FALLOUT 76
Say hello to the latest addition to the nuclear family
No, Bethesda didn’t release another 71 entries while you weren’t looking. 76 is the number of the vault you exit at the beginning of the game, as you start exploring a devastated West Virginia long before the events of the other titles. As an online-only experience, this is – both for better and for worse – a new type of Fallout. It’s a single-player series venturing into an MMO landscape, so there are shocks in store for series fans. Perhaps you’re excited about launching a nuke, or battling a Scorchbeast, the new dragonlike enemy type. You can absolutely do these things… eventually. These are endgame activities that a solo, low-level player has little chance of success in. Expect to put dozens of hours in before trying either of those things.
FALLOUT BOYS
There are, infamously, no human NPCs now. Nonetheless, alongside the repeating MMO events and general exploration to be had, there’s still a structured (and extremely lengthy) story, largely told through documents and recordings. How much attention you pay to it is up to you, though it’s a good way to discover new locations, weapons, enemies, and items. It’s hard to deny, though, that the world would feel more – to be honest – interesting with human NPCs to chat to.
Saying that every human in the game will be another player is a great PR bullet point, but the fact is I’ve never seen more than 16 players spread across the enormous map at any one time (usually it’s about ten). It’s very easy to go several hours without seeing another player, unless you specifically seek them out (or they seek you).
This has interesting side effects, though. The overall sense of loneliness means this is arguably the most convincing depiction of a desolate, dangerous post-apocalyptic world to date. That makes for great atmosphere. Then, when you do come across another player, you’ll sometimes find that they cautiously raise their gun, waiting to see whether or not you’re friendly. There’s a Wanted system in place to punish those who kill players not interested in PvP combat, but it never hurts to be careful.
When you die, you retain important items such as armour and weapons, but you lose crafting items you were carrying (or someone will loot them) if you don’t go back for them. You need to keep an eye on your hunger and thirst, though this is easy to keep on top of to the point of questioning whether this minor annoyance shouldn’t have been left out altogether.
CRAFTY SO AND SO
Your weapons and armour degrade with use, meaning you have to repair or replace them.
“THE MOST CONVINCING DEPICTION OF A DESOLATE, POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD.”
As a consequence, constantly grabbing random junk is more important than ever, especially if you want to create items to build up a half-decent camp in the wasteland or, y’know feed yourself. Overall, rather than feeling like tedious busywork, the crafting element is actually easy to get to grips with and rather good fun.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of fighting to be done in this game, whether you’re dealing with a Deathclaw or shooting up the new ghoul-like Scorched (yes, this game’s set before the others – there’s a clever explanation for why they don’t appear in entries set further in the future). Gunplay is as slightly awkward, as it’s always been in Fallout, and the realtime implementation of the (optional) VATS system is only semi-successful. Because of rather than despite the faults, successful hits – especially headshots – are immensely satisfying, and combat always remains engaging (if still distinctly imperfect).
Awkwardness abounds when it comes to introducing MMO elements. You can fast travel to previously visited locations, but this now costs Caps, also used for trading with robots and players. The map is huge, and running drains Action Points, so this feels slightly unfair. Also, it’s great that we still have notes and terminal entries to read and holotapes to listen to, but this sort of thing isn’t ideal when playing with others, who won’t want to twiddle their thumbs while you soak up the lore. It’s a good game, but one that seems unsure exactly what sort of game it wants to be.
VERDICT
It seems war does change things after all. If you’re expecting this release to be Fallout 5, then yes, you’ll be disappointed. Approach with an open mind, and you may be nicely surprised. Luke Kemp