Fallout 76 Will Have Real Time VATS, Non Human NPCs, and a World “Filled With Things”

Fallout 76 seems to be such a different game from the norm, at least as far as Bethesda is concerned. The Stalwart of single player RPGs is making a multiplayer shared world co-op game, and people have a lot of questions about the game, and how any of this may work. After all, this is a brave new frontier for Bethesda and its fans- so, to allay some concerns, and answer pressing questions, Bethesda’s Todd Howard took to responding to some concerns about the game in an interview with IGN.

He confirmed, for example, that the game will still have VATS, which lets you shoot specific body parts, and which can be made better if you invest in it when leveling up- though VATS this time doesn’t slow time down, but will be real time. He also confirmed that all humans you interact with in the game will be players- the only NPCs in the game are non human characters.

But you don’t want to interact with other players, you say? Bethesda has your back. If you don’t want to engage with other players, you can choose not to, though Howard did say that they will strongly incentivize players engaging with other players regardless. And for those who simply don’t want to deal with other players, and just want to play their traditional Fallout, and mod it to their hearts’ content, there is good news- Bethesda will be launching private servers for you to do so, some time after launch. Not at launch, but some time afterward- so you do have that to look forward to.

Howard also talked about the game’s world- it may be four times bigger than Fallout 4‘s map, but it will be filled with things to do, the kinds of things you expect traditionally from a Bethesda game. He also confirmed that while nukes can be used to attack the settlements you build, they will never destroy them entirely- and also that when you go offline, your settlement goes offline with you, so no one can sabotage it behind your back.

All of which is good news, as far as I am concerned. Fallout 76 launches on November 14 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.