i'd been wanting to try this for a while because i'm curious about the world they created with appalachia; i've heard good things about it and, if nothing else, i love the way bethesda constructs their open worlds. i have to say, this game is incredible. which is to say, it's not credible to me that anyone enjoys this. fallout 4 but with absolutely 0 setup and a 0.5 second delay when shooting or picking up items.

possibly the worst intro to any game. you walk through an empty vault while someone says a few sentences to you over an intercom. you're presented with a bunch of items, then you walk into a white light and you see... a loading screen. then you're outside.

same studio who made the intro to fallout 3 by the way. they can't try to make it as impactful as walking into the capital wasteland for the first time, or even whichever wasteland it was in fallout 4, because you are no one, it doesn't matter, and they want you to get to the cash shop as soon as possible. i'm beyond tired of blank slate main characters who are never filled in. if the intention was for the character to be literally me and the main interactions are with other players, i never saw another player and i wouldn't want to interact with them anyway.

i had an active frown on my face the entire time. immediately they gave me the option of starting at level 20. i didn't pick that option. i wanted the experience of starting from nothing and scrounging for ammo, and food + water with its mandatory hunger/thirst systems, just barely surviving. after finding a bunch of ghouls, i almost ran out of ammo for my pipe pistol and switched to the first thing on my hotwheel. it was a 10mm pistol with 500 ammo. where did i get it? i have no idea. presumably from one of the many challenges that popped up with a completion! notification for doing literally anything. i didn't think pressing E on a pile of wood was such a momentous occasion, but here we are. feel good about it, please. i want you to feel good. buy atoms. a cloying, desperate experience.

i can't even have the satisfaction of scoring sick headshots, because their heads pop about half a second after firing. they made an affectation towards including vats but they may as well not have bothered if time stays in full speed. i finally found a settlement of human NPCs who looked like they were doing something, anything beyond trying to kill me. i looked wearily over the dialogue options and questions i was presented with. i didn't care. i walked for about 15 seconds away from their base, exited to desktop, and uninstalled the game. fallout 76.