Incredibly janky. When everything levels up with you, you never feel like you're really getting any more powerful. Killing things is easier at level 2 than it is at level 50+. Level 2, any weapon is deadly and you don't have to think at all about your build. Level 50, the same enemy vs the same type of weapon (but a level 50 variant) will do like no damage, unless you've built your character to focus exclusively on that kind of weapon.

Leveling up isn't about becoming stronger, it's about keeping up with the rest of the world. Eventually though (in the 50+) you'll have a build that's hyper focused, and then suddenly nothing in the world offers you a challenge, aside from end game group quest bosses.

Building mechanics are janky and imprecise. Some people can make amazing bases, but it doesn't seem worth putting all the effort into it. All the best looking stuff is obviously in the real money microtransaction store, but if you play the game regularly for a few weeks you can usually afford a package deal on wallpapers or building styles. There's some you can find or buy in game as well, but I've never found a set that came anywhere close to the MTX shop stuff.

Gunplay feels bad. Bullets don't care about where your gun is pointed, animation wise. If you take a shot, you suffer recoil and the gun lifts. If you take a shot before the gun drops again, the bullet doesn't actually leave the barrel in the direction the gun is pointing. It goes forward, towards the center of the screen but now with a larger cone of inaccuracy. It's fine once you get used to it, but if you're used to games with more realistic handling it's really jarring and weird.

Survival isn't a thing. It's never really been a thing in Fallout games really, I mean the originals didn't have hunger or thirst at all. The addition of it doesn't make the game deeper or scarier, it just a bit of carry weight at worst. Food, water, medicine and drugs are everywhere.

The game is ugly. The textures are low quality, the NPCs are the usual Bethesda type where they always stay two or three graphical generations behind, and the environments tend to feel fake and ugly. Climbing up high and looking around doesn't reward you with a gorgeous vista. It's hard to put my finger on it, but it just feels so unreal in the worst way. Even at maximum settings, the shadows are either wrong or just not there, the models are all such low quality, and everything stands out instead of blending together into a cohesive whole. You don't get a scene with a river, a forest and the mountains the distance. You get the river object, some tree objects and the mountain object. They don't feel like a part of the same world. I wish I could describe this better, it's just so weird.

Anyway it's a horrible game. I've played it a lot though, because I have a couple of friends who specifically love janky, bad, weird, crappy games and any game is good if you play it with your pals. Fallout 76 is the same, honestly. Play with a party (of no more than 4!! shame on you for having more than 3 friends!!!) and have fun! Just do so knowing that if you deserve friends with better taste in video games and grow bitter knowing you could be having so much more fun with them in an actually good game.

(shoutout to my awful terrible friends ilu)

Edit: oh yeah I forgot to mention that it's still a buggy, glitchy and often broken mess.

Incredibly janky. When everything levels up with you, you never feel like you're really getting any more powerful. Killing things is easier at level 2 than it is at level 50+. Level 2, any weapon is deadly and you don't have to think at all about your build. Level 50, the same enemy vs the same type of weapon (but a level 50 variant) will do like no damage, unless you've built your character to focus exclusively on that kind of weapon. Leveling up isn't about becoming stronger, it's about keeping up with the rest of the world. Eventually though (in the 50+) you'll have a build that's hyper focused, and then suddenly nothing in the world offers you a challenge, aside from end game group quest bosses. Building mechanics are janky and imprecise. Some people can make amazing bases, but it doesn't seem worth putting all the effort into it. All the best looking stuff is obviously in the real money microtransaction store, but if you play the game regularly for a few weeks you can usually afford a package deal on wallpapers or building styles. There's some you can find or buy in game as well, but I've never found a set that came anywhere close to the MTX shop stuff. Gunplay feels bad. Bullets don't care about where your gun is pointed, animation wise. If you take a shot, you suffer recoil and the gun lifts. If you take a shot before the gun drops again, the bullet doesn't actually leave the barrel in the direction the gun is pointing. It goes forward, towards the center of the screen but now with a larger cone of inaccuracy. It's fine once you get used to it, but if you're used to games with more realistic handling it's really jarring and weird. Survival isn't a thing. It's never really been a thing in Fallout games really, I mean the originals didn't have hunger or thirst at all. The addition of it doesn't make the game deeper or scarier, it just a bit of carry weight at worst. Food, water, medicine and drugs are everywhere. The game is ugly. The textures are low quality, the NPCs are the usual Bethesda type where they always stay two or three graphical generations behind, and the environments tend to feel fake and ugly. Climbing up high and looking around doesn't reward you with a gorgeous vista. It's hard to put my finger on it, but it just feels so unreal in the worst way. Even at maximum settings, the shadows are either wrong or just not there, the models are all such low quality, and everything stands out instead of blending together into a cohesive whole. You don't get a scene with a river, a forest and the mountains the distance. You get the river object, some tree objects and the mountain object. They don't feel like a part of the same world. I wish I could describe this better, it's just so weird. Anyway it's a horrible game. I've played it a lot though, because I have a couple of friends who specifically love janky, bad, weird, crappy games and any game is good if you play it with your pals. Fallout 76 is the same, honestly. Play with a party (of no more than 4!! shame on you for having more than 3 friends!!!) and have fun! Just do so knowing that if you deserve friends with better taste in video games and grow bitter knowing you could be having so much more fun with them in an actually good game. (shoutout to my awful terrible friends ilu) Edit: oh yeah I forgot to mention that it's still a buggy, glitchy and often broken mess.