This game caught a whole lot of flak when it came out! It had Bethesda's usual buggy gameplay, and it wasn't quite what people thought it would be. I pre-ordered it because I was excited about the prospect of a Fallout game with multiplayer capabilities. It was something I always wanted of Fallout 4 before it, and even Skyrim.

After playing it for a bit, I admittedly grew pretty bored of it and set it down after not long. I made it to maybe level 15 or so. It sat there for a decent amount of time...

Then I finally got someone to devote some time and play with me, and since then I have loved it! It took a minute to get used to. I think the thing that really turned me off before was that there are no human NPCs to talk to or give you quests. Everything you're given is in the form of recordings left by the first wave of "survivors." Remember that this game takes place before Fallout 3 and 4 when civilization has barely started to rebuild itself. Instead it takes place after the first wave of survivors have already died. You are a Vault Dweller entering the Wasteland after leaving Vault 76, hence the title Fallout 76.



Once I got over the lack of NPCs, I started to enjoy the experience it offers quite a bit. It is extremely similar to Fallout 4, just with multiplayer functionality this time around and it takes place in a region of West Virginia called Appalachia. C.A.M.P.s make a return and are pretty fun. But once again, since there are no NPCs, you cannot assign anyone to perform any of the tasks at your C.A.M.P. I don't mind it too much but I did always enjoy having a few people manning the guard posts. Now, in 76, I am completely reliant on machine gun turrets and such.

I am currently sitting at about Level 50 and there's still more for me to do. My side quests and miscellaneous objectives have been piling up as I just focus on the main questline. If you're looking for something to really sink your teeth into for hours on end, there will be no shortage of content here. I still have a lot to do and look forward to updating this review a bit when I do.



The multiplayer aspect is obviously the biggest addition to this entry in the Fallout series. It lets you team up with others and take on more challenging quests and enemies. The other day my party member and I were surrounded by Level 100s and 200s and we took down the Scorchbeast Queen together during the Death from Above! event, one of the more difficult enemies/events in the game. It was a blast and a lot of sweet succulent loot was acquired.

Other players used to be able to destroy everything you've built at your C.A.M.P. (the community calls them Griefers), which would have definitely pissed me off. Luckily Bethesda patched this out.



Speaking of which, they've been doing quite a bit to make the game better and add more content. The bugginess isn't completely gone, as I've run into loading issues, not being able to trade with others randomly, rendering issues, and things like that. They've never really bothered me that much. The only thing that does suck is that the game seems to crash on me a heck of a lot more compared to almost any other game I have installed on my Xbox One. Overall though this is something I've been able to get over.

They're coming out with an update early next year (2020) that will finally add in some NPC characters. I assume there will be somewhat of a questline associated with them...or at least I really hope so. It would revitalize the game and add what a lot of people have been asking for.

It remains to be seen what Bethesda will do with the game in the coming months or even years, but I've gotta salute them for at least trying to fix it and make it better. With all of the negative attention the game got when it came out, I am surprised they stuck with it and have tried to improve it. I can't wait to see what some of the other incoming updates bring with them. For now, I will continue to spend some of my time out there in the Wasteland.