Fallout 76 has been struggling for years with a reputation as a catastrophic game, and even the executives admit that the launch was not good. Nevertheless, the developers are working hard on new updates: The latest major update is called Steel Reign. Players are now satisfied but wish for more.
This is the story of the game: Fallout 76 was released in November 2018, almost three years ago. Even beforehand, many fans of the series were skeptical about whether a multiplayer Fallout could be successful – especially in the completely foreign survival genre.
Due to the skepticism, the criticism of Fallout 76 was already higher than for other releases. On top of that, there were a ton of bugs and server issues. These spoiled the first impression of Fallout 76 for many players.
As a cherry on top, there was a scandal surrounding the Collector’s Edition, where players did not receive what was promised – or at least only later and after some protests.
All of this led many fans, players, and a good part of the internet to a single conclusion: Fallout 76 is trash. And even the head himself admitted: The launch of Fallout 76 was not good.
What does it look like today? This reputation still haunts the game today, although the doomsday calls have become significantly less frequent. After all, it eventually gets boring to keep bashing something: Moreover, Fallout 76 had early regular players who were not bothered by the criticism.
The community of Fallout 76 stood by their game, even through tough times, and the core has remained intact to this day. Everyone is nice to each other, everyone is helpful, and the community is considered one of the most positive in all gaming – the German community, for example, gifted lonely players at Christmas.
The head himself already said: If people behave in the post-apocalypse like in Fallout 76, he sees no problem for humanity.
Over the past few years, the developers have released constant updates, including:
- Wastelanders, which brought the long-awaited NPCs
- One Wasteland, which aimed to save Fallout like its counterpart “One Tamriel” did years ago for the MMORPG ESO
- Steel Dawn, bringing the legendary Steel Brotherhood into the game
Now, on July 7, 2021, the update Steel Reign was released – a massive update that continues the Brotherhood’s story in Fallout 76. The new update contains tons of great features, but also enough to silence critics?
Steel Reign brings features that players have wanted forever
What’s in the update: The two main features of the update revolve around the most powerful items in the game: legendary armor and weapons. These are items with special properties, which can create strong synergies in corresponding builds.
Legendaries are the main focus of the update regarding new features:
- legendary weapons and armor can now be crafted
- power armors, the iconic exoskeletons of Fallout, now also come in legendary variants
- some legendary effects have been revised and new ones added
There are also numerous bug fixes, including the removal of a rather strange, unintended emote. Along with the update, Season 5 was also released, featuring endless levels in the Battle Pass as well as a new campaign that advances the story. You can find the complete patch notes in German on the official website (via bethesda.net).
How is the update received? On Reddit, the changes are generally welcomed positively, with some suggestions for improvement that are more about details. In a thread where Steel Reign is to be rated, the update earns an average of about 7 out of 10 points (via reddit.com).
The biggest criticism that keeps coming up is the length of the new story. The update is simply “too small” – good, but just too little. Many players wish for more or that Steel Dawn and Steel Reign would have been released together. They believe this would have done the game better.
A wish circulating is to finally be able to sell certain grenades. The thread garnered 1,200 upvotes, the most of any topic related to the update (via reddit.com). As early as 2020, many players complained that grenades cluttered their inventory – they wished for less loot.
“We need another DLC like Wild Appalachia!”
Within the community, it is clear that Fallout 76 needs more change and larger updates. Ones that radically change the game as the “Wild Appalachia” update did back then. In a large Reddit thread, it says:
If Bethesda manages to bring a few new, unrelated quests and events to otherwise dead places, it would not only make fans happy or even bring them back, but would breathe new life into the world of Appalachia.
Aurora_Vorealis via reddit.com
What made Wild Appalachia so special? The update was the first major content patch of Fallout 76 ever and was released in March 2019. Although the much-missed NPCs were still not in the game, Wild Appalachia was able to thrill players with some features:
- a new quest line about alcohol and spirits, with which players could learn to brew their own beer and more
- improvements to the C.A.M.P., the building system of Fallout 76, which many players appreciated and still do
- the very first seasonal event, the Fasnacht with special cosmetic rewards
Although no massive changes or expansions to the map were made, the update brought exactly what Fallout players appreciate about their games: more exploration, room for creativity, and totally crazy ideas. Many players now wish for such a boost once again.
Even though the new content is appreciated, even active Fallout fans say that it only satisfies the existing players and does not represent a massive boost for the player base. Fallout 76 needs more new players, and for that, a larger transformation is necessary.
What does Fallout 76 need now? Many players agree that a little more life in the world would greatly help the game. They hope that the upcoming updates for autumn and winter will exactly accomplish this.
If Fallout 76 taps into its full potential, it might also appease critics and attract more players outside of the loyal fanbase. Whether it needs at least an extraordinary expansion or perhaps a new engine for that? One that runs a little more stable, elevates the game to a more modern graphics level, and doesn’t carry over bugs from predecessors.
So far, however, we only know for sure that in the future Pittsburgh will appear as a new location and aliens will be a theme. Work is also ongoing on legendary items, and real pets will arrive in winter for players.
In the past three years, Fallout 76 has worked hard to turn the failure into success and is still on its way to achieving that. Nevertheless, the game already has a place among our 25 best survival games for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
