Image: Bethesda
The beta for Fallout 76 has arrived on the Xbox One and players are finally free to roam the wastes and see how developer Bethesda’s first big multiplayer game is shaping up. If it’s at all like other Fallout games, Fallout 76 will be full of bloatflies, the Brotherhood of Steel, and hilariously game breaking bugs.Multiplayer is uncharted territory for Bethesda and it’s already told fans that Fallout 76’s beta will need a lot of polish and bug squashing. “We all know with the scale of our games, and the systems we let you use, that unforeseen issues always come up,” Bethesda said in a letter to fans. “We know we’re opening everyone up to all new spectacular issues none of us have encountered…we need your help finding them, and advice on what’s important to fix.”Bethesda’s large open world games have always been rife with bugs. Some are fun, like companions moonwalking through doors and bad guys soaring through the air after death. Others, such as an infamous bug from Fallout 4 that trapped players in an elevator forever, ruin the game. Fallout 76 will likely have plenty of both.I played an early build of Fallout 76—one the developers assured me is several builds behind the beta—and mostly encountered performance issues. Any area where too many players gathered killed the frame rate on the Xbox One I was playing. So did any gorgeous, graphically intense areas—anything with good lighting effects and post processing.The Fallout 76 beta begins today for the Xbox One, but players can only login for a limited session from 7pm to 11pm EST. PS4 and PC players can venture out of Vault 76 and into the West Virginia Wasteland a week later on October 30.