It is extremely difficult to think or talk about Fallout 76 without looking at the numerous contexts around it. The game’s release was a legendary blunder. The game’s state was nothing short of atrocious. Fans who spent extra on special editions struggled to get their extra goodies and found them not how they were advertised once they arrived. That was the first context of 76 – a shoddy live service title that struggled to translate the foundation of Fallout 4 to a multiplayer survival game. Its second context was its attempted revival at the hands of dedicated developers, which was similar to the redemption tale of No Man’s Sky.
Now, the Fallout show has released to generally favorable reviews, introducing a new context as viewers flock to 76 to live out their apocalyptic fantasies with their friends. Fallout 76 was originally released in 2018, so I wanted to see what it is like to play for the very first time almost six years afterward. So, let’s head to the Appalachian wasteland and see how it looks.
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Like many Fallout games 76 starts with players in a vault. Players in this game are introduced to the world as residents of Vault 76, a vault of America’s finest minds. Its express purpose was to open far earlier than the other vaults scattered throughout the world, allowing its residents to begin reclaiming the waiting wasteland. The opening of Fallout 76 has remained almost entirely unchanged since the title’s launch and it unfortunately shows.
After customizing a character players pop into existence in Vault 76 with little fanfare or introduction. They are told that it is the day when all the residents of the vault are set to head out into the wasteland to reclaim it for modern civilization. But the other residents of Vault 76 are nowhere to be seen. Instead, the vault is little more than a long hallway with cardboard dioramas set up to provide exposition and tutorials. Each one comes with a few spare pieces of equipment like some stimpaks or some food, but that’s it.
Overall, it is a woeful introduction as far as Fallout games go. There is so little effort into introducing the world, a main quest, or the player’s role in the world and it can be completed in less than ten minutes. Having a brief introduction would be nice in a more traditional Bethesda title where players are encouraged to play multiple times, but Fallout 76 actively dissuades players from ever restarting.
Once players leave the vault, they are greeted by an iconic Mr Handy robot that delivers some rough directions to start the launch main questline. But they are also greeted with one of the first large updates that 76 received after launch: human NPCs. Yes, that’s right, Fallout 76 launched without any human characters for players to interact with. Instead, the majority of quests were handled entirely by finding logs on computers, holotape recordings, or the rare robot NPC. It was not released until two years after the original game, but at least it is there now, right?
Well, not so much. To put it succinctly, the human NPCs in Fallout 76 feel completely bolted to a game that was clearly designed to be a ghost town. Many quests are still completely absent of NPC characters despite possibly benefiting a lot from their inclusion.
There also are no real hubs of humans, like cities or settlements, other than camps of raiders. Sure, the Appalachian Wasteland is one of the youngest players have been able to explore thus far, but there is a big missed opportunity for players to explore the wasteland while it’s being formed here. Instead, most of the NPCs players meet are just randomly placed in the world in nonsensical spots just chopping wood to sell or some other nonsensical task.
Adding to the feeling of updates feeling poorly integrated into the full experience is how the player is given three main quests right when they leave Vault 76. There is the original main quest that deals with the player tracking down the leader of the vault, the Wastelanders quest that was added alongside human NPCs, and a Brotherhood of Steel main quest that is the most recent.
Giving players the ability to jump into the content that they want right off the bat is not bad in its own right, but it does making starting now feel a bit aimless and overwhelming. There is no guidance on what to tackle first, no feeling of meaningful progression as you make your way through it, and no quest content to aim for as you level up. Of course, it also doesn’t help that all of the quests in 76 are some of the absolute worst the series has ever hosted.
Where 76 succeeds, however, is its leveling. When first starting players can choose to start at level 20 with a prebuilt set of perks and equipment built around themes like using shotguns or melee weapons. This higher starting level is a great way to get newcomers into the game’s mechanics faster than they otherwise would. Leveling in 76 is all about perks that are distributed as cards in packs.
As players level they also level up their S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes, allowing them to equip more perk cards for each stat according to that stats level. Duplicate cards can also be combined to make them more powerful, and they can be switched around at any time. This allows players to make multiple builds for different situations or activities.
For example, I started playing with a friend that wanted to use assault rifles. So, I started with the shotgunner build and mixed in some perks that allowed me to heal him with my stimpaks and gave us both increased experience while playing together. Then, while I was playing alone I built a second option that gave me bonuses for playing alone and that was more focused on stealth combat with silenced pistols and sniper rifles. The freedom to tweak my build at any time was great to be able to experiment and play around with, as well as allowing players to spend much more time with a single character.
Speaking of playing with friends, 76‘s approach to co-op is disappointingly narrow. Players can technically quest together, but it is the worst implementation possible. Want to share quest progress so that you don’t both have to grab every quest item? Nope. Want to have conversations with NPCs together or enter instanced quest zones at the same time? Nah.
How about just sharing quest progress or being able to share quests with one another to stay on the same page? Not a chance. Co-op questing is technically possible in Fallout 76, but only if you and your friends are willing to deal with every point in the process trying to hinder you.
But there is more to do in Fallout 76 than just quest. The problem is that none of that is particularly fun, either. Most of the mechanics in 76 are taken directly from Fallout 4. The base building has the same clunky systems that can lead to fun creations if you have the patience. Combat is identical except for VATS working in real-time and enemy programming struggling to deal with the more expanded and open map design. If you are someone who enjoyed the base building and combat mechanics of Fallout 4, you will likely find a lot to enjoy in 76. If not, then there isn’t much else here for you.
Developing a Fallout game with online multiplayer makes perfect sense, especially after the success of Zenimax Online’s own The Elder Scrolls Online. I remember being excited when Fallout 76 was first announced just because of the premise and how much fun it is to play Bethesda RPGs with others through unofficial mods. Unfortunately, it just isn’t enough in Fallout 76. Too much is sacrificed in the name of an MMO-like experience without gaining enough in return.
I’m sure that after watching the show, plenty of people will want to explore the wasteland with their friends, but we all deserve a much better way to do so than Fallout 76. It just hasn’t enjoyed the redemptive arc that other games have in recent memory.
Fallout 76 is currently 80% off on steam and free to play on Xbox Game Pass.
