TL;DR: The game is actually quite good now, but I still don't think it's worth what they charge. If the game goes on sale and you want to try it, buy it then. Game marked as received for free because my steam copy was, thanks to one of the few truely pro consumer things Bethesda has done with this game in a while.

So... Fallout 76.

A novel concept when it was announced back in 2018, an released November of that year. I doubt I have to tell you the story of how that went. A couple months in, it was an alright game (Still not that good of a Fallout game though), but Bethesda had a few changes to make that would make the game have a second wave of backlash. I'm certain you don't need the full reminder of that either.

Cutting to the chase, Fallout 76 as it was even a few months ago would have had me leaving a negative review here, what with all the poor mtx decisions (looking at you, Fallout 1st) and lack of real content outside of the main story. But this isn't a few months ago, this is the day after the Wastelanders update launched. That leaves me to review the game as it is now. Content wise, I have already played close to 20 hours at time of writing (Some of that was on the beth.net client, some here) and I haven't actually touched the 'new' main quest. That alone says a fair amount about how much was added to the game, as you could probably play most (if not all) of Fallout 76's main story at time of release, if you never bothered to explore.

So let's talk about this new content then. Writing wise, I think this is some of the best work Bethesda has ever done in recent memory (I haven't played anything before Skyrim, excepting Fallout 3), and it really helps the game shine now. 76 has several of what it calls 'allies,' essentially companions that launch straight into their unique companion quests but don't actually accompany you while you do them. They do however have some incredible dialogue, and some well placed skill checks that you can use while talking to them.

I haven't even come close to describing all of the ways this update has improved the game, but I'm going to start to wrap things up. If you're curious about stability, the game is the most stable I remember it ever being, as I haven't had a server disconnect or game crash (Not counting crashes caused by user error, which there were one or two of) at all in the time since Wastelanders launched (although that could be luck, as one of my friends had a few issues that took us a while to figure out and fix). Overall, I think that if you are a Fallout fan, enjoyed the main gameplay loop of Fallout 4 (Explore -> Looting -> Craft/Build -> Explore) and want to play with other people while doing so, this game will fit right at home in your Steam library. The one thing I will say is that I think the current asking price for this game (as we are now 1 1/2 years into its life) is a bit too much, and I would recommend picking the game up if/when it goes on sale.

TL;DR: The game is actually quite good now, but I still don't think it's worth what they charge. If the game goes on sale and you want to try it, buy it then. Game marked as received for free because my steam copy was, thanks to one of the few truely pro consumer things Bethesda has done with this game in a while. So... Fallout 76. A novel concept when it was announced back in 2018, an released November of that year. I doubt I have to tell you the story of how that went. A couple months in, it was an alright game (Still not that good of a Fallout game though), but Bethesda had a few changes to make that would make the game have a second wave of backlash. I'm certain you don't need the full reminder of that either. Cutting to the chase, Fallout 76 as it was even a few months ago would have had me leaving a negative review here, what with all the poor mtx decisions (looking at you, Fallout 1st) and lack of real content outside of the main story. But this isn't a few months ago, this is the day after the Wastelanders update launched. That leaves me to review the game as it is now. Content wise, I have already played close to 20 hours at time of writing (Some of that was on the beth.net client, some here) and I haven't actually touched the 'new' main quest. That alone says a fair amount about how much was added to the game, as you could probably play most (if not all) of Fallout 76's main story at time of release, if you never bothered to explore. So let's talk about this new content then. Writing wise, I think this is some of the best work Bethesda has ever done in recent memory (I haven't played anything before Skyrim, excepting Fallout 3), and it really helps the game shine now. 76 has several of what it calls 'allies,' essentially companions that launch straight into their unique companion quests but don't actually accompany you while you do them. They do however have some incredible dialogue, and some well placed skill checks that you can use while talking to them. I haven't even come close to describing all of the ways this update has improved the game, but I'm going to start to wrap things up. If you're curious about stability, the game is the most stable I remember it ever being, as I haven't had a server disconnect or game crash (Not counting crashes caused by user error, which there were one or two of) at all in the time since Wastelanders launched (although that could be luck, as one of my friends had a few issues that took us a while to figure out and fix). Overall, I think that if you are a Fallout fan, enjoyed the main gameplay loop of Fallout 4 (Explore -> Looting -> Craft/Build -> Explore) and want to play with other people while doing so, this game will fit right at home in your Steam library. The one thing I will say is that I think the current asking price for this game (as we are now 1 1/2 years into its life) is a bit too much, and I would recommend picking the game up if/when it goes on sale.