Fallout 76 is available on Xbox Game Pass
When Fallout 76 was released, it was universally panned, everyone from high pitched little kids to your fat mama had nothing but hate for Fallout 76. I dodged Fallout like a fat kid dodges a salad bowl for two whole years, but when it wound up “free” on Xbox Game Pass, I had to check it out. Now it’s been two years since Fallout first launched, and I put in the hours to see if the continued service for Fallout 76 has any marbles.
What does Fallout 76 do well?
If you’re familiar with the Fallout series, particularly New Vegas and Fallout 4, you’ll be familiar with the general controls, looting, crafting, and base building. As a newcomer to the Fallout base building, I didn’t play much Fallout 4, it was nice to join up with my more experienced friend and get the lowdown on how the base’s generators and water purifiers operate. Joining a party is easy, fast traveling is a breeze, and fighting cooperatively is streamlined, as each enemy drops its own separate loot for each player. If you need to relocate your custom-built base, the entire structure can be moved at once as long as you can find a flat piece of land to place it.
In Fallout 76 you’ll spend an equal amount of time bashing Ghouls and Super Mutants into a violently bloody pulp as you will looting townships and exploring the decrepit, irradiated countrysides of West Virginia. The map is littered with interesting locations, most of which are tied to their own event quest lines; such as a nuclear power plant that can be brought back online to power neighboring production facilities or literally launching a nuclear bomb that puts other players in grave danger. In Fallout 76 you will balance your hunger, thirst, and radiation levels, and there’s no Easy Difficulty to get out of it sonny boy.
What does Fallout 76 do poorly?
The part everyone always complains about in every MMO, the late game. Continue playing to unlock more recipes, and complete the daily and weekly quests continue to unlock Atomic Points to be spent in the Atomic Shop. The Atomic Shop is just another one of those cash option video game cosmetic shops. Look, I’m glad I can earn Atomic Points and buy emotes and skins but I’ve seen enough of these damn item malls and season passes to last a lifetime. The music in Fallout 76, while certainly setting and thematically appropriate, is still more of the same. Bethesda has more or less shoehorned themselves into a corner with their music choices across the Fallout Series so if you’re totally into unrecognizable oldies or West Virginia taking you higher, you’re playing the right game daddy-o.
Should I buy it?
For “free” on Xbox Game Pass, absolutely! Fallout 76 has been all the fun of a traditional Fallout game, but with friends! Maybe my narrative decisions feel meaningless, but I get the cleave through the West Virginian Wastelands with my dudes, and that’s the bee’s knees.
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