Fallout 76 stole a lot of the “show” at E3 last week. How could an always online multiplayer Fallout not do that? Still, there’s a lot about this upcoming game we don’t know, despite the interviews and previews coming out of the big reveal. We know it’ll have PVP, we know it’ll have PVE, and we know that’ll be very much a Fallout game, just in an always online and persistent world. Here then are five things I want from Fallout 76 to make it worth playing.
A STORY THAT KEEPS GOING
Todd Howard called FO76 a softcore survival game at its unveiling, but Fallout is and always has been about the story. In this world, you’re one of dozens of the first humans out of the Vault to recolonize and reclaim a broken United States. It’s been revealed that there aren’t any other human NPCs in the West Virginia wilds, but that instead robots and other NPCs will be the ones you interact with. Robots will do most of the quest giving, for example. But as a “Game as a Service” Fallout 76 needs more than just repeatable quests to keep it fresh – I’m hoping instead that Todd and Bethesda haven’t forgotten that the story is the core of a great RPG and a great Fallout game.
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PVP ON MY OWN TERMS
I like to compete. I like PVP. But I also like adventure, questing, exploration, smelling the roses… and in my online games I really don’t like free for all PVP. If, as has been reported from interviews, FO76 is indeed using similar server tech to ESO, then it’s feasible that players can opt in or out to PVP and be grouped with other likeminded players. The only catch is that a big part of Fallout 76’s end game is the hunting, collection, and use of nuclear codes. Is the thrill of that action gone if the players aren’t fighting over them? I’m of the mind that it’s a different more cooperative act – a whole server working together to find, arm, and choose where to launch them.
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A BETTER BUILDING SYSTEM
Fallout 4’s base building was an almost cut from the game feature that wound up being beloved or hated by players depending on who you ask. If FO76 is going to make it a mainstay, I sincerely hope it’s a.) more intuitive and b.) make sure it’s not the kind of effort that requires players to wander West Virginia punching trees, hacking away at rocks, and doing all those things that make most survival games annoying and unfun.
These are just a few of the things I’d like Fallout 76 to do to make the game more than just “Another Survival RPG”. I’m sure there are many more we could hope for, and I’d like to hear what you’d wish for if you had Bethesda’s ear. Lay it on me!
