Fallout 76 in the review: Why it deserves an upgrade thanks to Wastelanders, but has not yet reached its goal

There are more rewarding tasks than a Fallout 76: Wastelanders test. Catch electric eels, for example. Or bongo drums on hot hobs. Because many of you who are reading this review are about as positive about Fallout 76 as the Pope is about devil worship.

And this is understandable, because Bethesda not only published the online fallout in an unacceptable technical state and made conceptual wrong decisions (please, no human NPCs?), But also raised loud parts of its own community against itself after the release. You could still smile

about moldy Power Armor helmets , foreheads frowned at fridges that can be bought for real money, even if they were less bad than feared . And less bad than the surprisingly expensive Fallout First subscription for features like private games that are standard in other survival games like ARK: Survival Evolved .

Key facts about Fallout 76: Wastelanders

Release: April 14, 2020
Price: free for all owners of Fallout 76
platforms: Steam, Bethesda.net
Main content:
• human NPCs
• revised game world
• new main story quest line
• two factions (settlers and raiders )
• NPC companions (allies) with their own quests

Hach, Fallout 76. You don't make it easy for me to say the following words: The game was never abysmally bad, I always found it fun to explore the lovingly designed game world with my girlfriend. And thanks to Wastelanders, it's even more fun. Even more fun!

Because the human NPCs and the two factions (settlers and raiders) breathe life into the game world that has hitherto been painfully missed, and there is also a new main story with dialogues including talent checks and quest decisions. 

No, that doesn't erase past mistakes, Fallout 76 is still a game with problems (more on that in a moment), and if you want to keep resentment towards him, you can do that. And to be clear: 40 euros are still a very hefty price for Fallout 76. At some retailers, Fallout 76 is already available for 20 euros, I think that's fair.

I mean, Fallout 76 deserves a second chance. Because Wastelanders gives exploration and looting, building camps and event contests, in short: my whole end-time existence finally more meaning and variety.

 1:51 Fallout 76 - NPCs at last! Trailer introduces the changes to the Wastelanders update

Like a little fallout: the new main story

In Wastelander's black humor and weird characters, there are original tasks, an action that is not very versatile, but still entertaining. Fallout 76 finally feels more like "real" Fallout thanks to Wastelanders. Wastelanders does not make Fallout 5, not a single player fallout. But it is a first step in this direction.

The new main quest, viewed on its own for around 15 hours, reaches a solid fallout level, with its partly original quest ideas and its beautiful finale it would also fit into a classic single player fallout. You can find an example of a cool quest behind in the spoiler picture - be careful, switch on at your own risk!

You shouldn't expect the film-heavy staging of a mass effect , Fallout 76 conveys its charm through the funny dialogues and the atmospheric settings, including new surroundings. In short: the new main story doesn't burn any spectacle, but it's fun, fits into the universe and is well written and translated. It is a real asset to Fallout 76.

Duchess

Wayward

The wasteland tavern Wayward with its host Duchess is the linchpin of the first story chapter.

Only two things are problematic: If you start over, you will experience a gap between levels 10 and 20 in the new story strand. This does not mean that there is nothing entertaining to do. For example, you can follow the old main story around the overseer's diaries or try out the events, special multiplayer combat missions. Or just explore the world. However, new main missions are only available at level 20.

In the course of the main story, we find out what is hidden in this underground facility.

Problem number two: Many of your quest decisions affect the course of the mission and the subsequent dialogs, but not the later story, because there is no later story. Wastelanders feels like a good start to a new story, but it still wants to continue - which Bethesda is also planning.

If you want to know what fascinated the community about Fallout 76 even before Wastelanders, you can find the answer in our community report:

In the dialogs there are always attribute checks with which we can avoid fights and influence the further course of the quest.

What about team play?

Fallout 76 is now an online game in which you may want to play with others. You can, but not in the story missions of Wastelanders - at least not like, say, in Divinity: Original Sin 2. While I share the quest progress with my fellow players in the co-op mode of the Larian RPG and even Voting decisions is always a single player in Fallout 76's story missions.

We can listen to the dialogues of our teammates, but we cannot intervene. Incidentally, the player characters are not set to music, only the NPCs, the texts are in the top left.

That means: Although we can fulfill story orders as a team, the quest progress is only evaluated for the team leader, who also makes all decisions himself - as in a single player fallout. All other team members can listen in the dialogs and yell at each other via voice chat, but cannot intervene directly.

Wastelanders does not change the game mechanics of Fallout 76, everything stays the same - for example, the card system for perks.

This means: If you want to play through Wastelanders with three friends, you have to play each quest three times - cumbersome, but difficult to solve otherwise due to the lack of mutual dialogue decisions. Because depending on the procedure, a player can hear completely different lines of dialogue and pursue quest solutions than his companions. After all, three friends could try different quest paths, Fallout 76 allows this variety. However, ideal looks different.

The new allies: Great too, but ...

During my adventure, I meet five allies who move into my camp when I set up a particular piece of furniture. Originally, Bethesda had planned that the companions would also accompany me on combat missions, which was not technically feasible.

Too bad, but the allies enrich Fallout 76. Or let's say: two of the allies. The downed astronaut Sofia and the ex-bandit Beckett offer continuous side stories including dialogues in which I can learn more about the two characters and even flirt - that's how it should be!

By building a computer, we invite the astronaut Sofia to our camp.

The other three companions, the collector, the punk and the wasteland wanderer are also coherent - I love the conspiracy theories of the punk! - but only send me on randomly generated missions without a connecting story. Then Bethesda gives away a chance.

It is also cumbersome that only one companion can be active in the camp. If I want to speak to someone else, I have to replace the corresponding furnishings. Quest progress is not lost, but it would be nice if all camp residents could live in a large shared apartment.

