Ever since the announcement that Fallout 76 would be a multiplayer title, fans have been wondering how exactly the game will be different from previous entries in the series. While some modders have made some amusing parodies of fans’ worst fears, details from Bethesda are still hazy. It’s still unclear how the Fallout 76 online experience will differ from Fallout 4 gameplay, for example. One thing we can be sure of now, however, is that it will not be a “survival” game.
The Fallout 76 Online Experience: Not a Survival Simulator
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Bethesda director Todd Howard was clear that he didn’t like to think of Fallout 76 as a survival game. Although parallels have been drawn by some fans to online survival titles like DayZ or Rust; Howard believes that those are a poor comparison. “We avoid the word ‘survival’,” stated Howard; “because people’s minds immediately go to DayZ and Rust and certain other games, and those comparisons are not really accurate for what we’re doing. If you think about the survival modes we’ve made in Fallout 4, it has that vibe … Fallout 76, although it’s an online game, when I play it, I mostly still play it solo. We like those experiences as much as our fans do.”
Howard saying that he still mostly plays Fallout 76 solo is a good indication for fans; many have been concerned that the game will lack the solo experiences of previous Bethesda titles. (Despite numerous assurances from Howard and Pete Hines, among others.) Although actual private servers won’t be coming to the game until post-launch, designed to enable modders to work on Fallout 76, it sounds as though running across other players in-game will be an occasional event rather than the norm.
It’s also fair to note that most online survival games are far less forgiving when it comes to PvP. Most such titles feature PvP combat that can leave players right back at the beginning. (And having lost all of their gear.) That will certainly not be the case in Fallout 76. The PvP system has been described as an opt-in challenge-oriented system, which players can back out of at any time. Moreover, players under level 5 cannot be killed by other players at all, and players cannot be looted by other players.