#fallout beta

I played roughly three hours of the Fallout 76 and so far, I really like it!  I thought I’d break my early impressions (More likely to come as I spend more time with the beta sessions and like, the game comes out) into three categories to make this as concise yet informative as I can.  Gameplay, World and that ever so dreaded Multiplayer component we all rushed to judge(for good reason?).

Gameplay:

Roughly, Fallout 76 is about the same game to play as Fallout 4.  I don’t know how that stands to be taken by some people as I know a lot of people didn’t like Fallout 4 when the dust settled post release, but though I had some doubts at the same time as others I’ve since softened considerably and think it’s a great game.  What’s new of course are two things, the survival elements and the even heavier focus given to the crafting systems.  The survival elements, at least from my short time with the game, seem almost nonexistent, which is a boon for me as I normally despise mechanics like those.  At no point was I ever really in danger of running out of food and water, and who knows maybe higher level areas will make the stuff scarcer, but so far they may as well not be in the game at all, which is fine by me!  the crafting elements are a bit more familiar to fans, we all remember Bethesda going hog wild with the idea of base building and gun crafting in Fallout 4 after all.  Though I didn’t engage with them much in that game I can more or less make the call here that’s they’re basically the same, scrap things you don’t want, get parts, build things you do want.  Though I usually don’t care for crafting systems either, it’s at least fun to have an excuse to pick up all that Bethesda brand junk, you know, other than obsessive hoarding.

Even with the looming specter of radiation poisoning, the wilds of West Virginia are downright breathtaking. 

World:

I’ve written before how much I appreciate Fallout’s softening wastelands as the series goes on, and Appalachia is maybe my favorite visual design of any world the series has featured yet.  Unlike the wastelands scarred beyond recognition like Washington D.C, or the places that were spared devastation but were already functionally wastelands like New Vegas, Appalachia, beyond all the ruins and corpses, looks like it’s downright thriving.  Now granted, I’ve only seen a very small part of this games map, which looks enormous, but I’m already captivated by the need to explore the rest of this wonderful, horrible, place. One strange thing though, is the sense that up until not that long ago, this could have easily been a functional normal Fallout game, with living quest givers and towns among all the other staples.  I stumbled into at least one town that looks like it would have easily been something out of Fallout 4, only again, everyone was dead. Outside the towns though, oh man, what a beautiful world. This is Bethesdas best looking game yet. The landscape has a beautiful late autumn feel to it that, despite the general devastation, is downright breathtaking when you’re wandering through it.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the full game and more thoroughly explore this new world, alone or with friends...speaking of that.....

The game has a much wider color pallet than any Fallout before it, the general autumn them works really well and I can’t wait to see how other areas of the map look as well.

Multiplayer: