Falling for Fallout

With the great success of the new Fallout show on Amazon Prime, I’m sure many fans both old and new are taking up adventures in the Wasteland. There’s Fallout 1, 2, and tactics on the PC for really old school fans. Fallout 3 is when Bethesda took over, expanding upon the world and creating an immersive story leading you out of the vault to make your choices of what kind of character you want to be. It’s still a favorite of many fans. New Vegas was made by Obsidian and was personally one of my first collector’s editions ever bought. It introduced a non-vault dweller story, many factions, more choices, and a crazy, wild west world to explore. People mostly like New Vegas. Fallout 4 fancied things up a little and added a lot with building and crafting, which fans either loved or hated. It also went back a bit before life inside the vaults. Overall, though a smidge more divisive, Fallout 4 was still generally liked.

Then came Fallout 76 and it was… pretty much universally hated.

Still if you look at review pages, you’ll see people complaining about this game as if Bethesda had some personal vendetta to make a game that was completely upsetting to them. When the game first came out, it was quite empty and worse yet, boring. Griefers ran amok of people who did play, so new players would get killed pretty quick and give up. The community just was not there at the beginning.

But, does it still deserve all the hate after all these years? Honestly, no. Despite bashing and constant outcry, the game was worked on and is in a much better state today. It can still feel a little empty at times in the big world of Appalachia, but is greatly helped by the addition of the NPCs and extra stories. Like the other Fallouts, you’ll now find places to explore and interesting characters to meet. Another change is that you do not have to play in a way that puts you against other players. There are now more options as to how you want to play your game, whether it be solo, with friends, or against enemies. The game looks great and plays fairly well. Of course there’s typical glitches Bethesda is known for, but they tend to be more silly.

Now, that is not to say that it is a perfect game or even the best Fallout. There are microtransactions, which though mainly cosmetic, is annoying in a full priced game. They also have some stuff like private servers hid behind a subscription. Again, that is not ideal. However, I would argue 76 is worth giving another chance, just with no expectations or prior judgements. Try it with a clean slate. I think many that like the other Fallout games and content would still enjoy it. I’ve been liking the Responders storyline, learning about the survivors, and making my camp in this playthrough. Personally, I play solo, though I do want to maybe have a character for playing with friends.

All in all, just give it a shot. Especially if you are liking the show. It’s on Gamepass for both console and PC. Worst comes to worse, you still don’t like it and you just go back to another Fallout. Either way, have fun and enjoy your time in the Wasteland!