Back in 2018,Fallout 76earned its title of being one of the worst games in the series. At the time of its launch, the game was riddled with bugs, unstable servers, performance issues, and lackluster gameplay. Bethesda rushed to release patch out the many problems with the online action RPG, but it was to no avail as it couldn’t bring players back to the title.
Taking the series and turning it into an online service game was a risk that Bethesda was willing to take, but it ended up backfiring. Besides technical problems, one of the main issues was that the only humans you’d encounter throughout the game would be other people playing online. As a result, you had a wasteland that was decidedly lacking in life.
A lot of people, including myself, believed that Fallout 76 would just be a flop that everyone would forget about. However, Bethesda didn’t give up hope on their project. As time went on, we saw more updates implemented in 76 fixing all of its issues. Along with this, 76’s battle royale mode Nuclear Winter was also released in June 2019. Following that, NPCs were added in the game’sWastelandersexpansion in April 2020.
RELATED:Most Interesting Weapons In Gaming
Even though some were skeptical about it, the Wastelanders update was the beginning of Fallout 76’s redemption. Not only did it bring back players who gave up on the game, but it also brought new ones as well. Bethesda was listening to player feedback as they corrected their mistakes such as making the game solo-player friendly and adding more story content for people to enjoy. The game has also received quality-of-life updates fixing performance issues and bugs.
Since then, Bethesda has been taking good care of Fallout 76, releasing major content updates like Invaders From Beyond in March 2022, which added new missions, encounters, public events, and much more. Aroadmapwas even released showcasing all the DLC that Bethesda plans to release throughout 2022. During an interview withAusGamers, Fallout 76 design director Mark Tucker stated that they even enacted a five-year plan promising to keep new content coming to the sort-of MMO at least up until 2027.
Having not played Fallout 76 since about a week after its launch, I decided to hop back in when the Wastlanders update landed, andmanit felt like a whole new game. Being able to see NPCs milling around, and having missions that were actually engaging overhauled the experience for me. Plus with all the performance issues fixed I didn’t have to worry about the game crashing and losing my progress.Appalachiais now filled with quests, raids, and world events to keep me busy. It feelsalive.
My friends and I were playing the Invaders from Beyond event quest, and it was non-stop fun - lasers and explosions everywhere you looked. The extraterrestrial life in Appalachia is a great twist, and the questline itself has you taking on alien armies and generals as they beam down to take over what’s left of Earth. The final boss is a Galactic General who acts as a mini raid. Defeating him with other players made it feel like we were humanity’s last hope. Then, after you completed the main quests, world events would pop up in which had you fighting any stragglers. It was extremely well executed.
The Wastelanders update let players get embroiled with different factions such as the Raiders or Secret Service. You don’t have to be loyal to a certain faction (which may put offsomeRPG purists), so feel free to try them all.
Today, Fallout 76 finally looks like Fallout 4 turned into an online game, which is what a majority were initially expecting. It has that MMO feel where you can socialize, trade, and group up with strangers on a whim. If you’re worried that it’s too late, it’s not. New players are joining Appalachia daily, and you don’t have to worry about skill level or anything along those lines. Everything is scaled to your level, meaning that if someone in your party is higher, the enemies remain at your skill level.
During the game’s launch, there wasn’t a proper way to play solo as everything felt designed for group play. For example, the game had perk cards with effects such as “+10 damage if in a party” on them, so if you weren’t in a squad then it would be useless. Almost all the cards were initially designed that way. Fast-forward to today, the entire game can be played solo. You’ll still see other players fighting alongside you, but you’re not forced to interact with them.
That being said, Fallout 76 is best enjoyed with a group of friends. There’s something special about trying to take down a world boss while screaming your head off with your mates. On a recent expedition into the wasteland, a group of us was trying to discover every location on our map, and unknowingly stumbled upon a Deathclaw enclave. As soon as we did this, a giant Deathclaw rose from the ground and chased us. Even though we tried to kill it, we were all outmatched and unprepared so all we could do was run. Let’s just say that not all of us made it out alive.The combat and firefights are the right kind of chaotic, and actually replicate the pretty decent gunplay of Fallout 4 very well.
With the recent launch of The Pitt expansion, new players get extra supplies like healing items and crafting parts when they start the game to help expedite some earlier segments. In the DLC you may experience the new Expeditions feature which are large scaled PvE story-based missions that take you outside of Appalachia. I’m yet to set foot in this new territory, but rest assured that my fellow wasteland wanderers and I are already planning our expedition and will report back on it shortly.
Fallout 76 has changed for the better over the years. The servers don’t randomly kick you out, the monster you shoot doesn’t have an immunity glitch anymore, and there’s actually stuff you may do now. It feels good to be back.
Next:Fallout 76 Legendary Cores - What Are They & How To Get
