The development and evolution ofFallout 76has followed the tale of a once-sinking ship, though Bethesda has consistently done the best it can to keep it afloat since 2018. While the game has been mired by bugs and the initial response to running through an open-world with no NPCs, the constant thread of updates adding new features andquests toFallout 76has proven that there are successes under the surface.
Among the areas whereFallout 76succeeds is the multiplayer aspect that Bethesda should keep intact, to a degree, forFallout 5or whatever the next game in the series might be. This doesn’t necessarily mean thatFallout 5should take the MMO route that the previous game did, but if there’s anything that players have been hoping would come to an open world, it’s some kind of multiplayer component.
Where Fallout 76’s Multiplayer Succeeds
When it comes to the multiplayer capabilities inFallout 76, that is where the majority of the praise from the fanbase for the game continues to come from. This multiplayer takes the companion feature that previously let the player gear up an NPC with the bestweapons inFalloutas an immortal bodyguard, and replaces it with another player. On top of giving players smarter back-up by grabbing a friend to roam around with, it also eliminates the isolating effect that comes from exploring the series' various wastelands alone.
Couple this camaraderie of either friends or random party members with the thrill of finding other players randomly on the map, and the open world suddenly becomes that much more alive. Enemy placements andFallout 76’s designed encountersquickly becomes the least of a players' concern when the threat of an opposing player looms around every corner of the expansive map. Of course, this consistent threat does also lead to one of the biggest downfalls ofFallout 76, and one of the reasons why the MMO aspect should be left behind for the next game.
The Failings of Fallout 76’s Multiplayer
Since the early days of the game,Fallout 76players have dealt with griefers, an unfortunate part about the open connectivity that Bethesda has attempted to mitigate from the beginning. However, even with punishments in place for griefing, and making the prospect of killing players who aren’t interested in PvP difficult, there are always those players that enjoy making the gameplay experience worse for others. Between consistently nuking player bases and relentlessly chasing down players that want nothing to do with combat against other players, there are plenty of ways for griefers to manipulate the game’s systems to their advantage.
This has been slightly mitigated with the introduction of private servers that come with the premiumFallout 1stmemberships, though some players have found ways around that as well. Combining griefers with server issues that are often expected at launch, but continue to persist, have lead toFallout 76failing to scratch that itchthat previous games managed to hit so successfully. However, one common thread of all of these problems stems from taking one of the open sandboxes that Bethesda’sFalloutgames have become known for, and letting everyone play in it at once.
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How to Best Implement Multiplayer in Fallout 5
Limiting the multiplayer features to a purely co-op experience that works more in line with the way the companion model works in previous titles could be the best way forward in thenextFalloutgame. Instead of opening the scope to a fully online world, Bethesda should look at letting players roam around with one or two other players in a wasteland, more along the lines ofFallout 4thanFallout 76. Something as simple as couch co-op could eliminate many of the server and griefing issues that the MMO version currently has to deal with.
There are still issues with couch co-op, especially as games strive to push the limits of even the most powerful consoles, which would likely make online the best option. However, a reeled back scope on the design of the online features should absolutely be howBethesda approaches the nextFallout. It could be the best of both worlds, where players get to explore a vast open world with friends, but not have to be on watch for enemy players everywhere they go or need to worry about running out of space for spare materials and collectables.
In this case, the point isn’t about trying to make the world feel alive by having it inhabited by a community of players that all interact together. Bethesda should stick to thestrong character designsFalloutis known forwhen filling out the world, and simply give players options for how they want to approach that world. Multiplayer doesn’t have to mean the MMO model with other players acting as obstacles against each other when it could work better by trimming the whole concept down and making the most out of what the developer already excels at.
Multiplayer Components Could Even Extend to Elder Scrolls 6
This type of multiplayer can honestly enhance the gameplay of most open-world titles, including the other massive series that acts as the flagship series for the Bethesda brand. With everything that the developer haslearned fromFallout 76, implementing these more limited multiplayer systems could even work to enhance the upcomingElder Scrolls 6. While most games could benefit from allowing different players to join up and play together, the open-world genre really hasn’t explored this type of co-op outside ofFallout 76and niche titles likeGenshin Impact.
Player are chomping at the bit for more ways to play their favorite games together, whether they were originally built with multiplayer in mind or not. This is one reason that even games from as far back asFallout: New Vegashave modsthat include ways for players to experience the game together in multiplayer. There is definitely a market for players who want to see multiplayer options appear in the nextFalloutandElder Scrollstitles, even if they don’t take the full steps into MMO territory the wayFallout 76tried to.
Fallout 76is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
