Why Fallout 76 Fails In Delivering An Interesting World

An online, multiplayer-only Fallout game, Fallout 76 was roundly criticised at launch for a number of reasons, one of which was its lack of meaningful events and interactions with NPCs–which do not exist in the game.

In a new GameSpot video, Jess McDonell covers the many ways that Fallout 76, in its current state, fails to deliver an interesting post-apocalyptic world. In short, the way Fallout 76 delivers quests and story elements simply isn’t all that interesting or engaging, Jess argues.

Fallout 76 is of course not the only game that lacks other human characters, and in the video piece, Jess examines the ways in which titles like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Tacoma, Return of the Obra Dinn, and The Division do a better job than Fallout 76 of telling stories when the world’s other humans are dead and gone.

Be sure to watch the full video in the embed above to get the rundown on the failures of Fallout 76’s storytelling elements and how things could have been different using one of the many alternate approaches. And once you’re done, leave a comment below about what games you think handle the post-apocalypse or minimal characters best and whether or not you’re a fan of how Fallout 76 handles it.

For more on Fallout 76, check out GameSpot’s review and all of our previous coverage here.