Fallout 76, Bethesda Game Studio’s newest game, has finally been released.
Unfortunately for anyone expecting to check out reviews to decide to buy it or not, there are none. Perhaps due to Bethesda not sending out review copies, or all the reviewers loving it so much they don’t want to take time off playing to work, reviews haven’t been released yet.
On Metacritic, despite a lack of critic reviews, the user score currently sits at 2.1 out of 10. The overwhelming majority of the reviews are unfavourable, but judging by the comments the criticisms are aimed largely at the premise of the game, so it remains to be seen if any of these gamers have actually played it yet.
Expect reviews to be pubished in the next few days.
Fallout 76: Release date, features, beta and more
Fallout 76: Release date
Fallout 76 came out 14 November on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Fallout 76: Price
There are many different available pre-order bundles available for Fallout 76. The most basic for £49.99 contains just the game, but is unavailable from certain retailers (including Amazon at time of writing).
The Tricentennial edition contains the base game as well as a collection of in-game items including armour skins and emotes. It’s available for £79.99
If you’re feeling like you need to spend a lot of money on the game, Bethesda has a treat for you in the form of the Power Armour edition. As well as the game it contains a plastic power armour helmet with carry bag, a glow-in-the-dark map of the game world, a collection of 24 plastic Fallout characters, a game steelbook and all the perks of the Tricentennial edition. This’ll cost you £174.99, and is only available at Game in the UK.
Fallout 76: Setting
Fallout 76 is to be set in the post-apocalyptic version of West Virginia, which has been dubbed “Appalachia” in the same way Fallout 4’s map was named “The Commonwealth”. Judging by the creatures and locations teased in images by Bethesda, they’ve clearly done their research on the folklore, geography and wildlife of the area.
The game’s director Todd Howard claimed the map is four times the size of Fallout 4’s map, which if true will be a massive location. Maps shown in trailers hint at areas such as the “Toxic Valley” or “Savage Divide”, and it’s likely famous locations in West Virginia such as Charleston or points of the Appalachian Trail.
Fallout 76: Story
One of the most mysterious aspects to the game is its story. Following the news that the only non-player characters in the game (other than enemies) would be robots, and the multiplayer focus of the game, fans thought perhaps there would be no story.
This has turned out not to be the case, however. Pete Hines, Bethesda’s vice president, explained that the story of the game will explore why there are no other characters in the game – a genius decision that caters to the online focus of the game.
The story will follow a series of instructions left by the mysterious Vault 76 overseer, who left Vault 76 before the player character, which will take the player through all the various zones of the map.
Fallout 76: Online gameplay
Bucking the trend from most Fallout (and Bethesda) games, Fallout 76 will be a predominantly online experience. This means the other characters around the world will be other players – around 24 to 36 in each server.
This leads the way to many unique features, such as the nuclear arms race. In it, players can collect keys to nuclear weapons around the map – and use them to attack opponents and destroy their bases. There’s more to it than that – watch the trailer below for more information.
All the other features that you know and love from Fallout games will be present too, augmented to fit in with the multiplayer focus of the game. These include base building, taking down large enemies, and wiping out (or, more realistically, running away from) hordes of ghouls or super mutants.
According to Todd Howard, playing the game multiplayer isn’t actually mandatory, and you can have an enjoyable experience alone or offline. However, since the game seems built with collective players in mind, it remains to be seen if this is strictly true or not.
At QuakeCon 2018 several of the developers explained the game’s griefing mechanics, including an opt-in element to player versus player combat and bounties for repeated player-killers.
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