Fallout 76: The free Wastelanders expansion deserves a second trip into West Virginia

Hell, if you like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Wastelanders is potentially a better follow-up than Fallout 4.

- HAYDEN DINGMAN

To say I had low expectations for Fallout 76’s new Wastelanders expansion would be an understatement. My original Fallout 76 review was not kind (go.pcworld.com/ fl76), but at least ended on a hopeful note. “Maybe like Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda can tease a decent game out of this foundation in a year or two,” I wrote. But as time went on, and as the controversies mounted, I became less and less convinced.

Still, when Wastelanders released in April, I figured I might as well give it a shot. After all, the expansion is free for anyone who owned the game, and...well, I owned the game. Why not, right? It’s not like there’s much releasing this spring (go.pcworld. com/rlsp).

And you know what? I’m glad I gave it a shot, because it’s surprisingly solid.

SKELETONS IN THE BATHTUB

There are still myriad issues with Fallout 76, don’t get me wrong. As far as I’m concerned, it gains very little from being an always-online multiplayer experience, but it certainly loses a lot.

Moment-to-moment combat (and there’s a lot of it in Fallout 76) is particularly underwhelming. The real-time conceit means VATS is essentially useless—which would be disappointing but not the end of the world, except that playing Fallout 76 as a standard shooter isn’t fun either. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fired a shot at an unsuspecting ghoul’s head only for the game to tell me I “missed.” I’m no