After the Fallout series, maybe try Fallout 76

Fallout 76 was a complete disaster upon launch, but has had to regain players’ trust over the years. Did you make it? I’d say it’s been in good shape for about three years or so. In fact, I was chatting about how you should play Starfield last year before it was released. Now, with the staggeringly great Fallout series out in the wild, perhaps now is the perfect time to dive in for the first time or go back and see what’s changed.

Turns out things have been so good in Appalachia lately that even Sheograh himself, Wes Johnson, was in attendance for the game’s fifth birthday. The massive game continues to receive new content, seasons, and tons of updates that continually patch an online role-playing game that was originally called Rust but Fallout (and it’s terrible). So far, some Fallout diehards are even claiming it’s better than some of the single-player games.

So, what exactly happened? I would say the biggest leap occurred in the spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s when the Wastelanders update arrived, redesigning the already working game into a “Fallout but online” RPG, but it wasn’t delivered at launch. You know, there’s the traditional main quest, human NPCs, factions, dialogue systems, etc. The game changed overnight and new players started joining.

Despite some season-related snags and an increased demand for endgame content (as usual), Fallout 76 has been progressing smoothly since then without being on most people’s radar. In today’s overcrowded market, especially when it comes to online games that require a fair amount of attention, it’s hard to give another big miss a chance, but I think Fallout 76 deserves that chance.maybe never your This is because of its core features, but if you’ve been on the fence you’ll probably enjoy your stay.

While most players will jump into an online game filled with loot and crafting options to increase numbers and maximize their character’s potential, the Fallout 76 team has done a good job balancing it so that more casual wasteland players won’t Feeling left out. This is the philosophy ZeniMax Online has applied to The Elder Scrolls Online for years, and it’s paid off hugely. Like the online version of Tamriel, Appalachia is a great place to “settle down” and create your dream home…but it’s post-apocalyptic.

Bethesda’s harvest of sincerity (beyond the annoying optional subscription model) has also fostered a healthier community where most veteran players are happy to help newcomers and show them the ropes. As long as an online game isn’t obsessed with appeasing the “hard work” side of the community, and instead encourages camaraderie and genuine cooperation, you’ll get great results, like the absolute phenomenon that Hellraiser 2 became.

The recently released Atlantic City expansion (which, like all new content, is free) doesn’t mean the end of Fallout 76 development either. In fact, we’re getting a huge new region in southern Appalachia later this year, which sounds like it could be the biggest content update for the game since the aforementioned Wastelanders. While the Rusty engine does have limitations, the game doesn’t stop evolving and giving players more to do. At the end of 2018, it was hard to imagine Fallout 76 surviving a full year. Look at us! Who would have thought?

On a less positive note, the console version of the game oddly never received a proper current-version upgrade, aside from an increased FPS cap on Xbox. So does the idea of ​​cross-platform play, which is sure to increase the number of players outside of PC, where much of the PC community thrives. With a solid backbone holding everything together, and the game’s player-for-player ambition, Fallout 76 ended up being the game it was always meant to be, and I’d say it was a blast.

If this article has piqued your interest, Fallout 76 happens to be available for free right now on Prime Gaming on Xbox and PC.