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Fallout 76: First Impressions

When it comes to video games, I find that I'm pretty easy to please. If the game is fun and it works like its supposed to, hell that's really all I need. There are times obviously where my expectations are so high that I end up disappointed in the long run, but in other cases that's not really a factor. I think Fallout 76 falls into that category quite comfortably.

I was part of the hype for Fallout 76 all the way to when obscure article titles were hinting at a new Fallout, and along that road I followed update after update all the way to when the game was released. I held off on buying my own copy for a couple reasons. 1, I unfortunately got into the habit of taking a majority of the reviews at face value which I really shouldn't do when it comes to video games. I feel like every game at least deserves a chance. I ended up enjoying No Man's Sky in the very same way. Fallout 76 in my opinion delivers were it should and doesn't do much to minimize the feeling of a Fallout game. And 2, I just didn't feel like getting into a Fallout game again after being slightly underwhelmed with Fallout 4, but again, I felt like it deserved some of my time as I'm a big fan of the series. What I wasn't prepared for is enjoying the game way more than I initially expected.

I may very well be the only person that has anything good to say about Fallout 76 because the popular concensus is that it sucks the big one. The many hours I've spent playing it so far, I really don't see where those people are coming from. It's to the point where people are just complaining to complain. Not really surprising as Bethesda is known to not know how to make an online game. For me though it doesn't even matter. I could care less about the online aspect because I've so far not be hindered by it. I've been able to happily and successfully play the game solo and have run into literally no issues. Yeah the thing about not having NPC's is odd but again, it doesn't cause so much of an impact that it actually matters. It really doesnt. It still feels like Fallout and that's all I wanted. Anything else is just extra.

I wouldn't say Bethesda hit it out of the ball park with this release but they definitely made it into an enjoyable experienxe. They promised a Fallout experience and that's what it is. They've definitely done a great job of portraying a post apocalyptic West Virginia. I haven't explored a lot of the map yet but it is humongous and I've always found something to do in my time playing so far. And again, that's without the help of NPC's and other players. I have run into players during my playtime but they've all genuinely been cool so far. Some guy let me use his weapons workbench at his base and I told him to have s good day and just continued on my adventure. When there is social interaction, it is pretty cool. Doesn't happen all the time which I prefer. Very rarely breaks the immersion of survival.

Graphically and performance wise I've also had no issues and I'm playing the PS4 version. Maybe a few times I've run into lag but that's more of the problem of having too many things on screen at once. Otherwise when I'm walking through towns and forested areas, I keep a pretty consistent FPS which Bethesda hasn't always been great about.

With all that being said, the game is not without fault. But those faults literally play no effect in my enjoyment so I don't even find it worth reading about. People are complaining that the world feels empty. But again...you're in the post apocalypse, of course it's empty. I've probably only put about 8 or 9 hours so far but my impression is that this is going to be a genuinely fun Fallout experience. Because that's what it is. Nothing feels too different from the other games that hinders the experience. Gun play is really fun. Enemies are unique. The perk system is cool. It's definitely got my recommendation. And honestly, I'm glad I picked it up and at least gave it a chance. Now to explore everything.