If I made a Fallout game, I would have the companions be holograms that are emitted by the Pipboy. That can be used to excuse their resurrection or non-participation in battles, while keeping the whole party with the player at all times.

So it's like Skyrim? Gee...I sure am...surprised. Honestly I don't care, it didn't bother me in Skyrim and Fawkes invincibility (or near invincibility) wasn't that annoying either.

I'm all for having every single living being in the game mortal (see: Gothic 3) but Bethesda has a "player must not be able to fail in any way or be locked out of anything in any way for any reason" rule which affects characters survivability, and they've had that rule for several games now.

Skyrim (with most quest givers, main quest important characters, spouses, etc) already had immortal characters, as did Fallout 3 and Oblivion with main quest centric characters, so I'm not really "getting" the shock of this.

OK, my bad, you have THREE GROUPS. One group would like to reload when a companion dies, another groups would like to allow their companions to die, and another group would avoid companions altogether.

If they let them die, then all three groups would be happy. By making them immortal, they ensure one group is not.

ADDED: BTW Bethesda, here's an idea. Why not have immortal companions be a configurable option in Game Settings. Those that want to experience the "real world" and all of it's consequences would leave it unchecked, and those that don't want to go to the trouble of reloading when a companion dies would check it. Everyone happy.

Glad they're immortal. Saves some wear on my F9 key.

ALL NPCs IMMORTAL!

If they weren't, then when you started the game over they wouldn't be there! When something dies, it's dead, and doesn't get to come back just because you loaded an old save!

You people are so dense sometimes!

What about those who use companions for nothing more than pack mules and distractions in fights (and/or for fighting insignificant enemies like Bloatflys) but has no use for companions beyond those tasks? A little from Group A and a little from Group B I suppose. Eh, one thing that would be more convenient for such a player (like me) would be to implement one of those backpack/bandolier mods that gives you plenty of extra carrying weight.

Actually another thing that would really improve Bethesda's companions in Fallout/The Elder Scrolls would be an in-game option to shut companions up completely, no idle conversations sounds, no barking, no nothing!

Well, fans of the series would certainly hate it I was a dev on the team. I would push to eliminate save features altogether, certainly at least on hardcore mode. This is RPG. Live the life. You've got ONE. One man, one weapon, one vault, one adventure, one life. Make it a good one, because if you die, you're starting all over again with a fresh new character. Now go have fun in the wasteland and watch out for those raiders.

Or better yet, mod the PS4 so that it can have a quarter coin slot and make people dispense moneys right into the awaiting mouth of Sony every time they lost a life in the game. Give 'em a taste of the old arcade fever.