14 November 2025

I Miss the Version of Fallout 76 I Played 7 Years Ago

By newsgame

Fallout 76 has been my obsession for the last several weeks, as I recently returned to the game after not touching it for over half a decade. I was an early adopter of Fallout 76, even going so far as to purchase its controversial collector’s edition, falsely advertised canvas bag and all. For the first few months after release, I tried my hardest to love the game as much as I did Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4, though I fell off in early 2019. I could blame the same things others did, such as the many bugs or the lack of NPCs to interact with, but the main reason was that I didn’t have anyone to play with.

Coming back to Fallout 76 in 2025, I’m able to play the game with my fiancée, and that has made the experience significantly more enjoyable. After putting off Fallout 76’s main quests until we fully explored Appalachia, we’ve just started completing them, and there have already been some real standouts. Everything involving Skyline Valley and Vault 63 was top-notch storytelling that wouldn’t feel out of place in a singleplayer Fallout game, and I completely understand why players pushed so hard for this kind of content after seeing it in action. However, even though I can recognize that Fallout 76 feels more like a complete Fallout game now, I can’t deny that there was something special about the way the game was when it first released.

Early Fallout 76 Felt Like a Completely Different World

Before Fallout 76 started adding human NPCs via updates like Wastelanders, Bethesda’s original vision for the game was that every person players encountered within the world would be another real-life player. This meant that all vendors were bots and there were no random survivors to stumble upon. While this loneliness was too overbearing for some, making the game feel boring to players expecting tons of bold characters, it did work wonders for the world that players were exploring. When Fallout 76 launched, Appalachia felt far more creepy and depressing than it does today, and for me, that tone hit a lot harder.

When re-visiting Fallout 76, one of my biggest surprises was just how lived-in the world feels. In virtually every town, I’ll spot either a named NPC hanging out or a settler trying to make a home for themselves. On one hand, these actions are a nice way to show that the Settler faction is succeeding in its expansion across Appalachia, and the items that you can receive from helpful NPCs are a cool touch. However, the wasteland becomes significantly less intimidating when seeing so many survivors going about their business. Fallout 76, for better or worse, feels much more lighthearted now than it did when it first came out, as there are signs of hope between every fight that make the experience feel a hit more cartoony than I remembered it.

Fallout 76’s Original Goal Being Abandoned Feels Like a Missed Opportunity

Had Fallout 76 stuck to its original plan to have all humans in Appalachia be real players, some truly interesting multiplayer content could have come about. Many players would have likely role-played as specific fixtures of the world whenever they played the game. Someone could have dedicated themselves entirely to fishing, selling supplies and rare fish and only doing that. A group of players could have created their own chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, adding the faction to the world themselves without Bethesda needing to officially integrate them. A Nick Valentine-like detective, a construction worker that can be hired for CAMP building, and a doctor who always has a supply of antibiotics and disease cures are some more role-playing possibilities.

Looking at the success of GTA Online’s role-playing scene is all it takes to imagine how Fallout 76 could have shined. With no NPCs, role-playing would have been even more impactful in Bethesda’s game, too.

Instead of a world where Fallout 76 is full of impactful role-playing and fun interactions, multiplayer is fairly straightforward in its current form. Players will team up to complete Fallout 76 events, launch nukes to fight tough foes, visit each others’ CAMPs to trade, and fight one another if pacifist mode is disabled. This all works just fine, and Fallout 76 remains a hugely enjoyable multiplayer experience since the community’s kindness regularly shines through. That said, it feels like Fallout 76 could have turned into something even more special had Bethesda not given into the demands for NPCs, as players would have been more motivated to become distinct characters within the world as opposed to everyone being the “main character” in a map full of quest-givers.

I Wouldn’t Trade The Current Fallout 76 For the Old Version, Even If It Had Potential

Despite all of this, I don’t think I could justify swapping out what is essentially Fallout 4.5 for the potential of an NPC-free Fallout 76 that actually worked. Yes, there is a chance it could have been a top-tier RP experience, but there’s no telling if a large community would have embraced that potential. Additionally, the game may not have survived long if Bethesda hadn’t shifted its focus to give fans what they wanted, as Fallout 76’s big overhauls have played a huge part in its continued relevance. And in its current form, Fallout 76 is a hugely entertaining game that feels like a proper Fallout entry. It’s able to be enjoyed solo, while those who want to get into multiplayer basically have a second game to enjoy. And some of the NPCs are wildly interesting, such as Hugo Stolz or the soon-to-be-added Ghoul from the Amazon TV series.

Still, I’ll always be curious about what could have been if NPCs never made their way to Fallout 76. If I had someone to play with when the game debuted like I do now, and Bethesda had continued adding heaps of content — just aimed at fresh multiplayer interactions instead of traditional quests — perhaps I would have never fallen off. It would have been a very different type of game, with a harsher world that required socializing, but it could have been something special all the same. Ultimately, we’ll never know what the original approach to Fallout 76 would have looked like after years of updates, but with how content-filled and enjoyable the current game is, what we have now works just fine. I do miss the dark and mysterious vibes of the OG version of the game, but that hasn’t stopped me from appreciating all the ways it’s evolved since I’ve been away.