The technology: there are still bugs

The technical condition of Fallout 76 has improved significantly since the release, there are much fewer and, above all, less serious bugs like lost quest progress. However, the game is not yet completely smooth with Wastelanders.

So there are the Bethesda-typical glitches and physics sparks, among other things, NPCs and players sometimes hover a few centimeters above the floor or sit in front of a chair in the air.

The technical condition of Fallout 76 still makes this hermit sad.

I also experience - albeit rare - lags and synchronization problems: once my teammate flew off the server without warning, sometimes NPCs "flicker" briefly and become invisible before they reappear. Then again a quest marker was placed incorrectly and indicated the wrong target point on the map, which could only be remedied by restarting the game.

The "most beautiful" was the attack of the headless naked woman: When I join an event in which I am supposed to kill a group of burned zombies, the opponents spawn with weapons, but without clothes and heads! That was funny, but of course it shouldn't happen in a finished game.

The AI ​​still has dropouts. This blood eagle raider, for example, refuses to shoot us and just stands around.

And AI misfires continue to plague the game. During a mass attack, which is actually intended as a showdown of a new story mission, a large part of the attackers did not shoot me, some even ran away completely confused.

Apart from the AI ​​capers, all these mistakes did not always and everywhere, I have experienced most of them only once. In total, however, they are no longer allowed to appear, and a year and a half after the release we could expect a more polished gaming experience.

Even if the technical condition of Fallout 76 has fundamentally improved and serious problems such as missing quest items no longer occur, we therefore retain part of the technology devaluation.

We maintain our devaluation for technical problems, but reduce it from 8 to 5 rating points.

The store and fallout first

It is a cross with the Atomic Store and Fallout First. On the one hand, I have to admit honestly that neither of them bothered me much when I played Fallout 76. On the other hand, both violate our Pay2Win guidelines, so we have no choice but to devalue Fallout 76. In our original test, Fallout First did not yet exist, and the Atomic Store offer was much more manageable.

• The Atomic Store offers - besides - bearable - character cosmetics and house decoration also playful advantages. These include the useful repair kits (restore damaged weapons and armor free of charge and without using a workbench), the recovery kits, which are automatically “beamed” into the warehouse, and a water conditioner that spits out clean drinking water. Although the shop currency Atoms can also be earned in-game through challenges such as "Kill 76 Burned", this will become increasingly tough in the later course of the game.
  
  Basically, the repair and recycling kits cost atmosphere, because workbench repairs and limited Rostoff traction fit the end-time setting perfectly, but the convenience facilities are clearly designed to attract gamers to the store and encourage them to spend money at some point to bypass tough gameplay loops that require repairs.
• Fallout First, on the other hand, gives subscribers economic advantages over other players because, thanks to a second, placeable mini camp (called the "survival tent"), fast trips devour fewer bottle caps and there is also infinite storage space for crafting ingredients. Although the storage space is not totally limited even for normal players, subscribers still live more carefree and can therefore more easily access the coveted endgame blueprints.

While neither offer ruins Fallout 76 for players who don't use it. Nevertheless, it would benefit the gaming experience and fairness if Bethesda - in a game that cost 40 euros anyway - would have foregone this monetization mechanism or at least dampened it. For example, there would be no reason not to offer repair kits as regular rewards for quests.

There is, but only for two extremely tough high-level fights (against the fire beast queen and an agressotron disguised as a Sheepsquatch) as well as in the now closed raid dungeon Vault 94. For players who have not yet penetrated into endgame regions the Atomic Store is the only source of repair kits.

We deduct 5 rating points for the store and Fallout First.

Okay, I have to split up into two Amers. Amer 1 takes my personal opinion and thinks Fallout 76 is better than the rating that appears under this article.Because I liked playing online Fallout before Wastelanders and just ignored Fallout First and the Atomic Store. I know you may not be able to do that, and that's okay too, I don't want to talk you into anything.

But just explain that I already liked the atmospheric game world and the looters game principle and was all the more pleased that Bethesda finally fixes the mistake of the deserted world. Wastelanders enriches Fallout 76 so much that I can no longer imagine how lifeless Appalachia was before. The new order chain will not dust off the “Story of the Year” awards, but it doesn't have to, because it still comes up with original ideas, decisions, humor (the language collar!) And cool characters, as I would expect from a good one Fallout expect.

For me as a fan of the single player fallouts, I am happy to continue in this direction! Because the story, the factions and the allies finally make hunting and gathering more meaningful, they underpin the gaming experience and condense the atmosphere. Oh, and of course there are new, chic items to hunt and collect.

So, and with that we come to Amer 2, who weighs pros and cons as a tester and looks beyond his own opinion. And here I say: Fallout 76 will be a much better, but not a very good game by Wastelanders (read: not a candidate for an 80 rating).

As clearly as the new content complements the game, you can also clearly see that it continues to leave room for improvement - for example on side quests. And of course the technical condition of the game. And with monetization. Fallout 76 is on the right path, but the end of this path is still a long way off.

So should you give Fallout 76 a second chance? It depends on whether you agree with 

Amer 1 says:Fallout 76 deserves a second chance because it has evolved. Maybe it doesn't cost 40 euros (that's still a lot, I think), but take another look if you like atmospheric worlds and want to experience 40 hours of entertaining and funny fallout stories (with the option of another 60 Hours of hunting for a chic, new power armor).

Amer says: The game still has clear weaknesses, especially since nothing changes in the actual game mechanics - by the way, not even in the horrible operation in construction mode. If you can't ignore this and generally don't give second chances after past mistakes, that's legitimate.