Fallout 76's design director is still defending its original absence of NPCs: 'At the beginning, we wanted it all to be player-driven'

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Fallout 76 has enjoyed a massive turnaround since its launch in 2018. What initially seemed like a folly, stripping away so much of what made Fallout such a long-lasting, beloved series, has, over the years, transformed into a quality sandbox prequel. The big improvements really began with the Wastelanders update, which reintroduced an essential part of the RPG: NPCs.

It was such an obvious and immediate glow up that it still seems bonkers that this was absent at launch, with no indication it would change. This was Bethesda's vision for Fallout's first not-quite-massively-multiplayer-game. Of course it landed with a thud.

"I play a lot of games, and nothing bores me more than a game that's like a clone of another game," says Pagliarulo. "It's like playing the same thing over and over; you change the setting, you change this, it's still the same thing. And we want to do something different. And we tried to do 76 without NPCs, and have it be player-driven—that was a conscious decision to try and make something different."

All credit to Bethesda for adapting when players hated its vision, though. Wastelanders wasn't just an update; it was a top-to-bottom overhaul that finally made Fallout 76 worthy of the name. Though even while acknowledging that Fallout 76 was improved by Bethesda listening to its players, Pagliarulo still seems to be adamant that its rise in popularity was in part down to "us not being afraid to do something different".

There's definitely a disconnect between devs and gamers, and there's still a lot of demystifying that needs to be done when it comes to game development. But expecting players to be content with a game that had a rough launch full of bugs, crashes and the absence of critical features is a bit much. Outside of early access games, gamers aren't buying games speculatively, hoping that maybe the game will improve or eventually feature all the things they were hoping for.

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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.

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