Fallout 76: 8 Details That Have Us Worried

Since their acquisition of the franchise from the struggling Interplay Entertainment, Bethesda Softworks has published a total of three Fallout games which have all gone on to be critical and commercial success. While some argue the studio was lead astray during the development of Fallout 4, on the whole, things have been going well for the Maryland-based publisher.

While there is still plenty of reasons to hope for a bright post-apocalyptic future, some fans are worried about the radical new direction Fallout 76 is taking.

Change is, in most cases, a good thing, and no series could stand the test of time totally devoid of any form of innovation, but on the other hand, drastically remixing the formula or implementing too many unnecessary gameplay changes could spell disaster.

The jury is still out, and fans won't be able to form concrete opinions until the game drops in mid-November later this year. While many are defending Bethesda's new direction, 76 seems destined to be one of the most divisive games in the franchise's near spotless history.

It could by all means be a great experience, but there's no getting around all those things that could go either way...

Released just over two decades ago, Fallout was a breakthrough isometric RPG which tasked players with surviving the formidable, unforgiving climate of the post-apocalyptic wasteland while simultaneously questing to save the inhabitants of a doomsday bunker. That may be a bit of a rudimentary description, but it was of these simple beginnings the Fallout franchise was borne.

One of the greatest aspects of these classic RPGs is that, twenty years after release, they are still every bit as playable as the day they first launched. This is true of each and every currently-available title in the series, though that reputation may be threatened by Fallout 76.

For the unaware, Fallout 76 will place a hearty emphasis on PvP interactions and online play. This, of course, bears the side effect of a requisite player base.

This may sound like a bit of a nitpick, but, if nobody is playing Fallout 76 five or ten years from now, will the quality of the game suffer as a result? Will this be along the lines of an MMO which lives and dies alongside its community, or will 76 live on once a majority of players have packed up and moved away from West Virginia?