TL;DR A micro-transaction based MMORPG, with a near perfect feedback-loop.

Like many others, I started playing Fallout 76 in the wake of the Fallout TV show being released on Amazon Prime in April.
Unlike many others, I’m actually a long time Fallout fan, started with Fallout 1 & 2, played Fallout tactics, Fallout BOS, and obviously the newer Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4.
I really enjoyed Fallout 4 for the most part.
The graphics there was greatly improved, skills/perks tree was revamped, and crafting and base building was introduced.
I however do acknowledge that some things became worse in Fallout 4. The combat became less turn based, the story wasn’t as good (especially compared to Fallout 1 & 2), and there was too much useless text/fluff. I understand providing some backstory for world building purposes… But at some point some backstory turns into too much backstory, turns the backstory into fluff you don’t want to read anymore.

I realize this is a review for Fallout 76, and not of previous games :)
But I do feel it’s important to mention the previous games, to understand how Fallout 76 fares in comparison.

First of all, this is a much dumbed-down, combat-centered version of Fallout.
The focus of the game is (in that order):

1. Battles with monsters
   
2. Character building
   
3. Crafting
   
4. Base building
   
5. Trading
   
6. Missions / Quests

Unlike the “regular” Fallout games, where the focus is on open-world RPG, and the ability to solve missions in different ways (sneaking, stealing, speech checks, paying money OR combat). Here the focus is on combat 95% of the time spent on missions.
Between missions, you’ll spend most of your time upgrading your character, gear and your base.


Microtransaction based games are games where the player can spend real money to purchase items, in game-currency or a game-pass. This is a common practice in modern free-to-play mobile games. Noted examples: Candy crush, Plants vs. Zombies, Brawl Stars, etc…
And have no mistake - Fallout 76 is a microtransaction based game. You can both buy in-game currency with real money and buy a monthly game-pass that gives you additional advantages in the game. For example the free-to-play “Brawl Stars” also has the same microtransaction options.
The main characteristic of any microtransactian based game is the feedback loop.
Think of a hamster in a hamster wheel, that is given a treat as long as it keeps running in the wheel.
The more the hamster runs, more treats it gets, which gives it the incentive to keep running.

“Regular” games are sold on content-per-$$$ basis.
You pay a fixed sum of money upfront, and in exchange you get a game with a set content.
The more hours of enjoyment you get from the game, the more worthwhile the game is to you as the player.
This is not the case in microtransaction based games.
Here the goal of the game is to get you to spend as much money, and for this the goal is to keep you playing as long as possible (preferably indefinitely). Much like a casino.
Similar to many mobile free-to-play games, you are limited in the number of things you can do in a day (vendors have a limited number of caps per day, you can only trade a limited number of legendaries for scrip per day, etc.), while you are encouraged to come back and play every day (daily free items, daily missions for “seasonal” bonus awards, daily refresh for caps & scrip, etc.)
So while in a “regular” game you can play the whole weekend, and then not play at all for the whole week, you would not lose anything. Here playing 1 hour for 7 days, can potentially net X7 more awards than playing 1 day for 7 hours.

Another “first” in this game, is fast travel between points now costs money, probably in order to make the players spend their caps instead of hoarding them, so they would need to grind more of the game to get more caps.


Similar to Diablo III & IV, this game even when played alone, is a multiplayer-only game. Which has deep effects on the gameplay.

• You cannot save & load the game. When you leave your inventory and location is noted, and when you return you are spawned approximately in the same location. So unlike a “regular” game, where you can save and leave before a big boss battle, and then return to finish it later. Here you cannot do it. If you leave and return, the boss will simply not be there anymore.
  
• This also means you can’t pause the game if you have something IRL to attend to. And you can’t play the game for a couple of minutes. Every play sessions needs to be long enough to finish a task from start to finish.
  
• For this reason there is also no modding support for the game. Any quality-of-live improvements from previous games - will not exist here. No better UI. No mods for improved carry weight. No nothing.
  
• Like the aforementioned Diablo games, this game is centered around grinding. Until level 50, you are progressing, doing quests, improving your character, crafting items of increasingly higher levels and better stats, etc. Starting level 50, you stop progressing, and the game starts to revolve around min-maxing, building the perfect build, and grinding for more resources and better random rolls on legendaries.

Due to length constraints, this part is expanded in the full review: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1151340/discussions/0/6369856944157548040/


This is not a bad game (in its current state).
Not by a long shot.
And I have over 140 hours in this game, so it’s definitely doing something right.
There is (in its current state) tons of content, fun stuff to do, a very live and vibrant Fallout world, which scratches the itch very well. (No wonder Amazon gave away the game for free when the TV show was released)
However, even after playing that much hours, and paying for Fallout 1st, I still have this nagging feeling like I’m playing a free-to-play mobile game.
Like the game deliberately limits your carry weight on the one hand, and forces you to carry an increasingly larger amount/weight of items on the other hand in order to progress in the game.
And the only way around it? You guessed it - pay a monthly subscription fee.
So while it may not be a Pay-to-win or Pay-to-play kind of game, it’s definitely Pay-to-progress or Pay-to-enjoy kind of game.

dont listen to the hate. Anyone who still says this game is bad either hasnt played or wont put in the time or effort to actually go out and do things

Scandaloso, crash continui, l'assistenza al gioco fa ridere, ti soammano info che trovi sul loro sito, copia e incolla, come se uno nel 2024 non fosse capace di trovare quelli info, spesso inutili, da solo. Per non parlare delle limitazioni in gioco che puoi sbloccare con soli 18 euro al mese tramite il pass xD SCANDALOSI