Everything you need to know about Fallout 76

The most unique RPG of this year drops on Wednesday, but how does it actually work?
Image may contain Human and Person
GQ Images

From Fallout 3 to New Vegas, the Fallout series has long been one of the most iconic single-player, narrative-led titles in gaming. As a series, it has almost constantly drawn praise for its ability to tell an iconic story, creating a retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic universe that's beyond compare in any other realm in gaming. But more than a few eyebrows were raised when Bethesda announced earlier this year that the next Fallout game, entitled Fallout 76, would eschew the game's isolated survivalist nature in favour of a massively multiplayer online experience.

Obviously, any announcement of this nature is going to prompt a mixed response. Some are excited, while some think it may stray too far from Fallout's story-telling roots. Regardless of your personal take on the matter, Fallout 76 is here, and it releases on Wednesday. But how have they taken the typical Fallout experience and translated it for the multiplayer sphere? Here's everything you need to know.

So wait, is it a true multiplayer or not?

The short answer is absolutely. Fallout 76 is played entirely online, however the amount you choose to interact with your fellow players is entirely up to you. There are no human NPC's in the entire game, and there is something of a story that guides your progress through the game. The narrative functions in the form of different quests you can undertake with your fellow players, and it essentially functions just like your average MMO.

This creates a trade-off, however. You can either play on your own (entirely on your own) and have full control of your experiences, or play as a group where team discipline is really required to get full enjoyment from its format. Player-on-player combat isn't encouraged, but it's not restricted, either. So if you come across another band of players, things can go south very quickly, but if you kill another player who's minding his own business, a bounty is then set on your head which another player can claim by killing you.

What's the story, then?

Fallout 76 is obviously not going to be as much of a narrative-led game as its predecessors, but it does have a vague story to play through -- one that's based on co-operation. The basic premise is that you and your fellow players are the previous inhabitants of Vault 76, tasked with reclaiming West Virginia from humanity very shortly after the fictional nuclear holocaust that happens in Fallout canon. It's a very vague story, and purposely so, as the collective playing community expands throughout the game's territory.

What about bases?

One of the most vital parts of any Fallout game has always been base-building, as it offers you a hub to build weapons and mods, cook food and do everything else that, well, keeps you alive in the game. This is much the same in Fallout 76, however it's taken mobile. Each player gets a portable base-building system which players can also use co-operatively. Of course, these bases then have to be defended from both monsters and other characters.

If two players on a server happen to build a base in the same place, the person who did so second gets their camp returned to their portable system to set up wherever they choose.

How important is the co-op aspect?

While you can play 76 on your own, just about everything in the game is geared towards encouraging teamwork. On top of the base-building aspect, a lot is there to incentivise players in to working with eachother and banding together in groups. Access to nukes, for instance, is governed by finding nuclear silos, all of which have a code that requires teamwork to obtain. Once you fire a nuke, it creates a heavily radiated area where it lands -- meaning a chance of better loot, but also having to face other players and high-level monsters to reap the rewards.

So, just how big is it?

Anyone worrying previously that Fallout 76 would act as something more of an add-on or half-baked spin-off to the pre-existing Fallout 4 need not worry. It's entirely a new game in its own right, and it's only set to get bigger than what it will be at launch. Suffice it to say that it's a big game, filled with more than enough content to make it a solid standalone title in the series. All DLC on the game will be free, too.

Fallout 76 launches on November 14.


Fallout 4 all chewed out? Check out these made-in-India indie games

X-rated gaming is here and it's growing fast

Microsoft's Xbox One X may be the most powerful gaming console ever

> More on Games

via gq.com.au