Fallout 4 is a huge open-world game with tons of hours of content for you to play through. Whatever you choose to do, if it’s getting closer to Shaun’s locations as soon as possible or just wandering around trying to find a nice weapon that’s unique in the game, the game has enough content for you to do before getting to the end of the story.

There are 144 quests in total in the game (and that’s not including DLC content). Some of them are unavoidable since they’re part of the main story, others are related to the in-game factions, and a few are just secondary missions you can choose to do or not. While most of them are fun to complete, here you have a list of which side quests are the ones that give the best rewards.

Updated September 1, 2021 by Miguel Amaro: When games have a map as big as the one in Fallout 4, exploring every nook and cranny is worth it. After all, you don’t know which underrated weapon or trusty companion is waiting for you at the end of an exciting side quest or inside a building overtaken by super mutants. However, between misc quests, factions quests, and overall side quest, it’s challenging to know which ones Fallout 4 best side quests. This guide has been updated to help you out with this dilemma and now includes even more side quests that’ll leave you with a nice reward after you complete them.

Troubled Waters

  • Reward: Graygarden as a settlement How to start it: Join the Minutemen and talk to Preston Garvey or listen to Radio Freedom.

In an area as unforgiving as the wasteland, having a place you can call “home” is essential for your survival. Sure, it might not be a fancy house, but in post-apocalyptic Boston, a bed, clean water, and some crops will feel like a mansion.

One of the best settlements in the Commonwealth is Graygarden, a fully automated hydroponic garden run by robots that you can unlock by completing one of Fallout 4 best side quests, “Troubled Waters.”

  • Graygarden is an excellent option for a settlement because it has a lot of fertile land for crops, and the robots that work there don’t need to be fed, so you can grow food in that place and then export it somewhere else.

To do so, you’ll have to be a member of the Minutemen and talk to Preston Garvey or listen to Radio Freedom; however, there’s also a chance Supervisor White himself will give you this quest, even if you’re not a part of the Minutemen. Either way, you’ll have to travel to Graygarden and talk to the robot’s leader, Supervisor White. The robot will ask you to go to the Weston water treatment plant and clean things up so the settlement can have more water. Of course, “cleaning things up” means fighting row after row of enemies, including super mutants, mirelurks, and several turrets.

However, fighting is just one part of this side quest; to help the robots in Graygarden, you’ll have to activate five pumps. Do that, and then report to the character who gave you this side quest to complete it.

Memory Interrupted

  • Reward: Two Railroad Stealth Boys How to start it: Be a Railroad member and complete The Butcher’s Bill 2 quest, then return to Old North Church where you’ll see Carrington and Desdemona discussing with P.A.M.

Like many other Railroad missions, this one is about fighting the Institute’s “evil” plans. This time around, you’ll be sent to the Malden Center to eliminate any Gen one synths in the area. There you’ll run into Glory, and the two of you will take care of the synths. After the area is cleared, just head back and talk to Desdemona to get your reward.

She will give you two Railroad Stealth Boys; these are super helpful consumables that make you invisible for about 40 seconds (ten seconds more than a regular Stealth Boy).

Pickman’s Gift

  • Reward: Pickman’s Blade How to start it: walk inside the Pickman Gallery

This side quest takes place in the Pinkman gallery, where a bunch of raiders are looking for someone named Pickman and will attack you if they see you. Go to the room that’s on your left and loot the body of the dead raider; he has a holotape named “Message to Jack” that had the first clue to finding this Pickman guy.

Then enter the hidden tunnels behind the gallery, fight some raiders, and at the end, you’ll find Pickman being held at gunpoint. Whatever the outcome is, you’ll get a key to Pickman’s safe (which is behind a paint that’s inside the gallery called “Picnic For Stanley), interact with the painting, open the safe, and collect Pickman’s blade, a unique melee weapon.

  • This blade is a good weapon to have in your arsenal since it has a “Wounding effect” that causes an additional 25 damage points. Not only that but Pickman’s Blade will also come pre-equipped with a stealth blade mod.

