'We avoid the word survival, those comparisons are not really accurate,' says Todd Howard on Fallout 76

Everything we know about Fallout 76 so far suggests it's an online multiplayer survival game. That's quite a shift from what we're used to, but Bethesda director Todd Howard says he's keen avoid the word 'survival' as he feels it fails to capture what the game is.

In conversation with The Guardian, Howard says 'survival' takes prospective players' minds to games that don't necessarily reflect Fallout 76. 

"We avoid the word 'survival', because people’s minds immediately go to DayZ and Rust and certain other games, and those comparisons are not really accurate for what we’re doing," Howard tells The Guardian. "If you think about the survival modes we've made in Fallout 4, it has that vibe… Fallout 76, although it’s an online game, when I play it, I mostly still play it solo. We like those experiences as much as our fans do." 

Howard explains that the idea of Fallout 76 was originally conceived during Fallout 4's development—"It was just the design: if we do multiplayer, what would it look like?"—but was never prototyped. He identifies the series' circumstantial encounters as some of its most entertaining, and underscores his desire to have these unfold in a sprawl populated by human players

Unlike the games it strives to distance itself from, though, Fallout 76 will incorporate checks and balances that prevent high-powered wastelanders from smiting inexperienced players early on.  

"No, that’s not fun," says Todd. "Well, it’s fun for whoever killed you, but not for you… Death is already bad enough in a game, because you’re losing time, that we didn’t feel we needed to add any further penalty. We wanted to make sure you don’t lose your progression." 

Fallout 76 is due November 14, 2018. Read The Guardian's chat with Howard in full this way

Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show
Latest in Fallout
Ghoul in sunglasses
I'm convinced being a ghoul in Fallout 76 is the best way to vibe in West Virginia, thanks to these powerful perk cards and my new true love: Radiation
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
Getting to level 50 in Fallout 76 to become a ghoul actually isn't as daunting as it seems, which is why I created a new character
Scorched person with their hands on their head
Ghoul players in Fallout 76 are starting to place their camps in the most radioactive areas of the map, and regular humans aren't happy: 'I had to inject 30+ radaway into my veins'
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
How to become a ghoul in Fallout 76
Ghoul in sunglasses
Some Fallout 76 players have encountered a 'major game-breaking bug' which either makes it impossible to complete the ghoul quest or just makes you temporarily invisible
A ghoul player character standing next to another ghoul
'You are hereby conscripted': Fallout 76 players demand newly-transformed ghoul players help them mine radioactive ore
Latest in News
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened