Fallout 76

In 2018, everyone who was into video games had one thing in mind when it came to new releases: Fallout 76. Although the game hadn't been released yet, its trailer enamored millions, promising a lush 1950s-style post-atomic wasteland set in the forests of Appalachian West Virginia, including a homely cover of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," which had skyrocketed to popularity due to the trailer. Everyone awaited its release with bated breath -- and became immensely disappointed when they were presented with a half-finished game full of bugs and unfulfilled promises. For a whopping $60, you and your friends could get together and do … absolutely nothing. There was no story, no NPCs and hardly anything to do after about five hours of playtime. And like that, in under a month, the game was nearly abandoned to be forgotten forever…

They say that after times of great loss comes a renaissance. Fallout 76 is no exception. Albeit small, Fallout 76 made a comeback in 2020 following the pandemic. There are numerous reasons for this: The "Wastelanders" update following the turn of the decade that solved the problem of unfulfilled promises, the quarantine that kept millions of each other apart and the desire to explore a large open environment (a desire we lost while cooped up in our homes). At first, many people made fun of those who tried inviting others to play with them. Then, as the years went by, people caught on, and actually enjoyed themselves and each other in the hills of post-nuclear war Appalachia.

It was around October of 2020 when I began playing Fallout 76; right about the time everyone started realizing that they had "fixed" the game. Although it was still buggy and sometimes annoying, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) every bit of it. Fallout 76 is not like any other game with the Fallout title. Instead of a desolate, desertified wasteland, the player is given a fruitful environment with lush forests, strange swamps and toxic valleys. The location still remains one of the biggest selling points for me personally; for I have enjoyed the other games, but detested the fact that many of the environments in them looked the same: Dead, hopeless and hard to look at (the only other exception being Fallout: New Vegas, a 2010 release most regarded as the "Best Fallout Game" by its fanbase).

The central idea of Fallout 76 is also different from the other titles; to rebuild America and "reclaim" Appalachia from the horrors of a nuclear holocaust. This gives a strangely patriotic vibe to the game, focusing on the more American side to a, for lack of better words, anarchistic world.

Pushing visuals and central ideas aside, the so-called "Wastelanders" update brought players a new story for them to uncover -- fulfilling the want for NPCs, a major storyline and a game with a bunch of new features for the player to uncover. The game, after the update, flourished with online life. As the updates came and went, the game only attracted more people to come and retry the game after the initial letdown -- and I was there to see every single update personally. As someone who was around for all of these changes, I will proudly say that it has completely changed from its lackluster beginnings.

The most recent update saw the player going outside West Virginia and into various other states around the East Coast. From the ruins of Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Pittsburgh (nicknamed "The Pitt" in the game), the player can complete new missions and explore the aftermath of a disastrous nuclear war. This happens to be another thing that really sells Fallout 76 for me. In other Fallout titles, you see that every location is in a completely different situation; for example, the state of California is under organized government, while Massachusetts lives in the shadow of a mysterious sci-fi organization known as "The Institute." One of the reasons why I love this franchise is that you get to see the current state of these "wastelands," and because of how wildly unique their situations are, it's a new experience every time. This fascinates me, and the fact that we are able to visit places never seen in the Fallout franchise (such as New Jersey), it really makes me happy that we get to see how a certain area of the US had turned out.

The last major selling point for me is the community. Usually for online games, community isn't the first thing people think of when they see the words: "favorite parts of a game." However, Fallout 76 has one of the friendliest communities an online game could have. Back in 2021, when I was still somewhat new to the game, another (higher level) player approached me, dropped off a bunch of ammo and supplies, gave me a thumbs up and left. I was in shock. Usually in online games like these, people mess around with lower levels and toy with them like test subjects. In my time as a beginner, I have encountered a player such as the one stated previously about three times. Not once was I scammed, bullied or harassed by another player. The lack of toxicity makes Fallout 76 special, and seldom do you find another community like this in the online gaming world.

Even though there still seems to be a stigma around the game, I think it is about time we have addressed and overcome that stigma. The game isn't what people think it is anymore. And yet, people still have an inherent fear of booting up the game and being severely disappointed in what they had bought (which, in their case, a horribly unfinished game with tons of issues in its code). This simply isn't the case anymore. You get to explore the hills of post-apocalyptic West Virginia with your friends, build complex campsites/shelters, meet strange NPCs and play through a game filled with creatively unforgettable stories. Better yet, since it is an online game, updates are rolling around monthly, bringing bucketloads of new content for players, new or old, to enjoy. It's time to wake up from this illusion of a long-gone version of this game; just give it another try.

Review by Cameron Haughawout