Fallout 76 is an oddly fascinating addition to the esteemed Fallout franchise, due to its stark difference from the other titles of the series, and for how it stayed so relevant within the gaming discourse for so long, despite being for the wrong reasons.

Despite the palpable hype surrounding Fallout 76 prior to its launch, the more than tumultuous way in which it launched saw significant backlash from the wider gaming community, with the unpolished nature of gameplay at launch combining with questionable PR responses combining to condemn the game in the immediacy of its release. That being said, with over three years having passed since the game's release, Bethesda has released a slew of post-launch patches and updates. With the overarching goal of these updates molding the game into something more representative of what gamers were expecting, fans may wonder if the game is worth revisiting.

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The Infamously Problematic Launch

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When discussing whether the game is worth revisiting in 2022, it would be remiss to not first outline and contextualize how the launch led to such stigma. Eventually launching in November 2018, the ambition and difference of Fallout 76 saw an outpouring of support and interest towards the game in the months leading to its release.

However, upon the game's launch, this large audience only saw negative criticism of the game amplified. Fans found Fallout 76 to be littered with glitches upon release, which saw the game be borderline unplayable for many players. Despite Bethesda being reasonably transparent regarding the unstable state in which Fallout 76 would release, the extent and scale of the glitches present saw the game thrust to the forefront of criticism and negative publicity.

The launch was not helped by the ease in which players quickly began exploiting and cheating within Fallout 76 to acquire end-game intended content, negating and spoiling what the game had to offer just weeks after launch.

However, problems at launch were not just limited to gameplay, with outrage stemming from actions taken by stressed PR and logistics teams surrounding Fallout 76 who were dealing with an unprecedentedly problem-laden launch and its backlash. Infamously, fans who paid $80 for physical replicas of the in-game glass-bottled Nuka Cola Dark drink received plastic versions that appeared wildly different from promotional material.

Another example came with the promised addition of a canvas Fallout 76 bag with the games Collector's Edition, with fans instead receiving a cheaper nylon version. Bethesda did eventually send out bags more indicative of the advertised canvas bag, however, fans had to wait nearly seven months after launch to receive them.

Fixes Since Launch

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One of the main and most welcomed changes that Bethesda has recently implemented to Fallout 76 was a facelift to the game's inventory and sorting, increasing the player stash weight limit by 50% and adding much-needed categories to the sorting system to allow for easier item identification.

Another area that Bethesda has been consistently addressing since the game's release is the issue of duplication exploits. Bethesda has had to address specific item duplication exploits as they became known, and is a part of the game that has remained annoyingly present throughout the game's life cycle. Despite the consistent amount of work that Bethesda has exerted towards fixing duplication issues, it is something that comes and goes with each patch and update, and definitely is an aspect of gameplay that will still dissuade players from returning in 2022.

While it is a good sign that Bethesda has been consistently addressing issues and releasing patches since the game's launch, it is of course concerning that basic issues have remained so consistent up until this day, over three years after its release. On top of that, the fact that some patches actually produce even larger glitches and bring back already fixed issues undoubtedly makes returning to the game in 2022 a less attractive prospect, despite the game definitely being in a better state compared to its launch.

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New Content

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With the uncertainty surrounding the state of bug fixes remaining in Fallout 76, the fair amount of post-launch content that the game now boasts is perhaps the most alluring factor for potentially revisiting players.

The Wastelanders DLC was a free content update released in 2020 that went down well with the Fallout 76 community. Quite crucially, the DLC introduced NPCs to the game's world. An element of gameplay that many thought should have been a part of Fallout 76 at launch, the presence of NPCs gives the game a much more authentic Fallout feeling and builds the organic feeling of the world quite significantly.

One of the biggest post-launch introductions that's worth exploring is the Nuclear Winter game mode. Nuclear Winter is a battle-royale mode, in which 52 players compete against each other to be the last standing, with power armor and even nukes being at their disposal. The introduction of these alternate game modes does well to break the tedium that a lot of fans were beginning to feel with the base game, and is definitely an aspect of Fallout 76 that is worth checking out.

With Bethesda additionally releasing a roadmap of what fans should expect in 2022, the new content that Fallout 76 boasts makes the game worth revisiting, despite the lingering presence of glitches and exploits.

Fallout 76 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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