It is the Dark Souls of comebacks.
The more I think about Fallout 76 and the game’s existence post-Wastelanders update, the more I can’t help but draw comparisons to Hello Games and the revival that No Man’s Sky went through in the year following release. Much like No Man’s Sky, Fallout 76 has gone through a revision to bring the game more in line with what players initially wanted out of it.
I said more in line, not perfectly in line.
Fallout 76 has moments where it looks really good and those where it looks not so great, which sets the game up for some incredible one-shots depending on how you want to frame the title. The inclusion of NPCs and their related quests makes the game feel more like Fallout, but not quite like the clone of Fallout 4 that the recycled assets would have you believe it is.
Despite all of the changes in this new build, Fallout 76 is still Fallout 76. Much like when No Man’s Sky launched its 2.0 update, I noted that anyone who didn’t like the core gameplay loop would not find anything to come back to. You will still deal with sudden gameplay breaking lag, shoddy hit detection, and the game just randomly breaking. The cash shop is still chock full of items including arguably pay to win mechanics, modding is still not in the game and private servers are still locked behind a ridiculously priced premium subscription.
In short; If you stayed away from Fallout 76 for reasons other than ‘it has no NPCs,’ it is probably safe to say that none of your gripes have been addressed or fixed.
The Wastelanders update has also not changed that signature Bethesda incompetence. In a twist that could only come out of this studio, the Wastelanders update introduced a bug where unkillable NPCs are robbing players of their weapons. If you believe the internet commentary this is because Bethesda recycled AI from prior games and forgot to turn that function off. This explanation works for me and fits with Bethesda being Bethesda.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen much proof that the corporate culture at Bethesda that has led to a steady degradation in development quality has changed or has any intentions of changing. Has Wastelanders lifted my outlook for a Fallout 5, Elder Scrolls 6, or Starlight? Not in the slightest.
If you really want to check out Fallout 76, I recommend picking it up on console where pre-owned prices are generally through the floor ($10 at Gamestop). Don’t pay more than $10 for this game. If you already own it, there is nothing lost outside of time by downloading it again to check out the update.
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