One of the perks of "Fallout 4" is that there are many options for companions to join you while you traverse the wasteland. Sometimes, however, for no explainable reason, your companion disappears and is nowhere to be found. It can happen when you are in combat, during a quest, or while you fast travel. With over 12 million copies of the game sold within the first 24 hours of release, and many millions sold in the months since, losing a companion has probably happened to everyone who spends a considerable amount of time in "Fallout 4" and amasses a list of NPC players.
So what does a player do when a companion goes missing during a "Fallout 4" game session? Don't panic, there are some solutions to your problem.
The "Fallout 4" companions you can unlock
There are many different companions you can eventually unlock in "Fallout 4" and they all have strengths and weaknesses, but that is a topic for another day. The list of 13 permanent companions that you can use in the game includes Cait, Valentine, Piper, Preston, Codsworth,Dogmeat, MacCready, Curie, Paladan Danse, Deacon, X6-88, John Hancock and Strong, all of which can sometimes get lost. Some players suggest that, once you gain a new companion, you dismiss that companion to a preferred settlement, most likely Sanctuary, so that there's a home base of operations that a companion may return to as a default in the case they go missing for whatever reason.
Build a bell at your settlement
If your companions are lost try the bell method first to try and locate them and bring them back into your game. While at your main settlement, where you do most of your business, go to your workshop menu. Once at the workshop menu you will then want to select Resources and then select Miscellaneous.
Once in the Miscellaneous category you will find that you can build a bell, if you have four wood and four steel available. Build the bell in a very central location in your settlement that is free of any obstructions. Then proceed to ring the bell and, hopefully, all of your settlers and companions should eventually show up and come to the rally point.
Other options to recover a lost companion
This solution doesn't work all the time, but you have a very good chance that it will recover your lost companion. If all else fails, go back to a map location where you last had the companion and look around for them. In the worst case scenario you might have to revert to a former save point when your companion was still around. You might lose some game time with this option, but you will have your companion back, so it's a good idea to save your game often so you have numerous revert points in the game where you can backtrack. Good luck in the wasteland!
