Fallout 76

FALLOUT’S FIRST ONLINE MULTIPLAYER FORAY IS BOLD BUT OFTEN BORING.

- Chris Burke

When we first heard about a persistently online multiplayer version of Fallout, we were excited. There were some concerns, but we had faith if only because the MMO version of the publishers’ fantasy counterpart, The Elder Scrolls, is so good. Surely, we reasoned, Bethesda would invest its apocalypse with at the very least the things that work so well in Tamriel? We were wrong, and as huge Fallout fans, that makes us particularly sad.

The conceit of Fallout 76 is that you and the 23 other players in your instance are the first humans out of the Vaults, 25 years after nuclear armageddon – so you won’t find any other human NPCs to interact with. The idea being that this ramps up the drama and survival imperative, as well as making you play with other real humans to rebuild the world and make your own personal stories.

At best, this is inconsistent, at worst, Bethesda is kind of cheating. So there are none of the familiar raider gangs that used to provide ready target practice, caps and gear in Fallouts 3-4. But there are something called The Scorched – ghouls that can use guns. So, the difference from Raiders is only that they don’t talk as much. There are no human NPC vendors to trade with. But there are robots who have shops. So the difference from human NPC traders is… they don’t talk as much. Ditto, quest givers – robots, not humans. Still NPCs, but now lacking back stories and personality.

And there were human survivors outside the Vaults, because there are quests gleaned from letters and holotapes that will lead you to corpses. There’s evidence of raider gangs, and people surviving for years after the apocalypse. What happened to them? Why is there