Fallout 76 Beta: Finding Life, and Mothman's Butt, in the Wilderness

While I’ve only experienced a few hours exploring the luscious hillsides of Fallout 76’s West Virginia, I made it my mission to explore as much of the game’s extensive map as I could. It’s an impressive thing, four times the size of Fallout 4’s already expansive landscape, but the locale has all the personality and silly esoterica I’ve come to expect from Fallout games, mixed with the countryside I know all too well. (I grew up just next door in good ol’ Virginia proper.)

Since Bethesda announced that Fallout 76 wouldn’t have any human NPCs, with my first shaky steps out of the vault I set out to find what life (mechanical or otherwise) still scurried about the ruined Appalachia. Fallout’s critter designs have always been some of my favourites, and while I’ve regrettably yet to run into one of those adorable giant, mossy sloths you see briefly in the previews, I did discover my fair share of fauna.

Sickly looking beavers with spike-covered tails high-tailed it as I approached. They were more content with building their dams than assailing me as I trotted past humming “Country Roads”. The tire-sized mutant ticks, on the other hand, were more than happy to take a stab at my juicy, juicy blood, their new size truly a horror to anyone who, like me, grew up all too familiar with the dreaded tic season. Then there was Graham, a helpful super mutant trading his wares, and his adorably named brahmin pal Chally the Moo Moo. Just inside the starting town of Flatwoods, I found a delightfully friendly opossum, its gangly tail wagging back and forth as I leaned down to inspect its many heads. Oh there were people too, other players dashing to and from quests with names like 4206969 and dadbreaker. We didn’t talk much; I came back to find one of them had killed my darling opossum. I’m still in mourning.