Here Kitty, Kitty

  • Reward: A fusion core How to start it: Enter Vault 81

Once you open the door to Vault 81, a cat named Ashes runs out into the outside world. You’ll then have to speak with Erin Combes, the cat’s owner. She will task you with retrieving her cat, and as a reward, you’ll get a fusion core.

  • Fusion cores are a super scarce resource in the wasteland and they serve as a battery for power armors.

After speaking with Erin, head outside the vault where you’ll be able to find Ashes in two possible spots. First, go east of the vault and towards the Chestnut Hillock Reservoir; Ashes should be sitting on the docks. If it isn’t there, look for the animal on the opposite side of the reservoir, near a skeleton in the wheelchair. Once the cat is safe and sound back in Vault 81, you’ll receive your reward.

Short Stories

  • Reward: Grognak the Barbarian perk magazine. How to start it: Talk to Katy inside of Vault 81

This one has to be one of Fallout 4 best quests only because it is really short and super easy to complete; also the reward is totally worth it; what else could you ask for? To start “Short Stories,” simply head over to Vault 81 and talk to Katy, the teacher. However, to gain access to the vault, you’ll have first to complete a quest that requires three fusion cores. Alternatively, you could complete a difficult speech check.

Either way, once inside, talk to Katy, and she will ask the player to tell a story about the Commonwealth. After telling the little ones about the Deathclaw you fought earlier in the game, Katy will thank the player by giving them a Grognak the Barbarian comic.

  • This magazine raises critical damage from unarmed or melee attacks by five percent. If you find all of the magazine’s issues, this buff can be go up to 50 percent.

Here There Be Monsters

  • Rewards: Zao’s sword and three homing beacons. How to start it: Head over to The Shamrock Taphouse area and speak with Donny

There isn’t a clear winner for Fallout 4 best side quest award, but “Here There Be Monsters” hast to be among the top options. To start this quest, speak with Donny Kowalski in the docks behind the Shamrock Taphouse. He’ll tell you he has seen a monster out of the water off the docks. You’ll have to investigate what’s really going on, and, instead of a sea monster, you’ll find the Yangtze-31, a Chinese submarine from the great war.

Once inside, you can speak to Zao, a ghoul and the sub’s captain, who will task the sole survivor with helping him fix the ship. While this quest is a long one, the rewards are worth it. At the end of the mission, Zao will give the player three homing beacons, each of which allows the player to summon a nuke from the sub. You can also get Zao’s sword, a unique melee weapon that deals 16 damage.

The Big Dig

  • Rewards: Ashmaker and John Hancock as a companion How to start it: Go to Goodneighbor and speak with Bobbi

The best side missions Fallout 4 has to offer are the ones with a good plot twist, like “The Big Dig.” You’ll get this quest after speaking with Bobbi No-Nose in Goodneighbor. She hires you for a job that requires discretion. In the end, you’ll discover that Bobbi lied to you. She isn’t planning to break into Diamond City’s strongroom but instead, she wants to break in into a secluded storage room owned by Goodneighbor’s mayor, Hancock.

You’ll have to choose if you want to continue helping Bobbi, kill her and side with Hancock or convince her to surrender. If you select one of the last two options, Hancocks’ bodyguard will reward you with Ashmaker, a legendary minigun with incendiary bullets. Also, if you chose this storyline, Hancock will be available as a companion.

Cambridge Polymer Labs

  • Reward: Piezonucleic power armor chest. How to start it: Enter the Cambridge Polymer Labs

The best quests in Fallout 4 should have a compelling story and a good reward; Luckily, “Cambridge Polymer Labs” has both. This quest starts once you’ve set foot inside the abandoned Cambridge Polymer Labs, there a Nanny bot called Molly will task the player with completing a 200-year-old science project. You really don’t have much of an option here since you won’t be able to leave the facility until the project is completed.

While this side quest is a multi-step one, the final stage of the project will result in a Piezonucleic power armor chest being crafted, which you can keep afterward. This legendary power armor piece increases the regeneration rate of Action Points when you are exposed to radiation.

The Secret Of Cabot House

  • Rewards: Lorenzo’s Artifact Gun or a lifetime supply of mysterious serum How to start it: Go to Bunker Hill, The Third Rail (in Goodneighbor), or the Dugout Inn (in Diamond City), where Edward Deegan will approach you. This will start the side quest “Special Delivery.”

