Bethesda gives us a recap of Fallout 76’s eventful 2021

It was pretty packed

Want a Fallout 76 2021 recap? Well Bethesda gave us just that, and showcases all of the things (good and bad) that came to the game this year.

I’ll start with the bad first. So while I love the theme of the seasons (and the radio plays, more on that in a moment), the fact that seasons were added to the game at all, and have paid level skips, is a bummer. You also have the paid access to Fallout Worlds, which is tied to the Fallout 1st subscription (which still isn’t great). While it’s no doubt bankrolled a lot of the game’s free updates, its existence flies in the face of statements made near the start of the game’s release: how gameplay would not be impacted by premium purchases.

But as a whole, the game did get better, and I’m glad that Bethesda didn’t go with the alternative of just dumping support for the game and killing it. This is the Fallout franchise we’re talking about, and while the game’s launch definitely sullied the studio’s reputation to the point where people aren’t going to forget; they were able to salvage it.

We got a huge update in January that brought a ton of quality of life changes to the game, including a massive much-needed inventory overhaul. CAMPs were completely upgraded and allowed a lot more creativity, and players were given more slots to create homes with. The Brotherhood of Steel returned again with the Steel Reign content update, with more NPC questlines. We got a public event rework and more events in general. And Fallout Worlds does have some free-to-play elements and a lot of potential.

But perhaps the biggest crowning achievement is the fact that more personality was added to Fallout 76 in general. You have the radio plays (one of which we’ve embedded below) that are one of the most “Fallout” things in years, and the team was able to build on the addition of NPCs (which took way too long to add), and continues to do so.

It’s been a great turnaround, and while I wouldn’t say it got the “Realm Reborn treatment” per se, it’s actually worth playing now.