The most positive thought in the context of Fallout 76 is that we should be glad, because Bethesda produces computer games and not, for example, software for respirators.
Just imagine that vision of some parallel universe, where what I just said is a reality and everyday life, especially when we consider it's 2020 right now.
We should all put our hands together in a prayer (you too atheists!), because in the end our lives are not in danger, only mental side of our health is somehow exposed, but in this case solution is simple - just don't buy Fallout 76, no matter how big discount is, no matter how much Todd Howard is waving at you, smiling, telling you that "it just works" and you should try it on your own.
No, you shouldn't, because this whole thing is simply not working.

I avoided Fallout 76 for a long time after it was first released, and I started playing it when it was launched on Steam. I got baited by positive reviews pretending game is now fixed, and it's safe to buy it.
No, it's not and never will, because engine used to make this Fallout is simply too broken and too old to handle multiplayer game.
There's a large pool of bugs and glitches, and Bethesda is pretending that they're fixing them, but in reality every single fix is bringing back old bugs.
It's always the same scheme -> something is not working -> after two months (or even more) they apply fix (which break something else) -> week later new update break it to previous state for another two months -> then they release another fix... this circle never ends. You stuck in dialogue with NPC and can't progress your daily quest? Your turrets attack your own structures? Your perk/mutation is not working? Game is perma-freezing on loading screens and you have to restart it every 30 minutes? You lost progress because servers stability is a joke? Welcome in Fallout 76, where in endgame you will face bug every two minutes! I could make a very long list of bugs and other problems players face, but it would be just too long and it's hard to guess which bugs are active now, because like I said previously - Bethesda mastered bugs rotation in this game.

Optimization in this game is just like everything else - how it work (when it work) is depending on various circumstances and changes every patch they apply. If you just made new character, and you run trough early game in 60fps, then in endgame you will have 30fps with regular stutters. It is like this, because amount of items you carry and store in stash directly affects your framerate, and to be honest I've never seen something that much broken in any other game. Fallout 76 in a nutshell.

But let's talk about something positive this game has to offer, and in this case first thing coming to my mind, is community this game has. People are friendly and very helpful, they will explain everything you want to know, no matter how long it will take. They will craft gear for you, give you materials, help with quests, build structures you can't build on your own yet.
But there is a dark shadow hiding behind all those friendly faces. I am talking about small group (but very loud) of players, fanatics, trolls and sect-like minority. To understand what I am talking about, you can just browse Steam forums of Fallout 76 for 5 minutes and you'll see it on your own. Why I am mentioning them? I am doing this only because Bethesda is doing nothing about problem, they are allowed to keep offending and attacking people who dared (how dare they?!?!) to criticize Bethesda. They'll keep striking on you and reporting your posts, and you might end up warned/banned for speaking your opinion in mannered way. Yes, Bethesda has their own "freedom of speech" standards, and it's very close to what you can face in People's Republic of China.

Imagine you can build various items in your camp, and then you can use them to get buffs for your character. Great idea, right? In theory, yes, but you have to use each item for 40-50 seconds to recieve specific buff, so if you want to get all of them you waste 5 (!!!) minutes of your time, and one hour later you have to repeat whole process. Everytime you want to craft/repair/build you have to manualy change your perks loadout, which takes a lot of your time, and when you're done you have to manualy switch to your main build. Bethesda promised to implement perk loadouts system months ago, but it's not just about that. The thing is, that whole perk system lack any logic and common sense, because perks should be splitted into two categories - active and passive, and crafting ones should not steal slots. When you want to buff yourself using items from your inventory, you have to scroll trough whole menu to find them one by one. Every few quests/events, you have to do general cleaning of your inventory, because game keep throwing useless (and heavy) stuff at you as "reward". Every single system this game has is unintuitive, frustrating and not rewarding, and every simple thing you want to do takes ages to complete.