The Cabot house is a rare place in the Commonwealth that didn’t suffer from the war effects. Once inside, you’ll see everything is in pristine condition and has lots of useful things to loot, like a fat guy or a zeta gun. To start the side quest related to the family that lives there, you’ll have to take part in multiple side quests. The first one is “Special Delivery,” during which you’ll be tasked with retrieving a serum from an asylum that the Cabot family owns.

After completing that one, another side quest, “Emogen Takes A Lover,” will start. This time Edward will ask you to find another member of the Cabot family, Emogen. After finding her, just return to the Cabot house, and the final side quest will begin.

During “The Secret Of Cabot House,” Jack, the guy who hired you for the last two quests, will ask you to prevent raiders from freeing Lorenzo, Jack’s father. You’ll have to go to the Parsons State Insane Asylum, kill the raiders and then choose if you want to kill Lorenzo or free him. If you side with Jack, he will give you Lorenzo’s Artifact Gun, a unique gamma gun. However, if you side with Lorenzo, he will give you a mysterious serum that gives the user incredible strength and protects them from radiation. This serum alone is one of the reasons “The Secret Of Cabot House” is one of the best side quests Fallout 4 has, since the protection it gives players from radiation is something that will come in handy when exploring the most toxic places in the Commonwealth.

Curtain Call

  • Rewards: Strong as a companion and a piece of clothing How to start it: Get close to Trinity Tower

During your adventures in Fallout 4, you can take companions to aid you along the way. Some of them you’ll find pretty quickly, while others need you to complete certain side quests to unlock. This is the case of Strong, a lovable but brute super mutant.

To get Strong as a possible companion, you’ll first have to complete a side quest called “Curtain Call.” To do so, get close to Trinity Tower and listen to the distress call on your Pip-Boy radio from Rex Goodman, who’s trapped at the top of the Tower. Once completing the mission and freeing Rex and Strong, you’ll be rewarded with Reginald’s suit (if you’re playing as a male) or Agatha’s dress (if you’re playing as a woman); these clothing pieces grant the player +3 charisma. You’ll also have Strong available as a new companion.

Last Voyage Of The U.S.S. Constitution

  • Reward: Broadsider How to start it: Approach the U.S.S. Constitution located East of Bunker Hill

Some of the best Fallout 4 quests are worth doing because of the reward you end up with, while others are just super bizarre and fun. Luckily, “Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution” has the best of both worlds. To start this side quest, head over east of Bunker Hill where you’ll find the U.S.S. Constitution, a ship run by robots whose captain is the sentry robot Ironsides.

Ironsides will ask the player to help him and his crew in their quest to return the ship to the Atlantic Ocean. If you play your cards right, you will help the robots make the ship fly; however, it doesn’t end in the ocean. Instead, it crashes in a nearby skyscraper. Nevertheless, you’ll receive a Broadsider as a reward, a very unique weapon that uses cannonballs as ammo.

Hole In The Wall

  • Rewards: A Syringer rifle and Curie as a companion. How to start it: Enter Vault 81, donate blood to Dr. Forsythe, and then leave the vault for 24 hours or more.

Vault 81 is filled with exciting characters and useful side quests; one of the most significant ones is “Hole in the Wall” to get this one, just wait till one of the kids in the vault has been moved to the medical bay. Speak to Dr. Penske to start the quest.

She’ll tell the player that the kid was bitten by a mole rat and is terribly ill; you’re then tasked with going to a hidden place in the vault to search for a cure. You have to be very careful as this side of the vault is filled with mole rats, and if they bite you, you’ll get infected as well. Eventually, you’ll find a robot named Curie, who’s been developing the cure for all these years. However, there’s only one dose, which shouldn’t be a problem unless you’ve been bitten.

Return to Dr. Forsythe and make a choice, either give the cure to the kid and save his life or keep it to yourself. Whatever you choose, Curie will still be open to being your companion. However, if you save the kid, you’ll be rewarded with a Syringer rifle.