Fallout 76 is Bethesda Game Studios' first online multiplayer game.[3][4][c] Players may play individually or with a party of up to three others.[6][7] The servers for the game are public dedicated servers, with the player automatically allocated to one of them.[4] While the game was expected to launch with public servers only, executive producer Todd Howard revealed plans for private servers to be introduced some time after the game's launch. These private servers allow players to invite friends and to prevent undesirable aspects of player versus player gameplay such as griefing from affecting an individual player's experience of the game. Howard described the delay as being necessary to allow Bethesda time to assure the stability of public servers.[8] Elements of previous Fallout games are present and are modified to work with the real-time game. The V.A.T.S. system—a mechanic introduced in Fallout 3 that allows players to pause the game to target specific locations on an enemy's body to attack—is used in Fallout 76 as a real-time system, though it still allows players to specify targets on an enemy's body.[9]
The game features an open world four times the size of that of Fallout 4.[10] The game world is called "Appalachia" and is a representation of West Virginia. It features recreations of real locations in the region, including the West Virginia State Capitol, The Greenbrier, Woodburn Circle, New River Gorge Bridge, and Camden Park.[11][12][13][14] The game features numerous new mutated monsters, several of which—such as the Mothman and the Flatwoods monster—were inspired by West Virginian folklore.[14][15][16]
The game includes revisions to the SPECIAL progression system. Character attributes fall into one of seven categories: strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck. As the player levels up, they are able to spend skill points to boost their attributes on a scale of one to fifteen. Players are able to choose perks, or passive abilities that offer gameplay bonuses. These perks fall into each of the SPECIAL categories and take the form of trading cards. Each card has a value and the player can adopt perks equal to their respective value; for example, if the player has a strength rating of five, then they may equip strength perks worth five points. The player can merge similar cards together to create more powerful—albeit more expensive—perks. The system is designed to encourage the player to recognise the situation they are in and choose perks that aid them rather than passively selecting them and having them for the duration of the game.[17]
Upon release Fallout 76 did not feature any human non-player characters (NPCs) as all surviving humans are other players.[18][19] This required Bethesda to change their approach to storytelling as previous games in the series relied on NPCs to assign quests, engage the player in dialog and advance the overall narrative. Fallout 76 instead uses a combination of NPCs in the form of robots, recordings such as collectible holotapes, terminals throughout the game world, and environmental storytelling where the player uncovers fragments of a narrative by exploring locations that they piece together themselves.[20] Each of these elements had previously been used in the series, often to provide backstory for characters and the world of the game whilst remaining separate from the main narrative. According to Howard, this system allows Bethesda to tell a story whilst giving players a greater ability to create their own narratives.[21] In June 2019, Bethesda announced a major update, which introduces human NPCs,[22] however the update was delayed. Wastelanders was released on April 14, 2020, as well as being released on Steam at the same.[23] Owners of the game through Bethesda.net were able to get a free Steam key until April 12, 2020.[24]
The game expands on Fallout 4's settlements by allowing the player the ability to build bases at many locations of the map.[25] These creations are assigned to the player's profile and are removed from the game world when the player is offline to prevent progress from being lost.[26] While other players are able to attack player settlements while they are online, the game preserves player creations using "blueprints" to prevent players from having to start over if their creations and progress are destroyed.[27]
Players are able to use nuclear weapons to temporarily change the areas of game world. After acquiring launch codes, the player can access missile silos and fire a missile at almost any point on the map. This irradiates the area, which the player can explore to find rare weapons, gear and items. However, it also attracts powerful enemies and the player needs to be sufficiently strong to survive.[25] The game includes a photo mode; the player has the ability to pose their character and choose from a variety of facial expressions and filters.[28]
