Bethesda has a long line of Triple-A video games from The Elder Scrolls, to Wolfenstein, and Doom. One of the most popular games in their line-up is, undoubtedly, Fallout. Bethesda bought the game franchise after the release of the first two games. From these, they created masterpieces including Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4.

The games have a unique style stemming from the rich lore behind it. The game takes place in the post-apocalyptic United States after a nuclear war with communist Russia and China. In this reality, history diverges after WWII with the discovery of cold fusion. This created the games “Atom-Punk” setting and sparked a new age reminiscent of the fifties.

In 2056, in the Fallout Universe, the United States ran out of petroleum and metals. This caused resource wars among China, the United States, the European Union, and the Middle East. This led to the invasion of Alaska by Chinese communists and the creation of Vault-Tec’s nuclear vaults which span the United States.

In Fallout 76, the player is one of the chosen “vault-dwellers” in Vault 76 near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The desolation is extremely noticeable when first entering the game, due to the absence of entirely human (Non-playable) characters (NPC’s). The closest entities to humans are zombie-like creatures called “ghouls”, diseased mutants named, “the scorched”, or the games infamous “super mutants”. The only humans are other players. This is where the game branches out. The last Fallout games were entirely single player, but Fallout 76 is entirely multiplayer. It uses its online capability as its selling point, but many previous fans are deterred due to this.

“Fallout is a messy game with a lot of potential,” said senior Jarod John.

Critic reviews were very underwhelming, receiving a 52 percent by Metacritic and a 5/10 by IGN. The reasoning for these reviews stems from the glitches, lack of content, and odd in-game functions. Fallout 76 was filled with game breaking glitches involving broken character models, online crashes, and user interface issues. Some reviews also talk about the weird content issues including tedious quests and odd leveling for enemies.

“I would not buy Fallout 76 because I did not enjoy Fallout 4, and I have heard there are many bugs with it,” said senior Chris Conkling.

The game is broken, yet fun for the average gaming individual. The beauty of the world and the feel of the gameplay is serene and eerie. The fun the player has is entirely based on who they play with and how they do so. All in all, the game is a major step down for Bethesda, but not a completely terrible game.