If it's been a while since Fallout 76 has been on anyone's minds recently, not many would blame them. While in concept this multiplayer online adventure seemed like an interesting evolution for the Fallout series, in execution the game was largely panned for a variety of reasons. Tons of technical issues, lack of meaningful content, and a jarringly expensive subscription service to access the game's premium content just name a few common complaints. Among a litany of other circumstantial shortcomings, this game has had a justifiably bad reputation it simply cannot shake.
Now, with Bethesda releasing Fallout 76: Wastelanders this week, it seems the game is attempting to gain a second wind. Despite all of the controversy and outcry, the game has stuck around while Bethesda has worked to improve the experience. This latest DLC appears to be the fruit of its labor, and while it's not necessarily Fallout 76's saving grace, the expansion is taking the game in a positive direction.
Fallout 76: Welcome to the Wastelands
With Fallout 76: Wastelanders now out, the expansion brings tons of substantial and incremental changes to improve the experience. The most important change comes from the inclusion of NPCs for the first time, an integral part of the single-player Fallout games that was sorely missed in 76. NPCs have incorporated quest lines for new and existing players throughout the experience. Interacting with them utilizes players' SPECIAL attributes in typical Fallout dialogue trees, and they can also be hired as companions for the player's camp (though they cannot leave the confines of the camp).
There's also additional NPC factions across the map as well that players can encounter when exploring. Each individual faction, the Settlers and the Raiders, has a reputation system associated with it where the players actions can positively and negatively impact their impression to the faction. As reputation builds, players gain access to more quest lines as well as faction-exclusive rewards. All of this is guided by a new main questline for all players, veterans and newbies alike. Other than a required level 20 roadblock halfway through the main quest line, there's about 10 or so hours of the main quest content in the game.
That's not to mention the variety of balance patches and fixes that have shipped for the game since the base release. Many are reporting drastically less frame drops, texture issues, or any glaring issues with the Wastelanders expansion as well. Overall, there's a ton of extra content being added to the base game, but many are wondering if it's enough to bring players back or keep existing players around.
Righting the Course for Fallout 76
As a result, Fallout 76: Wastelanders' world has become vastly more populated and interesting to explore compared to the base game. Especially with no additional cost other than buying the base game, Wastelanders is poised to be the game Fallout 76 was always meant to be, but despite the improvements, this isn't a Final Fantasy 14 rebirth like many are hoping for or expect from Fallout 76. While critics and fans alike are praising the latest expansion, many have echoed the opinion that its just one step forward. Regardless of the performance and balance patches that have already come to Fallout 76 to make it a stable game, Wastelanders is still built on the base experience no matter how much has improved.
That's not to say Fallout 76 cannot become a great game, rather if players still have issues with the game's inherent design, then Wastelanders isn't the renaissance of the game. Fans still have to deal with many of the core choices made for Fallout 76's development and overarching design. Adding NPCs was a pivotal improvement to the game, but the game is still the always-online world in the base game. Quest lines will not update interactions with the world simply because only one player finished it. There will still be the prevalent duplication glitches people are using to monetize weapons in the game world, even after the Wastelanders update. There will still be the typical Bethesda glitches, or rather quirks, of their titles.
Fallout 76: A Promising Future?
Inherent design aside, this expansion could be the revival that Fallout 76 needs, or at the very least the momentum required to continue improving the experience. Slowly but surely players have returned to Appalachia both before and after the Wastelanders update, returning to a game that's become a much better player experience. The base release of Fallout 76 was plagued with performance issues galore; inconsistent frame drops across environments, textures not loading or erroring out, enemies T-posing and not interacting, etc. Now many of these performance problems have been mitigated. Not to mention every new feature Wastelanders brings along with it.
Even though this game has seen plenty of evolution, fans still know Fallout 76 is a Fallout game, and with it comes a certain pedigree. There's still the itch to explore the post-apocalyptic world full of charm and eccentricity Fallout games are known for. The latest outing in West Virginia still has plenty of lore and landmarks to explore in its world. Now with NPCs added back, a lot of the soul of Fallout has returned to Fallout 76 for the first time in years. As long as development for the game continues to expand the game with events and other expansions, Fallout 76 could still mount an impressive comeback with Wastelanders' momentum.
Fallout 76 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
