As the vault door rolls open to reveal another golden Appalachian sunset, I pause for a moment, and wonder what the West Virginian wasteland could possibly have in store for me this time. When I was last here, a little over four years ago, the answer was: not much. At launch, Fallout 76 cast players into a lifeless world, and tasked them with making their own fun. It was a place populated by ghosts and audio tapes. Like many at the time, I gave it a fair go for several weeks, yet found nothing that could compel me to stick around. I shelved my level 23 character, and left it at that.
Fallout 76Publisher: Bethesda SoftworksDeveloper: Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Austin, Bethesda MontréalPlatform: PC, PS4, Xbox OneLaunched: 2018Monetisation: Full-price game with optional £99-per-year Fallout 1st subscription, plus large number of paid-for add-ons, bundles and packs. Also free on Game Pass.
But this time, as I descend the Vault-Tec steps, I immediately spot evidence of some rather dramatic changes. Two human NPCs are here, and they have a quest for me. , I think,
Fallout 76, of course, had a famously messy launch. Alongside some pretty damning review scores, there were problems with canvas/nylon bags, and the game’s development process was reportedly blighted by poor management and mandatory crunch. In the years since then, however, there have been concerted efforts to fix the game’s problems. Bethesda has released a slew of updates in an attempt to breathe new life into the game, and the introduction of human NPCs has been just one entry in a long line of improvements. Thanks in part to these additions (and the game’s release on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra), Fallout 76 is currently experiencing something of a revival, with 13.5m players dipping into the game in 2022. For this reason, now seems as good a time as any to check on its progress. That, and I keep seeing posts about how the game ‘is good now’. Time to test the theory.
The two women on the hill point me towards a dive bar called The Wayward. This is where things really start to look promising, as I am given a main questline with dialogue options, skill checks, multiple endings and a sense of humour. It seems silly to get so excited about this, but I am. Fallout just doesn’t feel without its human communities: groups of oddballs and thugs trying their best to forge new lives in the ruins of nuclear disaster. Fallout is a grim franchise, but it’s always had an air of goofiness to it, and the new quests have somewhat restored this balance. The Wayward quest requires me to rescue a robot, use her head to zap enemies, then convince a jobsworth Mister Handy to give her a new body. Another quest sees me investigate a frat party and drink a suspicious beverage that teleports me to a Mad Hatter’s tea party. It’s these sort of ludicrous interactions that motivate me to keep exploring.
1 of 4 Caption Attribution Country roadmap, take me home.
The impact of adding humans to Fallout 76 really cannot be understated. Everything feels so much more vibrant now that communities have moved into Appalachia’s towns. I’ve always had a soft spot for Fallout 76’s environmental design – with its bizarre structures placed atop rolling hills to invite exploration – and I now know that when I reach these buildings, there’s likely to be something (or someone) there.