Fallout 76 | It is indeed a lonely place.

Fallout 76 Beta: The Wasteland and its lonesome road

As many critics who have already dove into Fallout 76 and grasp what the games has to offer, it is too no surprise that the wasteland is a lonesome place. At first glance, Fallout 76 seemed very promising at the time, A Online Multiplayer Fallout game with the feel of a nuclear war. When I got into these game with my friends, which was surprisingly easy for a beta might I add, we explored Appalachia (Fallout 76 world) and its offers of its nuclear wasteland. Right away, we were astonished at how everything was running for being an open-world game. There were an average amount of bugs in the game such as T-posing models of corpses and an invincible enemy that would do no harm but would still show as a single entity in the game however, it did not really affect the game to the point it was not playable so a huge Thumbs Up to Bethesda Software. Now, what made this game truly feel a bit lonesome (even with my friends) was that there really is no "NPC's" ( More on this later) and that even when I was playing the game with friends, it did not mean much at all cause everyone could be in a party together however you each can have your own individual quests meaning that there was no reason for you to stick around since you can not share the quests you receive. I truly hope this is a feature that Bethesda looks into because it makes it pointless to travel together if one individual has a quest to go to Appalachia's Airfield while another has a quest to enter the Water Park. We found ourselves having this problem and ended up splitting up most of the time due to this. That is what makes this Wasteland a bit of a lonesome journey for a Fallout game.

A Dead land with no NPC's (Non-Playable Characters)

NPC Character mentioned
(Protectron of the Future

As I mentioned earlier, it feels like Fallout 76 is a bit, I do not want to say dead, however it feels a bit empty since there is not any NPC's Kinda. I say Kinda because in the first part of the game, you are searching for the Overseer of Vault 76 (an Overseer is a individual who can be deemed similar to a leader), and end up in Flatwood. Flatwood is what you can consider the first Settlement/Safe Haven because this has all the necessities you need in Fallout such as Tinkerer's workshop, Cooking Station, Ammo workbench, and a Weapon workbench however it does not have a Power Armor Station. This is where everyone who is just starting out usually ends up after leaving Vault 76 as the main quest will direct you here and have you complete a series of quests to become a Full-Time Volunteer. In this area, you will meet a RobCo Robot Merchant (This is why I said kinda) and you can interact with it and also sell items and purchase items you get in the Wasteland. From here, I did not encounter any NPC's that you could have full conversations with or trade with but there are other NPC's that talk like Mr. Handy and some enemies known as Scorched (which are these Ghoul-like creatures with several marking on their bodies) that you will see in Fallout as well. Other encounters may include the occasional Super-Mutants, a tasty Mirelurk or two, and my personal favorite enemy that we ran into the most which is the Grafton Monster. 

Scorched Enemy similar to Ghouls.

When we continued on our journey though the wasteland, it was very great to take in all the beautiful work that was put into the game but it really did feel empty. Every quest that you would get would be through Terminals and random encounters that you may run across but it made our game-play experience dull since we found no human characters that talk. You could argue the fact that there are other players in your game however it was somewhat rare for us to run into other players. It is a fantastic game at its core but need some refinement. 

Overall Review of Fallout 76

If there was anything that I would say for this game that they should add or consider fixing is very simple honestly. I would definitely ask for NPC interactions with Human characters so Vault Dwellers can feel like it is a Fallout game, consider re-working quests with your group (perhaps quest-sharing and group quests),to fix minor bugs in the game (T-Posing enemies, Invincible entities, AI Mapping where a character in a public event gets stuck) and lastly would be to add more enemy encounters. I can not tell you how many times I would wonder the Wasteland and just think this is cool but where is all the enemies that are supposed to attack me. I would be excited if I was playing the game and I got ambushed by Raiders (They do not have this in Fallout 76). That small bit would actually make me feel like I was playing a Fallout Game because of a Raider. Player vs. Player is somewhat rare in the game as it is something that both Players must agree on before a clash starts meaning if you wanted to kill someone, they would have to fire back to initiate the fight. If the player does not fire back then they would take minuscule damage and move on with their day, Now it is possible for someone to kill another player even if they do not fight back but it is a very long process and if you are thinking just nuke them, think again because even with the 4.25 hrs that myself and my friends played the game not a single person was even in a Power Armor Suit. Would I recommend this game? The honest answer here even after writing this Review is shockingly Yes and here is why. For what the game has to offer, it is still a fairly fun game to play with your friends and there is somewhat of a grind if you create it like the Power Armor and the Nuclear codes. There is progression in the game and several public events to keep yourself busy so it is not entirely a boring game, it is just missing somethings and Bethesda has the time to see what needs to be added before its month release. I give this game a 6/10 for now but would consider a 7 if they add more to this game. To say this is anymore than a 7 is hard since it did feel lacking a bit but then again, it is in BETA so maybe I may change it in the Future. This is Holy_Trees, be sure to check out my Mixer as I stream often and if you enjoy reading, Please share it with others and subscribe for more.