Fallout76 was free last week, so I took it for a spin. It was exactly what I thought it would be (I played for all of about 30 minutes, so this is a really in-depth review!)
The big problem, one that might be fixed soonish, is that F76 does not have NPCs like all previous Fallout games (and all RPG games since the dawn of time). Knowing this, F76 immediately feels empty. You start in the vault, but you are the only human in it. Robots guide you along, as you walk a linear path picking up your starting gear before exiting out (Also: nothing says ‘this is a shit-tier Fallout game’ like starting on a linear path that spoon-feeds you until dropping you outside).
That initial experience is just shockingly empty compared to previous Fallout games. In Fallout 3, you also start in a vault, but as a child surrounded by other humans, including your family. Shortly after leaving the vault, you had to a fairly large settlement of humans that gets you rolling. Fallout: New Vegas has you literally starting in a human town, with the first interaction being with a doctor, and then you go on to save/destroy said town and its people. In Fallout 4, the game starts in a pre-war town filled with people, the first cutscene/interaction is all about people/family, and the first gameplay out of the vault is about finding people as well. In F76, its gtfo out of the vault, you have junk to go collect. I think. Who knows, since there is no one to tell you why you might care to be here.
If you ever wondered what a Fallout game would be like if you removed all the story, all the reasons why you might play and care, F76 is the answer. It’s the same gameplay, the same systems, basically the same world, just empty of reasons to care. And the problem is, Fallout was never about the great shooting mechanics (they suck compared to a shooter), or the deep character building (min/max’ing in Fallout is boring and broken, with the system usually shining in allowing you to do silly stuff for RP reasons), or the crafting (like 99% of crafting systems, it blows and is just a reason to make you hate the inventory management system).
I imagine F76 can be salvaged, but only if the RPG is added back into the game, which would be an almost 180 turn from what Bethesda set out to achieve with the game. Which looks, that’s fine. It would be good; another actual Fallout game, even if it arrives a few years after the games actual launch. But for now, F76 feels as dead as a world hit with a nuke :rimshot:
Hardcore Casual 
“I played for all of about 30 minutes, so this is a really in-depth review!”
EuroGamer called, they wanted me to tell you they’re hiring.
Or is that reference too old?
Also, are you trying to tell me that piling a battle royale mode on top of this won’t turn this game into gold?
Was going to add a reference to EG, but figured it was too old for most, and those who remember would get it anyway.
I played for several hours during the free weekend. I thought it was better than expected based on reviews. For example were a lot of quests to do when I had heard you just wonder around the world finding your own things to do. One problem was it had group events that mostly were ignored by the other players after the first one in the starting area. The world was too big for the number of players. I concluded it would still be fun in a private server setting if had a large group.
I played for several hours during the free weekend. I thought it was better than expected based on reviews. For example were a lot of quests to do when I had heard you just wonder around the world finding your own things to do. One problem was it had group events that mostly were ignored by the other players after the first one in the starting area. The world was too big for the number of players. I concluded it would still be fun in a private server setting if had a large group.
They are finally sending out the canvas bags from the Power Armor edition of the game, so people will be getting a reminder for a game they are mostly likely not still playing.
Are there many multiplayer survival games out there with a strong RPG aspect? Conan Exiles does have a very basic story and some nice NPC towns, but that’s the only one I can think of. Rust doesn’t, don’t know enough about Ark, but cursory googling suggests nothing beyond the most rudimentary.
Fallout 76 isn’t dead! It’s just targeted at a different group of players – the bring-your-own-posse the-world-is-your-playground populate-the-sandbox-yourselves make-your-own-fun subset.
Too bad most of the posse is off playing other far more interesting games.
Is it ever worth using your established IP to attract an entirely different audience? I don’t mean the widespread and varied use of an IP for multiple genres, as is often the case with IPs that transplant from one medium to another (Star Wars, Lego, Conan etc) but for IPs that were developed in-house for the specific purpose of hanging a series of video games on them (The Sims, The Secret World etc)?
I guess it must be in theory – after all, that’s how we ended up with World of Warcraft and it worked to a lesser extent for ESO and Final Fantasy – but it also risks royally pissing off your existing audience while flying straight under the radar of everyone else.
I think an IP going into a different genre is fine. The issue here is F76 was originally pitched as a core Fallout game, just with some multiplayer, but instead its basically a Rust reskin using the Fallout IP. Plus by now going back and adding more of the RPG stuff that was originally cut, it shows that even the devs want F76 to be more of a Fallout game. Maybe they get it to that point soonish.
You’re an idiot
What a well thought out and logical argument you present. You must be highly intelligent. Oh wait no supportive material presented at all. Who is the idiot?
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Yeah but what about the Battle Royale?!?! FUCK YEAH BATTLE ROYALE!
They could of just made fallout five follow the formula and people would be all about it. Because you are right it’s not the greatest shooter, not the best graphics, relies on mods or patches because the engine is dated etc. But what has always captured the hearts of fallout fans was the story, characters setting and even little nuanced instances that played out when you happened across what in most games would be considered an insignificant scene.
The whole sandbox thing would of worked better if it was persistent even when you logged. Because wandering around the wasteland admiring people’s work would of been great. Not having a combat system that was completely nerfed. You can’t have open world build and not expect some raiders ..especially when they took them out . You might as well play Minecraft with a fallout mod at that point .
When