I've been playing Fallout 4 for a while and have noticed that some locations are marked as 'CLEARED' when I hover over them on the map. I remember seeing this type of note in Skyrim too, but I never learned what exactly makes a location 'CLEARED'.
I have some location cleared where I still have to pick a lock (Hardware Town). Other places I have ransacked and it still doesn't say it is CLEARED (Vault 111). Can every location become CLEARED or only certain ones and what is the criteria?
Best Answer
Fallout 4 uses the Creation Engine, previously used in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. (source)
In Skyrim, an area became cleared if you killed the boss in that area or most of the enemies in the area. (reference)
This behavior appears to have stayed the same for Fallout 4.