Bethesda promises big fixes for Fallout 76 next year

It isn’t exactly controversial to state that Fallout 76 has had a bit of a rough start. Aside from the whole canvas bag debacle, the game as a whole had a buggy launch even compared to other Bethesda sandboxes, and the reviews have been decidedly mixed. As a result, Bethesda has been on something of an apology tour lately, with several promises of fixes to the game.

Firstly, Bethesda has announced a new planned PvP mode for early next year. The wording of the announcement is a little vague on what those changes will be. However, it promises “a new mode where you can work together, or not, without PvP restrictions”. Fallout 76’s PvP was a controversial mechanic, where PvP had to be initiated by responding to a duel, or else players could barely fight or cause damage to one another.

Whilst it was a well-intentioned effort to prevent griefing, it made fights against players feel weirdly inorganic. It also wasn’t very well-balanced, as the player who shoots back would deal full damage, and could set up sneak attacks or ambushes. As such, a mode where players can fight against one another without those limitations, similar to Destiny 2’s Crucible, would likely be well-received by many players.

In addition, the announcement declares that future patch notes will come with brief thoughts from the developers, giving more clarity on why decisions and changes are being made. This should hopefully help give an idea of what direction the developers are hoping to take with Fallout 76, and help facilitate interaction with the Fallout community.

Bethesda is already attempting to create some goodwill with Fallout fans by offering free copies of the Fallout Classic Collection for gamers who own Fallout 76. This offer will go live next month, and contains Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics. Although the Fallout Classic Collection is on PC, the offer is available for PC and console players of Fallout 76.

#HappyHolidays!

ANYONE who logged into the full release of #Fallout76 in 2018 will receive an entitlement for Fallout Classic Collection on PC. This applies to Xbox One and PS4 players, too.

The entitlement is expected to go live in early January. pic.twitter.com/U8pJwrk0PV

— Bethesda (@bethesda) December 22, 2018

Those classic isometric Fallout RPGs might be rather different to what the Fallout franchise has become, but they’re still great games that hold up today. Even though they regularly go on sale and are fairly cheap nowadays, it is still a nice gesture from a publisher that is clearly trying to win back audience trust. Hopefully Bethesda are able to realise Fallout 76’s potential and maintain audience goodwill.