Fallout 76 Review

by Scott Creighton

I really wanted to be able to recommend this game to people, I did. But I can't. Fallout 76 doesn't know what it is. It's not a single player, open world, engaging story-driven game like it's fore fathers. And it's not a MMORPG like so many current AAA games out there right now that are popular and making money. It's a half-assed attempt at both and ultimately became neither. 

 

I have 57 hours in this game and have racked up 22 of the 63 achievements... and I am a very low level player at level 28. So low that if don't get crushed by nearly everything I meet out there trying to grind for materials for ammo or a base, then I run and gun and Stimpack and rinse and repeat endlessly til I cheese a little tiny win all by my lonesome. And what do I get for it? Some mods for a gun I got no screws to repair and ammo for weapons I wont see for another 20 hours or so. Or I get a piece of armor I can use when I gain 10 more levels. 

There is no real story to speak of. Some lore they dredged up after the community complained at release. They paid some actors, wrote some scripts, came out with Wastelander update and said 'Here it is! Our masterpiece!' and yet... still you wander the land with no idea what to do next other than just follow some little green mark on a map for yet another fetch quest til you meet some flying dragon thingy which wipes you out and now you have another fetch quest getting your stuff back.

I was trying to get some dude out of prison. Picked up a key after killing all the bullet sponges in the camp. That triggered an alarm and 30 new dudes spawned and chased me for what seemed like forever. I killed em all at cost of 15 Stimpacks and all my armor and ammo... opened the door to get dude out... and what did I get for all of that crap?

Another fetch quest.

It's endless. It's a job. 

At this stage, 57 hours into a game, you expect to be a little more OP than this, you know? I mean, yeah, there is Tarkov, yeah, I get that. But Fallout isn't Tarkov. It's not Rust. It's not Arma. It's not any of that. And unfortunately its also not Fallout.

There is no communal interaction to speak of. If you bring friends in with you that great but everything is better with company. Even funerals. I have spoken briefly to ONE other player. Waved at a couple others. But these guys are running around at level 6 million or some crap and you just have to ask yourself what the hell are they doing playing this desolate game for so long.

It's not a bad game. It's not a toxic crowd. It's not super glitchy though I do love watching the NPCs cruising around without using their legs much of the time. The micro transactions sales pitches in the beginning are ignorable. I mean ... it's not terrible... for what it is.

Problem is... I just don't know what it is. And after 57 hours... not sure I want to find out anymore.