Fallout 76 is a Mess that I Enjoy for Specific Reasons

Despite the multitude of arguably offensive flaws, I am having a really good time with Fallout 76. Although, I must admit that I am a member of the game’s super specific target audience. Built on the framework established by Fallout 4, which was built on surprisingly old Creation Engine, Fallout 76 feels more like an ambitious mod or expansion than a new game. That aside, the setting of West Virginia, being able to traverse the Wasteland with friends, an abundance of new creatures to fight, and lots of items to collect keeps me coming back for more.

Fallout 76 is an experiment more than anything else. Bethesda rarely goes into the realm of multiplayer and really only do so with their published titles. Elder Scrolls Online has its audience and it is constantly expanding, but never tapped into the vast majority of Elder Scrolls players. Doom had it’s classic deathmatch modes but also didn’t hit that sweet spot that they’re still looking to capture with Quake Champions.

Fallout 76 is a multiplayer survival title that focuses on a much smaller pool of players on a server rather than the framerate crashing masses found in an MMO. Imagine Fallout 4 with the ability for others to run around as well. When it works (we’ll get to the downsides shortly) playing Fallout with a group is pretty awesome. Firefights are easier to manage with more people and exploring with others can be extremely engaging. West Virginia is captured fairly well, focusing on the general outline than actual realism. This means that certain areas of the map have been shifted a bit and for those familiar with the state it can get a bit confusing. Either way, it is incredible to come upon the capitol building in Charleston or walk the remnants of the Morgantown Airport.

This is why I consider myself awfully biased when it comes to my enjoyment and tolerance of the game’s less-than-stellar design choices. I grew up in rural West Virginia and spent much of my life traveling all over the state. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get to school every day. Twenty-five of my twenty-seven years of life were spent in those mountains and my family fit the Appalachian mold to the letter. Some of my earliest memories involve sitting on a porch while family members plucked away at their banjos, guitars, and fiddles. Running around in a place I have such fond memories of in a significant way in gaming is just enthralling for me. I currently live in Alaska and have plans to move to Oregon with no intentions of living in West Virginia while the economy is in the shape its in. Now, I can enjoy some of the positives of West Virginian culture in my favorite artistic medium from the comfort of my desk chair or my couch with friends that I made in that state and that’s pretty special.

West Virginia is marbled with monster stories and that has been recreated in Fallout 76. Just about everyone knows about the iconic Mothman that is supposedly an omen of destruction that was said to be responsible for the fall of a bridge in Point Pleasant. However, more obscure folklore also made into the game like the Night Kid, the Green Monster of Flatwoods, and the Grafton Monster just to name a few. It’s wild to see these old tales come to life and then take them down in a barrage of bullets.

While facing cryptids is exciting, actually doing so feels dated. Combat in Fallout 76 is not great, mostly due to the stiffness and slight delay on actions. In Fallout 4 this was mitigated by the VATS system that helped define Fallout 3 but in Fallout 76 VATS is a glorified auto-aim that rarely works and is really hard to use. In previous games, VATS would slow down time to give players a chance to really consider their options, but in Fallout 76 there is no pausing due to it being an online game. Sometimes, I use VATS in single target eliminations, but it is a death sentence when fighting large groups or fast-moving enemies. Most of the time if I’m facing a smaller enemy, I just switch to a melee weapon and hope for the best.

The other aspect sorely missing from Fallout 76 is the NPCs that fans have grown to really enjoy in these games. There are no real NPCs in Fallout 76 with no dialogue options to be found. Instead, there are robots and the occasional super mutant that will say a line or two, offer a quest objective or be a shop where players can buy items. This makes almost every interaction feel disingenuous and using the shops can be an exercise in frustration with high prices and only a small amount of caps being held by those shopkeepers. Add in the cumbersome menu system that hasn’t really changed since Fallout 3 and it just feels awkward.

Almost every aspect of Fallout 76’s world-building is done through holotapes (the audio diaries of characters) and terminals. This means that players will frequently pick up recorded messages that bring the game’s pacing to a crawl for those trying to pay attention, let alone those trying to talk with others. Reading message after message on the game’s various terminals also gets old really quick. Sadly, some of the writing and voice acting is pretty solid but there is little reason for the player to actively pursue these stories when it’s made apparent that all other humanoids are dead. When all of the stories result in finding a skeleton and a holotape, they start to lose their charm almost immediately.

