Fallout 76 is the most poorly received Bethesda game ever made. A reliance on grinding enemies in a multiplayer setting that had a cash shop turned many gamers away. The negative reception for this game was legendary in its volume, but Bethesda didn't abandon it.
They stuck through with Fallout 76 for 2 years now, adding new content updates and patches to morph the game into something fans wanted. Wastelanders is the newest development in this transformation, introducing NPCs and dialogue choices to the game for the first time. Both newcomers and veterans alike can get something out of this update, but Fallout 76 is nowhere near perfect. Here are 5 ways the Wastelanders update for Fallout 76 fixed the game along with 5 ways it fell short.
10 Fixed: Solo Experience
Playing solo in Fallout 76 was rather strange at launch. Engaging in PvP was based more on dueling others than all-out combat while co-op was focused more on killing enemies for loot than questing.
Thanks to the inclusion of Pacifist mode—a mode that was added before Wastelanders—and the inclusion of companions, playing solo is a much more enjoyable experience. The difficulty of Fallout 76 while leveling can be unforgiving to newer players, which is why having companions and the ability to opt-out of PvP is such a great change for anyone who wants to ignore its social systems.
9 Falls Flat:Â Tied With Main Quest
Leveling is still a rough experience for anyone wanting to try out Wastelanders. For whatever reason, Bethesda included parts of the core Fallout 76 story as a requirement to experience most of the Wastelanders story.
It makes sense from a narrative perspective, requiring the player to become Inoculated before interacting with other people. The issue is the core story is so dull and painful compared to the new content that this alone can dissuade newer players from experiencing the new questlines.
8 Fixed:Â World Investment
Appalachia is one of the best open worlds Bethesda has crafted. Since the game did not have NPCs at launch, the developers doubled down on environmental storytelling and note entries.
So much character resides within each location you visit. It was enough for some players to stick with Fallout 76, but the lack of NPCs resulted in predictable resolutions to quests. Since NPCs have been added to the game, exploring abandoned locations might reveal surviving NPCs. Appalachia still feels desolate, but it no longer feels artificial as it did at launch.
7 Falls Flat: Bullion Farming
Quests and NPCs weren't the only things added in the Wastelanders update. New weapons, armor, and faction reputation systems were introduced to give dedicated Fallout 76 players something to chase.
The grind for these items is somewhat high, however. Players must earn Gold Bullion, a new currency that has a daily cap on the amount players can earn. Weeks must be spent grinding activities for the resource to purchase the cool new items Wastelanders introduced.
6 Fixed: Performance
It's no secret that Fallout 76 ran at unacceptable frame rates at launch for consoles. Even higher-end PCs would buckle under the stress of this game. It can look pretty at times, but nothing about Fallout 76 should be reducing performance as much as it was.
Thankfully, Bethesda has made great strides to improve the performance of the game. Server issues are much more uncommon than they were on launch, making combat feel more responsive. Frame rates are much higher on both consoles and PCs as well. Stutters still exist but usually occur when loading new cells while exploring.
5 Falls Flat: Choices Only Impact Instances
There was a great opportunity for the player's choices to impact the world state to make Fallout 76 rise above Fallout 4 and even Fallout 3. This has not happened sadly, and it's likely due to 76's online nature.
Decisions you make do impact the state of the story and NPC interactions but only in instanced locations. Dynamic events and the state of locations across Appalachia disregard the player's accomplishments in the base game and Wastelanders content. This can be jarring when you complete the Wastelanders questline.
4 Fixed: Role Playing
Role-playing is back on the menu! S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats and the removal of a voiced protagonist have allowed for great character expression through dialogue choices.
Players can still use their microphones to roleplay when encountering other players, but Fallout 76 did not allow this in the base game due to a lack of a proper dialogue system. This has been remedied in Fallout 76 to great effect, arguably executing the dialogue system as well as classic Fallout titles. If you spec for a certain build, your dialogue choices and avenues of completing quests reflect that.
3 Falls Flat:Â Bugs
Bugs are part of virtually any Bethesda game going as far back as the first Elder Scrolls game. Fallout 76 is the worst offender of this, frequently breaking quests and enemy AI at random.
Strides have been made to address these issues, but it is nowhere near perfect. Wastelander quests can still bug out and fail to complete, NPCs will t-pose for seemingly no reason, and the game is still prone to crashing—although not nearly as often as it did on launch. Fallout 76 still needs serious work before it can be considered stable, and the talented modding community can't help them this time thanks to the game's online-only nature.
2 Fixed: It Feels Like Fallout
A small niche of players loved what Fallout 76 brought to the table when it released. Most players, however, found the game to be lacking core traits of a Fallout experience.
The game looked like Fallout, had the world of a Fallout game, had combat like Fallout, but it simply wasn't a Fallout game. Besides its insignificant survival mechanics, Fallout 76 felt more like a strange multiplayer mod than a proper game. Now that Wastelanders has added NPCs and proper dialogue into the game, Fallout 76 now provides a narrative and apocalyptic escapism that so many fans wanted the base game to be.
1 Falls Flat: It's Still Fallout 76
Sadly, Bethesda did not change the core Fallout 76 experience. This game, regardless of your stance on it, is a Fallout title very few asked for. Beyond its open world and borrowed systems from Fallout 4, this game is a strange experiment using the Fallout IP that most consider a complete failure.
Wastelanders had no chance of overhauling the core foundation of Fallout 76 because it would constitute making a whole new game. This isn't a No Man's Sky Beyond that overhauled virtually the entire game. Wastelanders is a great addition on top of a confused Fallout game that wants to appeal to lore fans and those who enjoy survival games with crafting. If you fall into that niche camp, Fallout 76 is a fun game. Those who couldn't stomach its different design priorities will be left disappointed with this update. Beyond this, redeeming the reputation of Bethesda and Fallout 76 will take much more than a simple update. Its broken launch, character-wiping bugs, PR disaster with duffle bags and Nuka Dark Rum, and multiple monetization methods through a subscription and cash shop make this game near-irredeemable. Wastelanders is a great step in the right direction, but Bethesda has a long way to go.