Wasteful Wandering: Fallout 76

Sometimes you just have to go out on a limb and take a risk on a game that might be a bit iffy.  As a Fallout fan I was feeling a bit Fallout-curious about Fallout 76.  Due to many negative reviews (particularly when it first launched) I quickly decided that maybe this version of the apocalypse wasn't worth the attention.  In the next two-ish years, Fallout 76 has seen many major updates and I started to see the reviews tip in a more favorable direction.  I still teetered between grabbing it or not--quite frankly, multiplayer games really aren't my thing and I had many concerns about that particular aspect of the game.  But, like any good stalker, I continued to read reviews and look longingly at info about it.  Finally, after months of swaying between purchasing it or not, it was on sale for $13.  For $13 I was willing to take the risk and give it a try.

Thus far my experience in Fallout 76 has felt, well, very Fallout-like.  Similarly to the other games, your character starts off in a vault (Vault 76) and then is given a directive to go out and rebuild a new version of America in the post-apocalyptic world of Appalachia (West Virginia to be specific).  Character creation doesn't vary much from previous games although there does seem to be a bit more freedom in making small tweaks to specific facial features.

My character prepares to exit Vault 76.

Once you've finished gathering all the newbie materials from your vault you're ready to take the big step of entering the fray in the open world of Appalachia.  As a setting, Appalachia is pretty--lots of trees, mountains, and much less of a drab, ruined feeling than in the more urban games.  One of the first big gameplay changes that I had to get used to was the fact that there are more survival oriented elements built into the game--your character needs to periodically eat and drink or else they will suffer health losses.  A handy hunger and thirst meter indicates if it's time to chow down on some wasteland delicacies--maybe a nice mutt chop (finely crafted from the meat of a feral dog that attacked you) accompanied by some handcrafted tato juice.  The meal of a true wasteland champion!

The gameplay still largely functions around exploring the vast open world--poking through abandoned, ruined buildings and scavenging anything with remote value.  During your poking around you will also have to fight off the many dangerous post-apocalyptic denizens of Appalachia.  Many of the same enemies from previous games make an appearance--lumbering, robotic Protectrons; hulking, green super mutants; buzzing bloatflies--but there are also some new baddies; the Scorched are an infected group of humans who aren't quite as wasted away as feral ghouls.  Rather than blindly charging at you in flailing horror, the Scorched can wield a variety of weapons and will take cover.  Like feral ghouls, they also have horrible vocalizations that indicate their presence.  Since I'm still fairly low-level I doubt I've encountered the full menu of things that want to kill you.

One of the new features in Fallout 76 is the ability to craft your own personalized C.A.M.P.  Your C.A.M.P. is a portable device that allows you to build structures and workbenches and make your own personalized camp area.  The building function is very similar to settlement building in Fallout 4--you pick the individual pieces and snap them into place to form a structure.  You can also craft numerous workbenches to help you create, maintain, and modify your gear as well as craft survival materials (food, drinks, and chems).  Once you've built to your satisfaction, you can save a blueprint of your structures and easily move your camp as you search different areas of the map.  So far I've managed to make a number of very ugly, very square, boring buildings.  You can spruce up your C.A.M.P. by purchasing, unlocking, or finding plans to craft different material types for your buildings.

The most distinctive feature of Fallout 76 is the fact that it is multiplayer.  As you wander the wastes you will encounter other players--you can team up with them to accomplish tasks or you can wander on your own.  I've largely stuck to myself, but I have completed a couple of "events" (timed, special encounters that periodically pop up on the map and reward players for completion) with a few other players.  Thus far (fingers-crossed) my encounters have largely been peaceful and pleasant.  A fun feature is the ability to visit the camps of other players.  There is good reason to visit the camps of other players--you can purchase a vending machine for your camp and sell items you've looted using those machines.  Often other players will sell materials that you need (and, in most cases, much cheaper than the NPC vendors)--things like plans, mods, and recipes.

Playing instruments grants an AP buff.  Also, it's goofy.

My most interesting encounter with other players happened when a couple of people wandered into my camp and decided to drop some items they didn't need.  I'm not really sure why they did this, but they seemed to want me to loot them, so I did.  It was strange, but nice.

I've been half-heartedly following the main storyline missions (you're trying to seek out the vault overseer from Vault 76 and they've left a number of breadcrumbs in the form of holotapes scattered around the map) but have mostly just spent my time wandering and scavenging.  A major change in the gameplay that is taking some getting used to is the fact that you have to be much more selective in your looting--you cannot actively hoard in the traditional manner of other Bethesda games.  Storage in your camp is limited; food items will spoil over time, so lugging around a ton of food is usually a bad idea; it's a hard habit to break.

Thus far I've been enjoying my experience in Fallout 76.  Crafting my camp has been fun and I've enjoyed the simple pleasure of exploring a new world.  I'm struggling a bit with finding new/improved weapons and armor or crafting them and I'm still getting used to the vendor system in the game (it's undoubtedly better to purchase stuff from other players).  I feel like my $13 was well spent, but we'll see if that feeling persists as I play more.