When it was revealed that Fallout 76 would be online only, several gamers were immediately worried about the drastic change in the formula of the franchise. Those players may be relieved to hear that this upcoming multiplayer game won't "mark the future" of Bethesda games, and they may also be relieved to hear that the game differs from Destiny in some regard.

The biggest difference, as revealed by Pete Hines, is this concept of "stranger danger." In the standard RPG, including online games such as Destiny, there are NPC merchants that players buy supplies from, and it has been long known that Fallout 76 does away with NPCs. This creates this level of "stranger danger," as players will have to interact with each other in order to buy and sell items.

In fact, Hines stated:

In Destiny, they still have NPC [merchants]. If you want to buy something you don't go to other players-you can't go to other players. You go to NPCs and say 'I wanna buy this, I saved up enough of these things. In our game, if that's how you want to play, you do that with other players, you trade with other people, you travel around the map and buy and sell stuff from folks. Or you can set up a shop.

Hines goes on to admit there is a level of PvP, but that it's not in the best interest of any player to immediately attack another. He states that it's not a shooter, battle royale, or anything people assumed it was (like a Destiny clone). It's still an RPG, he insists, which leads players to embark upon quests, so these interactions lead to questions of their safety: "Is that a friend or foe? Do they think I'm a friend or I'm a foe? How do I want this to play out?"

Luckily, though, low-level players are protected from the PvP elements of Fallout 76, and death won't be a huge negative for those who are jumped by a PC vendor-turned-bandit. Since the plot of Fallout 76 revolves around rebuilding after the bombs dropped, this major change-up of player roles definitely sees the game differ from other online-only games.

While this lack of NPC merchants and adaption of player roles has Fallout 76 differ from Destiny, many gamers may still be happy to hear that Fallout 5 will be a single-player experience. The multiplayer element is something new for Bethesda, but it does suit the company's ambition and innovation. Where Fallout 76 goes from here and how it continues to establish itself as a unique peculiarity will be interesting to see for many gamers.

Fallout 76 is set to release on November 14, 2018, for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz