The online role-playing game Fallout 76 aims to combine the classic Fallout experience with multiplayer and survival elements. We present to you eight features that Bethesda wants to convince you with regarding Fallout 76.
What does Fallout 76 aim to be? With Fallout 76, Bethesda ventures into new territory. At its core, Fallout 76 is meant to be a classic 3D Fallout. It will also introduce a multiplayer mode and survival elements.
Fallout 76 does not aim to be an MMORPG, nor an online or survival shooter. It aims to provide a new experience that has not been seen before.
This is why fans are skeptical: Especially the PvP aspect raises concerns among many people. How will Bethesda ensure that Fallout 76 is a “real” Fallout while still being a multiplayer title?
We show you 8 arguments with which Fallout 76 wants to score and what difficulties might be associated with them.
1. As fair PvP as possible – No chance for griefers and trolls
Bethesda has several solutions in place to ensure as much fairness as possible. For instance, Bethesda wants to prevent griefing, which involves hunting and repeatedly killing players.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: If another player attacks you, they initially inflict only minimal damage. However, if you retaliate, the fight truly begins, and you can fully unleash.
Players also have a pacifist flag. When equipped, it prevents you from causing damage to other players. This way, no one can jump around in front of others and force them into PvP mode by allowing themselves to be hit.
There are additional measures in place that should protect you from annoying griefers, such as
- Your equipment will be weakened or strengthened based on your level. This is intended to give new players the opportunity to defend themselves.
- Additionally, players below level 5 are invulnerable.
- If a hostile player decides to kill you with reduced damage, a bounty will be placed on them. Every player on the server will be informed about it.
- The position of the wanted player appears as a large, red star on the map and is visible to every player. If a bounty is placed on someone, they cannot hide from other players.
- The reward for players who seek revenge will be generous and will come from the griefers’ pockets in the form of currency and junk.
- By the way, you lose nothing from your equipment if you are killed by another player. However, some “junk”, your crafting materials, will remain at your corpse.
What about the Nukes? If your base is destroyed by one of the enemy atomic bombs, you should not worry. If you have built a settlement, you can simply save it as a blueprint and rebuild it anywhere else at any time.
You don’t have to meticulously place every single stone on top of another.
What difficulties could arise? In theory, the measures sound sensible at first. What the practice will look like remains to be seen. How far can the mechanisms be exploited, maybe even abused?
In general, players find ways to create all kinds of mischief.
2. Your camp can be taken and saved as blueprints
Through the C.A.M.P feature (Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform), you have the opportunity in Fallout 76 to establish a settlement anywhere in the game world.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: You can simply pack up everything you build and set it up elsewhere. Additionally, you can save all your buildings and repeatedly use the template.
Prerequisite is that you have enough “junk”, i.e., crafting materials. You can find junk throughout the game world, craft it, or loot it from other players. You have a large selection of items that you can craft, including:
- Ammunition
- Food
- Armor
- Building materials
- Weapon mods
What difficulties could arise? The settlement building was clunky and cumbersome in Fallout 4. Fans hope that the building will improve in Fallout 76.
The building system in Fallout 76 leaves it open whether a building can simply be constructed on a flat surface and then dragged into the mountains, or whether the “junk” ends up in an endless grind.
3. Bethesda wants to offer a massive game world with plenty of content
Bethesda has a preference for open-world titles. Titles like Fallout 4 and Skyrim score points with the freedoms that players have in the worlds.
So it should be in Fallout 76 as well – only significantly larger!
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: The game world of Fallout 76 is said to have enormous dimensions. It should outmatch Fallout 4 by four times. The game world will be set in the hills of West Virginia.
Fallout 76’s recreation of West Virginia is intended to be as detailed as possible, including local myths and monsters playing a role in Fallout 76.
The players will be the first to re-enter the world after the nuclear war. From Vault 76, America is to be rebuilt, one of the first bunkers that was supposed to open after the atom bomb.
Fans have already been able to reconstruct a map and localize some places, like Vault 76, which is likely to be located west of Morgantown. However, there is still no official map available.
What difficulties could arise? Since the game world in Fallout 76 is going to be huge, the question arises as to how they plan to ensure sufficient variety without human NPCs.
Will other players be enough if there are no bustling cities or settlements where you can interact with NPCs?
4. Story and quests should not be neglected – despite the absence of NPCs
In Fallout 76, there will be no NPCs to talk to – except the Overseer, whom you won’t get to see. The only humans in the game world will be other players. This point raises considerable skepticism and causes many fans to doubt the scope of the online shooter.
Nevertheless, there should be sufficient story and life in the game world.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: Since the game world of Fallout 76 is enormous, you will not constantly encounter other players. On a server, there will be 24-32 players, whom you will always be able to see on the map.
These players are intended to take on the role usually performed by human NPCs, building settlements, trading, and interacting with one another. Since humans are more unpredictable than AI-controlled NPCs, surprises may occur more frequently.