At first it seems interesting, because you discover new places while hiking, do various quests, and simply enjoy it. But this phase ends pretty fast when you hit midgame, where grind begins and you realize how many limits this game has. In order to reach endgame you have to grind, everyday. How much you can store is limited, how big you camp can be is also limited, daily quests, daily currency gain, everything is made in a way to make sure you'll play game everyday to reach your daily cap, and make just a slight or no progress at all. Everything from events on map to daily quests is repetitive and boring.

Game is designed in a way, where player feel hounded and forced to play everyday in order to reach daily limits, and if someone play everyday, that mean there's higher chance he will spend real cash to get additional stuff or to buy premium. Fallout 76 preys on basic human instincts, the desire to show off, being noticed, generaly speaking - need to be "cool" in other people eyes. Everything in this Fallout is built like a wall surrounding all these behaviours and feelings. They might tell you, that you don't need all that stuff, but believe me, you want it. That's how human brain works. Atomic shop is a masterpiece when it comes to psychological manipulation, fake feeling of items availability being "limited" by time, so you have to buy them before they're gone, discounts lasting for limited time, great deals for premium owners. Atomic shop, seasons, game mechanics, boring daily/weekly challenges, everything this game offers in the end has just one common goal - to make sure you're attached enough to play everyday, so at some point you might start thinking, that it wont be a crime if you spend additional money to make your in-game life easier and more colorful.

I understand servers do not run on fresh air and companies want to earn money, and there's nothing wrong with that. But this is paid game, not some F2P title for android. It's also impostant to mention, that every new feature (like the newest thing available in game - shelters) is hiding 90% of new content and fun behind a paywall. Bethesda is literaly moving border to see how far they can go, and how much they can earn before this $ fountain dries up.

In the end it's up to you what you'll do with your money, just think twice before you give them to Bethesda.

