig” in order to rob him, he won’t hold it against you, but instead offers to accompany you, since he feels he’s “getting too comfortable” as mayor.
Once you’ve reached maximum affinity level with Hancock, he’ll give you the “Isodoped” perk, which increases your critical hit 20 percent faster if you have 250 rads or more. He also sometimes randomly gives you chems, which is very considerate of him.
6. Paladin Danse
Paladin Danse is a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, so how well you take to him will probably depend entirely on how you feel about the Brotherhood. He’s also prejudiced against ghouls, synths, etc., which is somewhat of a turn-off, and he keeps his Power Armor on all the time.
You have to side with the Brotherhood and become a knight before you can romance Danse. If that’s the path you choose, you’ll get the “Know Your Enemy” perk, which gives you 20 percent extra damage against synths, Super Mutants, and ghouls—and you also get what I personally think is one of the most interesting companion stories.
5. Piper
Piper Wright is a cute, badass reporter who lives in Diamond City with her kid sister Nat. After you complete the quest “Reunions,” she’ll be able to join you in your adventure and you can romance her. Once Piper becomes your girlfriend, you get the “Gift of Gab” perk, which grants you double experience points after completing persuasion checks and finding new locations. Oh, and she calls you “Blue,” which is ADORABLE.
The only reason Piper isn’t higher up the ranking is because having her as your companion means she leaves Nat behind in Diamond City, and while Nat can take care of herself, I simply cannot condone post-apocalyptic child abandonment.
4. Preston Garvey
The king of Fallout memes. Preston is much more than the guy who pops up to tell you “another settlement needs your help,” though. He’s one of the first people you meet in the game and he proves to be intelligent, noble, and witty once you get to know him. He has a hidden sadness to him as well, and if you romance him, he’ll eventually reveal that you were the only thing that kept him from giving up on life altogether. It’s very poignant.
Preston gives you the “United We Stand” perk, which is very useful—it increases your damage by 20 percent and increases your damage resistance by 20 points when facing a group of more than three enemies.
Just make sure you don’t attack any Minutemen when you’re with Preston or he’ll immediately leave you!
3. Curie
Remember how the Fallout franchise lets you bang robots? Curie is another one of these! She may not look like one, but that’s because she’s a Miss Nanny bot who uploaded her consciousness into a synth body. You can’t romance Curie until after this takes place, but she can still be your traveling companion.
Curie is a fan favorite thanks to her intelligence and compassion, and she gives you an excellent perk. Reach maximum affinity with her and you receive “Combat Medic,” which once per day will restore you to full health once you fall under 10 percent.
2. Macready
You might have met little Macready back in Fallout 3 and here he is all grown up, plus now he’s a dad! And if there’s one thing every apocalyptic wasteland needs, it’s a dad. His wife is dead—if you choose to romance Macready, he’ll give you a toy soldier she once made for him, aww—but his son survived.
Macready is a mercenary and a killer, but he’s also lots of fun. Keep him happy by stealing things, don’t attack Goodneighbor no matter what, and he’ll stay loyally at your side throughout the game. Eventually he’ll give you the “Killshot” perk, which makes it 20 percent more likely that you’ll score a headshot while using VATS.
1. Cait
Cait has it all—an interesting backstory, a useful perk, and lots of character development. She was sold into slavery by her god-awful parents and is now a chem addict with a fully justified grudge against the world. Her moral compass is all out of whack, but if you romance Cait, her worldview changes.
Once you’ve become Cait’s romantic partner you’ll get the “Trigger Rush” perk. This makes your action points regenerate 25 percent quicker if your health falls below 25 percent. With Cait, though, you probably won’t romance her for the perk but for the pleasure of her company.
Fallout 4 romance guide
Romance is a very worthwhile business in Fallout 4 because you can really make those perks work for you if you know what you’re doing. Get yourself a partner who compliments your character build well, and you’ll be headshotting Super Mutants in no time.
To get your desired partner you’ll need to do a quest to win them over to your side—what exactly you need to do is telegraphed from the get-go—and after that, you just have to interact with them and do things they approve of. And in order to ensure you get the full set of romance options, you’ll need the DLCs Nuka World and Far Harbor. That’s all you need! That and a heart full of love, of course.
(featured image: Bethesda)
