Bethesda finally launched their latest AAA title on Wednesday, as Fallout 76 hit physical and virtual shelves everywhere. Ever since its full reveal at E3, the game has been enveloped in controversy. Many Fallout fans were disappointed to hear that this is an online-only game with no (human) NPCs. Others were thrilled at the prospect of trying something new; exploring the wasteland with friends.

As of 3:00pm (PT) on Thursday, the user score for Fallout 76 on Metacritic was 3.2 for PC and an abysmal 2.9 on PS4. The game has been bombarded by users giving it the worst possible score one can give on the site. However, reviews with more detail about their experience (more likely to be actual players), seemed to consistently give the game a high score (8 or above).

User scores anywhere are to be taken with a very large grain of salt. Anyone can post ratings, even if they don’t own the game or have ever played it. Verified user reviews like those found on Steam (which also feature playtime) are much more reliable.

“As you can see, there is an enormous divide in user score between verified owners and unverified owners.”

So, as we’ve done in the past here at The Honest Critic, we dove deeper to take a look at the discrepancies between verified and unverified ratings. We collected roughly 1,000 samples from verified purchases on Amazon and Best Buy. We also collected the same number of user scores from Metacritic. Both were collected on the PC platform. Our findings can be seen in the chart below.

As you can see, there is an enormous divide in user score between verified owners and unverified owners. This lends further to the premise that this Fallout game, like many previous Call of Duty games, is getting automatic negative feedback simply because of an enraged portion of their fanbase.

Let’s take a look at and confirm/debunk the most common complaints.

1. “There are no NPCs.”

This is false. There are NPCs, they are just not humans. This was intentional; every human seen in the game is supposed to be a real person. NPCs exist in the form of robots, scorched, ghouls, and more.

2. “There is no story. “

This is also false. The game features an entire main story along with hundreds of side quests, just like previous Fallout games.

3. The graphics look the same as Fallout 4.

This is true. It is clear that the game used the same engine as Fallout 4. That being said, however, this is a midcycle game (like New Vegas was) and still looks beautiful.

4. The game is littered with game-breaking bugs.

This is uncertain. Our experience so far has been completely bug-free. I have heard from others about annoying bugs as well, but no doomsday bugs like you will hear about in some of these user reviews.

“…based on the data we have gathered and the people we have actually spoken to, one thing is clear: in an overwhelming majority, those who have actually played the game absolutely love it.”

We have not put nearly enough time into Fallout 76 to declare an official score (about 8 hours) but based on the data we have gathered and the people we have actually spoken to, one thing is clear: in an overwhelming majority, those who have actually played the game (including us) absolutely love it.

We’ll be sure to get an official score and review up in the next few days. Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!

Derek Hayden

Part Time Contributor

Burbank, CA