[h1]Season 3 just started, so you might think, that Bethesda had enough time to fix their game, right? In meanwhile they managed to implement paywall similar to what you can find in F2P games, so that mean game is working like it should, right? Well, NO, and I am writing this review, to warn as many people as possible, so they wont pay for this broken software. Amount of positive reviews this game got now, is literaly incomprehensible. Especialy when we consider technical side of whole experience and how ugly this game is.[/h1] The most positive thought in the context of Fallout 76 is that we should be glad, because Bethesda produces computer games and not, for example, software for respirators. Just imagine that vision of some parallel universe, where what I just said is a reality and everyday life, especially when we consider it's 2020 right now. We should all put our hands together in a prayer (you too atheists!), because in the end our lives are not in danger, only mental side of our health is somehow exposed, but in this case solution is simple - just don't buy Fallout 76, no matter how big discount is, no matter how much Todd Howard is waving at you, smiling, telling you that "it just works" and you should try it on your own. No, you shouldn't, because this whole thing is simply not working. I avoided Fallout 76 for a long time after it was first released, and I started playing it when it was launched on Steam. I got baited by positive reviews pretending game is now fixed, and it's safe to buy it. No, it's not and never will, because engine used to make this Fallout is simply too broken and too old to handle multiplayer game. There's a large pool of bugs and glitches, and Bethesda is pretending that they're fixing them, but in reality every single fix is bringing back old bugs. It's always the same scheme -> something is not working -> after two months (or even more) they apply fix (which break something else) -> week later new update break it to previous state for another two months -> then they release another fix... this circle never ends. You stuck in dialogue with NPC and can't progress your daily quest? Your turrets attack your own structures? Your perk/mutation is not working? Game is perma-freezing on loading screens and you have to restart it every 30 minutes? You lost progress because servers stability is a joke? Welcome in Fallout 76, where in endgame you will face bug every two minutes! I could make a very long list of bugs and other problems players face, but it would be just too long and it's hard to guess which bugs are active now, because like I said previously - Bethesda mastered bugs rotation in this game. Optimization in this game is just like everything else - how it work (when it work) is depending on various circumstances and changes every patch they apply. If you just made new character, and you run trough early game in 60fps, then in endgame you will have 30fps with regular stutters. It is like this, because amount of items you carry and store in stash directly affects your framerate, and to be honest I've never seen something that much broken in any other game. Fallout 76 in a nutshell. But let's talk about something positive this game has to offer, and in this case first thing coming to my mind, is community this game has. People are friendly and very helpful, they will explain everything you want to know, no matter how long it will take. They will craft gear for you, give you materials, help with quests, build structures you can't build on your own yet. But there is a dark shadow hiding behind all those friendly faces. I am talking about small group (but very loud) of players, fanatics, trolls and sect-like minority. To understand what I am talking about, you can just browse Steam forums of Fallout 76 for 5 minutes and you'll see it on your own. Why I am mentioning them? I am doing this only because Bethesda is doing nothing about problem, they are allowed to keep offending and attacking people who dared (how dare they?!?!) to criticize Bethesda. They'll keep striking on you and reporting your posts, and you might end up warned/banned for speaking your opinion in mannered way. Yes, Bethesda has their own "freedom of speech" standards, and it's very close to what you can face in People's Republic of China. Imagine you can build various items in your camp, and then you can use them to get buffs for your character. Great idea, right? In theory, yes, but you have to use each item for 40-50 seconds to recieve specific buff, so if you want to get all of them you waste 5 (!!!) minutes of your time, and one hour later you have to repeat whole process. Everytime you want to craft/repair/build you have to manualy change your perks loadout, which takes a lot of your time, and when you're done you have to manualy switch to your main build. Bethesda promised to implement perk loadouts system months ago, but it's not just about that. The thing is, that whole perk system lack any logic and common sense, because perks should be splitted into two categories - active and passive, and crafting ones should not steal slots. When you want to buff yourself using items from your inventory, you have to scroll trough whole menu to find them one by one. Every few quests/events, you have to do general cleaning of your inventory, because game keep throwing useless (and heavy) stuff at you as "reward". Every single system this game has is unintuitive, frustrating and not rewarding, and every simple thing you want to do takes ages to complete. At first it seems interesting, because you discover new places while hiking, do various quests, and simply enjoy it. But this phase ends pretty fast when you hit midgame, where grind begins and you realize how many limits this game has. In order to reach endgame you have to grind, everyday. How much you can store is limited, how big you camp can be is also limited, daily quests, daily currency gain, everything is made in a way to make sure you'll play game everyday to reach your daily cap, and make just a slight or no progress at all. Everything from events on map to daily quests is repetitive and boring. Game is designed in a way, where player feel hounded and forced to play everyday in order to reach daily limits, and if someone play everyday, that mean there's higher chance he will spend real cash to get additional stuff or to buy premium. Fallout 76 preys on basic human instincts, the desire to show off, being noticed, generaly speaking - need to be "cool" in other people eyes. Everything in this Fallout is built like a wall surrounding all these behaviours and feelings. They might tell you, that you don't need all that stuff, but believe me, you want it. That's how human brain works. Atomic shop is a masterpiece when it comes to psychological manipulation, fake feeling of items availability being "limited" by time, so you have to buy them before they're gone, discounts lasting for limited time, great deals for premium owners. Atomic shop, seasons, game mechanics, boring daily/weekly challenges, everything this game offers in the end has just one common goal - to make sure you're attached enough to play everyday, so at some point you might start thinking, that it wont be a crime if you spend additional money to make your in-game life easier and more colorful. I understand servers do not run on fresh air and companies want to earn money, and there's nothing wrong with that. But this is paid game, not some F2P title for android. It's also impostant to mention, that every new feature (like the newest thing available in game - shelters) is hiding 90% of new content and fun behind a paywall. Bethesda is literaly moving border to see how far they can go, and how much they can earn before this $ fountain dries up. In the end it's up to you what you'll do with your money, just think twice before you give them to Bethesda.