What Fallout 5 Can Learn from Fallout 76

Fallout 76 is the first incursion of Bethesda Game Studios into the multiplayer of the popular series. Unfortunately, its launch has provoked lukewarm reactions, to say the least.

But what he has managed to do is to generate even more anticipation for a new Fallout Solo game, and although 76 may not have failed, he has some ideas that need to be postponed and lessons to be learned. to heart.

Here are five things that Fallout 5 can learn from Fallout 76.

It's time to recreate creation

Although Fallout 76 looks spectacular in some places – especially when the brightness and the atmosphere are optimal – the technical limitations of Creation Engine were evident in Fallout 4 in 2015. In 2018, they are inexcusable. Fallout 76's performance is hampered by frequent stuttering, game crashes, and launch consoles struggling to maintain a reasonable frame rate, not to mention the lack of a field-of-view slider. It's a pity that Creation Engine is known for these issues, and not as an effective design platform that Bethesda and moders use expertly to create bigger and better worlds. It is unlikely that the next Fallout game will use a new engine, but we can at least hope that Bethesda is willing to do whatever it takes to bring the Creation to life.

Bonus cards are a welcome change

Fallout 76 has once again dramatically changed the Perk system in the series, replacing the traditional skill tree or traditional menu with hot-swappable cards. This allows for greater flexibility in character construction, introduces random progression paths and allows for easy experimentation with different game styles. As in Diablo III, which allows you to swap between unlocked abilities, choose benefits at the beginning of the game is no longer a decisive decision for the game – for better or for worse – and trading cards is a great way to change things. a moment of notice. The disadvantage is that it is to the detriment of making the choices of benefits less significant for the identity of your character. Some variations of this solution might be an interesting idea to experiment with for Fallout 5: please monetize the map packs, agree?

Build anywhere, anytime when

When Fallout 4 introduced the base building, it opened up a world of possibilities for creating unique and customized installations, provided it is located in one of the few pre-selected locations. 76 has followed the example of some modders of Fallout 4 and has wisely eliminated this arbitrary restriction and allows you to drop your C.A.M.P. and start building virtually anywhere is not already built. We just wish we did not have to spend so much time managing our stock of materials, swimming in oceans of junks and fighting the geometry of the world to place everything. For a game that consists of collecting resources and building, 76 makes the task tedious. We hope that Fallout 5 will give us even more freedom to build where we want, with a more permissive hidden storage system so we can build whenever we want.

Choices that matter in the world

Although this is not the first time we have pushed the button into a Fallout game, Fallout 76 offers the ability to launch nuclear weapons anywhere on the map. The explosion and the resulting radioactivity radically alter the look and feel of this area and pave the way for high level activities and unique enemy encounters to the disaster. It is a negative fact, however, that because we live in a shared online world, what should be an event that changes the world is short-lived and a little disappointing. We hope that Fallout 5 will improve on this front by allowing us to launch nuclear weapons with significant, permanent consequences that change the gameplay.

Factions must have a meaning

The Fallout 76 Absentee Factions illustrate even more clearly that conflicts between groups such as the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, and the New California Republic play an important role in the smooth running of Fallout. The lesson is this: Fallout 5 must backtrack in the opposite direction and rely on the ability to join and influence the direction of its factions. In combination with building mechanics and the frequent battles of NPCs against NPCs, there is even potential for a final phase of large-scale territorial conquest to determine who controls the area.

Perhaps the most important lesson that Bethesda can learn from Fallout 76 is that you can not go back on a bad game and issue something that clearly needs a lot of work can cause irreparable damage to the most popular series. It is a mistake that he absolutely can not afford to repeat.

David Leblanc is a writer, publisher and graphic designer based in Montreal, Canada. Follow him on Twitter @thedavidleblanc.