Additionally, as is familiar from Fallout, there will be numerous computer terminals and tape recordings with which you can interact. Robots will also roam the game world. This is how Fallout 76 wants to tell its stories and quests.
What difficulties could arise? The unpredictability of players can be both a blessing and a curse. You can never know how players will act. It could very well be that some groups will intentionally hunt others.
Additionally, without human NPCs, there is a risk that solo players could quickly become bored.
5. Fallout 76 aims to give you as many freedoms as possible
You can basically create jobs and pursue them. Do you want to lead a settler’s life, or wander the lands?
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: If you feel like it, you can simply trade with other players. To do this, you can open a shop in your settlement and bring your goods to the public. Because equipment cannot simply be stolen by killing other players.
Therefore, it is possible to buy valuable equipment from other players. You can also mimic a traveling merchant by packing up your settlement and changing locations.
However, you should be cautious, as your shops can apparently be looted if you are not careful. You can also take it upon yourself to hunt bounties. Or even other players. The choice is yours.
What difficulties could arise? A shop brings you relatively little if no players come by your server to shop. Hence, it is not guaranteed that your business will actually thrive.
It may also happen that no one plays PvP, and you could be temporarily unemployed as a bounty hunter.
Again, the unpredictability of human players is both a blessing and a curse.
6. A comprehensive character system for RPG fans
As is traditional in all Fallout games, Fallout 76 will have the SPECIAL system. The SPECIAL values are your main attributes and determine which abilities your character can utilize.
With each level-up, you receive a skill point, which allows you to increase these values. Depending on which SPECIAL attributes you upgrade, you can then equip certain corresponding perks.
This is how Fallout 76 intends to provide a comprehensive development of your character.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: Unlike in Fallout 4, you no longer set your perks through skill points that you receive through level-ups, but rather via special cards. You receive a perk card with each level-up, and later every 5 levels an additional card pack with several random cards.
The cards are always assigned to one of the SPECIAL attributes and can be freely attached and removed. Each perk can also be upgraded. You only need an identical card. Additionally, the cards can be shared with other players.
Depending on how you increase your attributes and which perks you choose, you develop in different directions. For example, by focusing on charisma, several perks that support the entire group become available. Thus, you can grow into the supporter role, provided you have the right cards.
With the sheer variety of different skills, players can freely experiment and find their own style. We have listed all previously shown perks for you.
What difficulties could arise? If you want a specific perk, you need to be lucky. Bethesda somewhat counteracts this with the packs, as you receive perks that you may not necessarily have had on your radar.
Or one of your teammates draws the desired card and shares it with you. Such systems can cause frustration for some, particularly because it is said that there will be numerous perks in Fallout 76.
7. Survival elements should be relatively harmless
In Fallout 76, it will be necessary for your character to eat and drink, however, Bethesda does not intend to align itself with hardcore survival games. The survival elements should not annoy you.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: The survival elements should merely support the gameplay and not cause frustration for the player. You won’t need to run to a water source or eat a chocolate bar every few minutes. Likewise, crafting should be kept relatively moderate.
However, you will need to regularly drink and eat to survive. Two interface bars should indicate how hungry or thirsty you are. Fallout-typical elements such as radiation, mutation, illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction will also have an impact on your behavior.
Upon dying, you will not lose your equipment as is typical in other survival games.
What difficulties could arise? Survival elements are complicated. If they are too hard, players who are not survival fans may quickly feel put off or pressured.
If they are too mild, they could be considered superfluous, as they would have no significant impact on the gameplay. Thus, Bethesda must carefully consider how to achieve balance.
8. Mod support and private servers for solo players – after release
Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are known not only for their vast game worlds but also for their incredibly active modding community being one of the most important factors in the games. So it’s no surprise that many fans are asking for mod support.
Mods should also be possible in Fallout 76.
Here’s how they plan to achieve that: At QuakeCon, Todd Howard of Bethesda spoke about mod support for Fallout 76. He mentioned that it would be considerably more difficult to ensure this, as it is no longer a purely single-player title.
Unfortunately, they will not manage to enable mods in Fallout 76 at release. However, it is definitely on the to-do list.
Private servers are also planned. On these, players will be able to play solo, and mods will be supported. However, it is unlikely that this will be ready at release.
If Bethesda sticks to these promises, it would likely make a huge difference for many fans. If you are not a fan of the multiplayer concept, you could simply play solo on your own server or only with your own friends.
What difficulties could arise? Mod support on public servers will likely be impossible. They would jeopardize the balance and could disrupt game mechanics.
Thus, it is likely that no mods will be allowed as long as Bethesda does not enable private servers.
We are definitely excited to see what the final picture of the game will look like. In the beta starting in October, you will get a first look at Fallout 76.
What do you think of Fallout 76? Do the arguments convince you?