It is a shame really that this had to be the case, as there are some quests that are genuinely interesting. So far, my favorite questline involved the Order of Mysteries, a group of super spies chasing down myths that were led by a woman who portrayed the Mistress of Mystery in the Silver Shroud radio dramas. The questline involved becoming a member and taking missions in a secret base underneath an old mansion, piecing together artifacts, and developing stealth technology. The whole air of the missions was really exciting, but I can’t help but feel that they would have been so much better if there were some living members of the Order to interact with. Aside from this mission set, there have been few to really grab my attention beyond being an end to the means of getting more loot and leveling up.

Speaking of, leveling up in Fallout 76 is pretty interesting. Players unlock Perk Cards tied to each of the SPECIAL stats with more options becoming available the higher the stat. Having a 10 in Luck, for example, allows the player to equip ten points worth of perks with the ability to swap them around at will. This made for really fluid tinkering and decision making, but when it comes to just having skills like Lockpicking I wish that I didn’t have to constantly flop around my cards. Having those sort of utility skills should just add to the character as a separate system with the actual perks focusing on the more gameplay altering abilities.

Being able to level with friends will likely be the main drive for most players but mileage will vary due to the game’s current unstable state. There has been a massive patch put out that supposedly addresses some of the issues, but the whole system seems pretty flawed. Players can run into disconnections, items occasionally disappearing, and enemies having really sporadic movement. There are also a few exploits from Fallout 4 that players have found to be functional in Fallout 76 and many of the bugs will also feel familiar. With modders fixing most of these issues in Fallout 4 shortly after its launch, it’s downright asinine that these issues are still present. With Fallout 76 launching at the full $59.99 price tag, a lot of players felt swindled and angry.

While many of the bugs and glitches should have been ironed out before launch, I still personally have hope for the future of the game through updates. However, there is a large potential for the game’s player base to be exploited through microtransactions. There is already the Atom Store, where players can buy costumes, skins, and emotes through the Atom currency. Luckily, players frequently earn Atom through achievements, but I’ve seen enough shady and predatory systems to see the low-hanging fruit Bethesda could be setting up.

There’s also the question of mod support. When private servers become available, which Bethesda has talked about supporting, later on, mods will be a huge appeal for many players, particularly on PC. There are already a few workarounds that can get mods into the game, but that could cause some issues for players using them. This may be to protect PVP and player-driven economies, but those systems are already a mess. Player-vs-player is just not fun in Fallout 76, especially when there are more potential rewards from co-operative play.

Lastly, I am worried about the ability of people from West Virginia to play the game at all. Online speeds are well below average in the state and with a forced online connection many of those players are unable to connect. I would really like to see an offline option become available once private servers become available, but this irony has bothered me since the game’s announcement. Also, the game’s preservation becomes an issue with the shift towards a more games-as-service model.

With the majority of modern open-world games doing world-building much better, there’s little reason to recommend Fallout 76 to most players. Those seeking for a fun co-op shooter should probably jump into Destiny 2 and those wanting a co-operative challenge should try Monster Hunter World or the recently released Diablo 3: Eternal Collection on Switch. Fallout fans will probably have more fun exploring mods on Fallout 4 and those wanting some really good shooting action from Bethesda need to go through Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus at least once. Fallout is such a cool setting and I would love to see the fine-tuned mechanics of Destiny added to the rich worlds of Fallout. That or a linear shooter set in the Fallout universe. Either project concept has extreme potential. In its current state though, Fallout 76 will feel like a disappointment and a cash grab for most players.

However, if you have a fondness for West Virginia, love the Fallout theming, and can put up with a lot of frustrating bugs and design choices then Fallout 76 can provide lots of hours of Wasteland-stomping fun. Everyone else should probably wait for improvements.

Digital copies of Fallout 76 were provided to the Reviewer by Bethesda for Review Purposes. More information, news, and server status can be found at the official Fallout 76 website.