When I’m in one of those zones, anything is fair game, and the gameplay becomes a little more organic. Instead, the game has instanced story zones that are reminiscent of Star Wars: The Old Republic. You won’t find the same degree of depth as a game like New Vegas here. Dialogue checks that rely on SPECIAL stats - both positive and negative - are back. I can collect two fleshed-out companions from around the wasteland, meet people in the world, and navigate social situations via dialogue trees.

Wastelanders takes place a year after Fallout 76, and it brings the Fallout franchise back to the Fallout 3 and New Vegas era of conversation design. Some of the base flaws are still here, but Wastelanders accomplished the tough task of getting me to reinvest in a game that had worn out its welcome. If a player found anything fun or intriguing in Fallout 76, such as world building or politics, it’s been brought to the forefront. Fallout 76’s rough areas have been hammered out, and Bethesda has managed to polish the experience up. I’ve spent 20 hours with the new content, which is out today, and can say that Fallout 76 is much more enjoyable now.Īctually, the game might even be sustainable now.

Bethesda hoped to remedy these issues with Wastelanders, an update that promised to bring back human NPCs. While the community did its best to keep the game alive through role-playing and events, traditional MMO additions, like new combat raids, fell flat.

Fallout 76 had a rough launch, but it was the game’s subsequent updates that really strained the game’s servers.

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