Fallout 76 Reviews
Fallout 76 is a bit of a disaster, which is a shame because there are good ideas and good bits of content here. There wasn’t a single play session where I didn’t have a lot of fun, but there also wasn’t a session where something ridiculous didn’t cause frustration. It feels like it should have been released into early access as a work in progress for the next several months, thus alleviating some of the frustration from poor performance, bugs, and balancing issues. However, Bethesda opted to release Fallout 76 in a broken state, and this time I’m not laughing along about the bugs simply because we’ve come to accept them as a part of the Fallout franchise. How does Fallout 4 look infinitely better than Fallout 76, with the former coming out in 2015, more than three years ago? Fallout 76 is a decent game, but all the good is being crushed by the plethora of problems that just shouldn’t be problems.
Fallout 76 is a failed experiment. A game that, even with some good points, ultimately fails to deliver an entertaining experience due to its terrible combat system and some technical problems.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A disastrous failure whose technical shortcomings may one day be fixed but whose design failings, and obliviousness to its own potential, suggests a game that is irrevocably broken.
Behind a mess of technical problems and bad decisiones, hides a Fallout: a post-apocalyptic survival game, with mechanics from another era, but undoubtedly fun. If you can see beyond all the mistakes and consider yourself a fan of the universe, you may enjoy Fallout 76 (especially playing with others), but there's still a lo to do to improve.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The much-feared online multiplayer is, surprisingly, almost a non-factor. But the tidal wave of glitches and technical hitches? Deal-breaker
I want to love Fallout 76, namely for its addition of co-op play and the representation of a region dear to my heart. I simply can't. I wouldn't say the latest Fallout title is abysmal or even bad, just very middling. It removes many of the series' strong suits and attempts to make up for it by adding in new mechanics or strengthening lesser ones. That move creates interesting situations, but they don't always pay off for the player. The story falters, the crafting and building doesn't fulfill, and the exploration means next to nothing. Fallout 76 is just barely good at best, when you're jaunting around with your friends. But at its worst, it's vapid, basic, and boring, meaning I'd rather see co-op and the wild and wonderful West Virginia in any other adventure.
Fallout 76 is a bold experiment with one of gaming's biggest and most beloved franchises. Unfortunately the experiment seems like a failure so far.
If you enjoy multiplayer games of this type and are willing to overlook the engine anomalies, you may find yourself rapidly addicted to the game's exploration density and loot systems. If you're easily frustrated by bugs and issues, you may want to sit tight a bit to see what Bethesda does to polish things up, cus oh boy, it could use a bit right now. If you're a fan of the single player, branching narrative the series is known for, you'll want to wait for Fallout 5.
Post-apocalyptic West Virginia is described as a “wasteland,” and this term paints an inadvertent but accurate picture of what Fallout 76 is right now.
On the dawn of Reclamation Day I left Vault 76, weary eyed and slightly optimistic about the journey that laid ahead of me in West Virginia.
Half-baked conflict ideas and witless quests to unearth the dead – this soulless sequel is perfect if you enjoy picking up rubbish in a wasteland
Despite obvious issues and online bugs, this mad experiment delivers an engrossing multiplayer RPG that shines when played among friends.
Maybe they can turn this game around. Maybe they can fix the bugs, add some actual life into the world, and make it to where playing with friends is more than just a co-op buddy. They did a lot for Elder Scrolls Online, maybe they can do it here, but I’ll be the first to tell you to wait until that happens before taking these country roads home.
While I applaud taking a chance on a crazy idea, Fallout 76 would undoubtedly have been a better and more engaging experience as a traditional open world RPG. As it stands, this is a broken, unfun, and repetitive title that I can’t recommend. And that hurts me to say.
The best thing about Fallout 76 is the huge detailed wilderness to explore. If you're a Fallout fan there are definitely things to see and you'll be familiar enough with the story and mechanics to enjoy it. However if this is your first foray or you are expecting a game like Fallout 4 then you might want to wait until a few updates have been released and hope that they fill out the world a bit more with personality and story.
Fallout 76 lacks the heart and soul of what is a Bethesda RPG. The exclusion of NPC's and, in general, decent quest givers makes an emotional (or any) connection to the world near-on impossible and manages to shatter any immersion. The inclusion of other humans does nothing to remedy the fact that these core elements are missing. What it does do right, though, is having built by far the most varied and engaging Map yet, which is a pleasure to look at and explore - even if it looks dated up close. Furthermore, teaming up with other people to take on high-end creatures, particularly after the launch of a nuke, makes for compelling gameplay. As can be expected from a Bethesda title, it's riddled with bugs and glitches, many are game breaking, though Bethesda is already working on fixing them. What Fallout 76 really needs is an infusion of NPC's, even if only at a single hub, to give the game purpose.
Fallout 76 requires serious rework. Strange decisions of game designers make it difficult to comfortably explore an interesting world of the game. Interaction with other players is minimal and absolutely unjustified for an online project. Sometimes it feels that there is no online at all. New mechanics do not look as impressive as we were promised during the early presentations, and the lack of optimization, ton of bugs and a terrible economy spoil the experience. Bethesda needs to rethink its production process, do serious work on all the errors, add normal PvP and full-fledged quests with NPCs.
Review in Russian | Read full review